Three players emerged from the shadows as the domestic season closed quietly at the Village Green today.

They were Daryl Tuffey, who added the wicket of Aaron Redmond in his fourth over this morning to his first innings 7-69, James Marshall, who hit an Northern Districts record 235 yesterday, and Robbie Hart, who may well have played his last game as a non-international.

Aside from the rise of these ND players this game has been a standard one, with Canterbury hanging on comfortably for a draw at tea this afternoon.

Lacking Bruce Martin, possibly out for the winter with a shoulder injury sustained in practice during this match, ND did not have enough variety or fire to bowl Canterbury out today.

Captain Hart and coach Bruce Blair stood alongside each other at wicket-keeper and first slip plotting which bowler should bowl what as Canterbury wandered to 213/4 off 75 overs.

Blair, 44, and probably double that in kilos, replaced Michael Parlane, who was losing a few with food poisoning. Martin had stood in for a couple of overs, but with his arm in a sling whites were found for the coach, who last played for ND 16 years ago.

Canterbury was looking vulnerable when Tuffey found some low bounce to dismiss Redmond, especially since Chris Harris had eaten some of the dodgy prawns Parlane had and was at home in bed. Harris later returned to the ground, and is ready to play, should he be wanted, in the third Test beginning on Saturday.

Canterbury needed some fibre and found it with Robbie Frew, who Canterbury coach Michael Sharpe praised for "solidness" adding, "as he's got older he's got his game plan worked out."

A three-hour half-century batted the Knights out of the game and during a 98 second wicket stand with Michael Papps the small crowd saw some of the most attractive batting of the game.

Five Canterbury players travel overseas this winter, including Papps, the State Championship's highest run scorer this season with 756. Today he hooked and drove to 62 before falling to a Joseph Yovich bouncer.

First year coach Sharpe said of Papps, an under-achiever who the likeable former paceman has nurtured this year, "he's got a very long, a very big future with Canterbury."

Immediately ahead Papps and Ryan Burson will travel to Auckland and the national club championships where they will play for East Christchurch-Shirley this week.

In the end the threadbare teams, blunted by illness and injury, were happy to finish at 3.10pm, with 27 overs left to be bowled on a hot and windy Christchurch afternoon.

Sharpe summed up, "The wicket was a wee bit placid and it made it a bit hard for each side to penetrate."

The Marshalls, who sneakily swapped as bowlers without anyone noticing in the mid-afternoon, ended the season with some fun at the scorers' expense. Hamish Marshall (they think) dismissed Shanan Stewart (for a career best 60) when the Canterbury 19-year-old sensed a maiden century if he hurried.

So in that slightly surreal air the season peacefully ended and all eyes turned to the Test in Auckland. x

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