Brett Hampton powers Northern Districts to Super Smash title
After defeating Auckland in the Eliminator on Friday, Canterbury advanced to the Super Smash final for the sixth time in a row, but Northern Districts (ND) defeated them in the title match on Saturday. They are trying to win their first T20 championship since their inaugural campaign in 2005-2006, when their current coach, Peter Fulton, was still a member of the team.
After his streak of 4-0-37-3 in which he ran in hard and hit the Hagley Oval deck harder, all-rounder Brett Hampton led ND with a 23-ball fifty, his fourth of the season. He smashed 73 together with his opening partner Katene Clarke in the powerplay, taking the pressure off ND in a chase of 172 in Christchurch. Even though fast bowler Michael Rae bowled out both of the openers in the ninth over, ND still managed to reach their target with 13 balls remaining and five wickets.
Katene Clarke, the younger brother of Tamati Clarke, won the Player-of-the-Tournament award for his record-breaking 431 runs in nine innings at an average of 61.57 and strike rate of 171.71. His run of four fifty-plus scores in a row, one short of Bevon Jacobs and Devon Conway's New Zealand T20 record, was crucial to ND's direct entry into the final.
In the final, it was Hampton who dominated proceedings, bashing five sixes, including one which landed on the roof. In contrast, the entire Canterbury batting line-up could muster just four sixes. He reached his half-century with a powerful swipe off Canterbury captain Cole McConchie in the eighth over, one of those sixes. After Rae's double-strike, ND slowed down briefly before Joe Carter (47 off 28 balls) and Scott Kuggeleijn (23 off 13 balls) put the pedal to the floor and sealed ND's fifth men's T20 title.
Kuggeleijn had chosen to bowl, and he and Hampton had worked well together to keep Canterbury to 46 for 2 in the powerplay on a Hagley Oval pitch that seemed to play better than it did in Friday's Eliminator. After having Henry Nicholls nicking behind with an awayswinger for 16 off 15 balls in the fifth over, Hampton proceeded to have Matt Boyle and Tom Latham hole out in his next two overs.
The left-arm fingerspinner Tim Pringle won the middle overs with 4-0-20-1 after keeping things tight. Canterbury then staged a recovery through Mitch Hay and Leo Carter, who forged a record, unbroken 114-run partnership for the sixth wicket off only 69 balls. By two runs, Andrew Ellis and Brendon Diamanti's 2012-13 record was beaten by Hay and Carter.
They came together when Canterbury were 57 for 5 in the ninth over and ended up dragging them past 170. Carter and Hay were severe on allrounder Kristian Clarke, fresh off international success in India, taking him for three fours and a brace of sixes in the final over, which cost ND 26 runs.
With an even more explosive stand, Hampton and Katene then stunned Hay and Carter. "Those guys, the Bash Bros, Hammer and Katene have just been outstanding," ND captain Robert O'Donnell said after lifting the trophy. "We got the chance to do it [have Hampton open] kind of by accident (injury), and look, it's just unlocked a little bit of magic in both of them."
"We all know how hard Hammer can hit the ball and how far he can hit the ball but him batting with Katene and how he's batted this tournament, yeah, it's just been outstanding. As a result, it has been an incredible effort on everyone's part for them to do it and to do it as frequently as they have. This has allowed other team members to step up at different times and contribute where we can, and yeah, look, it's been an overall effort."
