North Otago batsman Ben Cant was the thorn in the side of Otago Country cricket fans as the home side bowed out of contention to challenge for the Hawke Cup with a first innings loss in Alexandra over the weekend.
Cant fell agonisingly short of a double century when he was out for 197, caught off the bowling of Marcus Frost, but his effort saw the visitors through to a formidable first innings total of 351 on day one.
His effort with the bat was a record score, surpassing Sean Eathorne (171) and Bob Wilson (167), and his partnership with Sean Conlan (51) of 145 is the highest seventh wicket partnership since Kelvin Mansfield and Ashley Flannery in 1989.
North Otago was eventually all out with Frost picking up a bag of five wickets for 68 runs from 17 overs.
Otago Country had time on day one to bat and at stumps was 91 for two, opener Chris Beck scoring 61.
On day two, Otago Country needed to pick up first innings points to stay in contention to top the Southern zone standings but it was all out for 208, 143 runs short of the target.
A shortage of runs in the middle order proved a big problem but Jarred Andrew's 53 along with Beck's half century brightened up a disappointing day overall.
Both Duncan Drew and Stephan Grobler took three wickets for North Otago.
Country's second turn at bat meant scoring fast was the key but at 240 for four and cruising along nicely, it was evident the home side would not win the match outright and the game was cut short.
North Otago kept its hopes for a Hawke Cup challenge alive. Andrew backed up his first innings half century with an excellent 102 not out.
Michael Goldstein scored 51 while Queenstown's Kyle Paterson was 42 not out. Otago Country's last match of the season is in Invercargill on February 22 and 23 against Southland.
Southland had a first innings win over South Canterbury over the weekend and moves to the top of the Zone Six table with 28 points, with both Southland and South Canterbury having one further game each on February 22-23.
Southland asked South Canterbury to bat first and was dismissed for 181 just before tea on day one, with Jack Harper( 49) and Nathan McNichol( 32) the major contributors.
The Southland innings came to a close shortly after lunch on the second day for 250, with Sam Ward (75), Hamish O'Brien (51) and Shaun Fitzgibbon (40) the best of the batsmen.
South Canterbury was finally dismissed in its second innings for 146, with only three overs remaining with James Laming top scoring with 85 not out.
