Town team on top

The Town combination followed up a solid display in the field with a compelling batting effort to get the better of their Country counterparts at Horton Park on Saturday.

The latest instalment of the Town v Country cricket series was a 50-over white ball affair, Country winning the toss and electing to bat.

A quick 30 from opener Fred Sululoto helped them get a decent start but the quick loss of Andrew Nation, Corey Bovey and Kirk Nicholas saw Town’s attack take charge.

However, that brought Matthew Stretch and Benji Nation together and the pair began to turn things around. From 72-4 they carried the score through to 135 before Stretch was dismissed for a patient 61 from 106 balls.

Nation continued to prosper, scoring all around the wicket before falling for a well-made 67 from 84 balls in the 47th over.

Soon after Country were all out for 229 in the final over, setting Town a reasonably demanding target.

Leading the Town charge with the ball was Logan Robinson, who picked up 3-26 from four overs near the end of proceedings.  Tarin Mason, 1-34 from nine, was also prominent along with Griffin Carter, 2-39 from 9.2, while Josh Poole claimed 1-53 from 10.

Town’s reply began in a positive fashion, openers Aiden Conroy and Mason guiding them through to 48 in the eighth over before Conroy departed. Mason continued to hit out, making his way to 47 before falling lbw to Sululoto, then Poole and Liam Young put together the best partnership of the match.

Batting sensibly and choosing their shots judiciously, they combined to put on 103 runs and take the match out of Country’s reach.

Young departed for 28 from 47 but Poole batted imperiously, finishing unbeaten on 95 from 94 deliveries. Alongside him at the finish was Carter, also not out on 27, when they passed Country’s total, Town rolling through to 231-3 with 11.1 overs remaining.

Stretch, with 0-14 from six overs, was far and away the most economical part of the Country attack.

Twenty20

Meanwhile, on Friday night, the penultimate round of the senior T20 competition played out.

Wairau took on Wairau Valley at Horton Park and came away with a relatively comfortable 22-run victory to shore up their chances of featuring in the T20 final on February 7.

On the adjoining ground, Celtic continued their dominance of the leaderboard with a 15-run win over Renwick.

Wairau batted first against Valley and scored a defendable 159-7 from their 20 overs, Tarin Mason (31 from 21), Griffin Carter (29 from 24) and Zariab Kakaria (23 from 19) the main contributors. Gunn Baath took 2-21 for Valley.

Valley’s reply was dominated by a superb innings of 66 off 58 balls from Luke Pannell, but he had little support, Jassi Brar with an unbeaten 21 from 12 producing the only other score of note.

For Wairau, Kakaria, Carter and Josh Alexander all claimed a brace of wickets, leaving Valley well short on 137-7 when their overs ran out.

The other match was particularly low scoring. Celtic staggered to 115 all out after 18.2 overs, Tom Sloan (35 from 19), Tom Sutherland (27 from 20) and Josh Poole (21 from 19) the top scorers. Fred Sululoto, with 3-17 from four, and Piers Landon Lane, 3-18 from four, were the pick of the Renwick attack.

In reply, Renwick made a meal of the run chase, dismissed for 100 in the 18th over. Corey Bovey scored 20 off 29, Kirk Nicholas 16 off 33 and Benji Nation 16 off 12 but none of the Green Machine batters could go on. Hunter Ruffell, 3-15, Poole, 2-31, Sutherland, 2-19 picked up the majority of the wickets.

T20 table: Celtic 24, Wairau 20, Renwick 16, Wairau Valley 4.