Renwick spring cricket upset

Renwick pulled off a decent-sized upset in the latest round of senior Twenty20 cricket, beating Wairau Valley at Horton Park on Wednesday evening.

The Green Machine notched their first win with a compelling batting effort, after restricting Valley, who won the toss, to 148-9 after their 20-over allotment.

Renwick chased down their rival’s total in the 18^th over, for the loss of just two wickets.

However, it was their bowling and fielding effort that set up victory. Despite having only eight players in the field they bowled superbly, Joe Timms showing the way with the outstanding return of 5-22 from his four overs. Corey Bovey, Max Armstrong and Piers Landon-Lane chipped in with a wicket apiece while Cody Golding was economical.

Sam Boyce top scored for Valley with 41 from 37 balls, Greg Stretch adding 32 from 28, James McVittie 28 from 24 and Sukh Aulakh 24 from 10.

Despite losing an early wicket, Renwick consolidated quickly and a 99-run partnership between opener Kirk Nicholas, 55 from 34, and Bovey set them on the path to victory.

When Nicholas was dismissed, Bovey was joined by the big-hitting Timms and the pair saw their side home comfortably. Bovey ended unbeaten on 64 from 53 balls, Timms 29 not out from 16 to complete a pivotal match double.

The other match, on Horton Park 1, resulted in a narrow win to Celtic.

The Green and Golds batted first, putting what appeared a below-par total of 129-6 on the board, then defended it expertly. Tom Sloan was the main contributor, scoring 68 at the top of the innings, while Josh Poole added 30.

Wairau used just five bowlers. Nick Weaver, 2-32, Andrew McCaa, 2-26, Hunter Ruffell, 1-24, Harrison Boyce, 1-20, and Chris Turkington, 0-25 from four, pulled Celtic back after they got off to a strong start.

Wairau’s reply began poorly, Turkington and Ruffell going cheaply, but 38 from McCaa and an unbeaten 59 from Boyce threatened to get the job done for Wairau. However, they got the stutters in the home straight and came up six runs short, despite being only four wickets down.

All credit must go to the Celtic bowling fielding effort. Spinner Tom Sutherland bowled his four overs for just 12 runs, claiming one wicket, medium pacer Matt McCormick bagged 3-24 from his four while Poole and Liam Young bowled economically.

The next round of T20 take place tomorrow evening.