Celtic club celebrate title successes

The Celtic Cricket Club are celebrated a double hat-trick, after collecting the four main senior and second grade trophies on offer during the 2020-21 season.

On Friday evening the Celtic senior team convincingly made it back-to-back Twenty20 titles, downing Renwick by 28 runs. Earlier in the season they lifted the one-day crown.

The club’s second grade side recently beat UCVC in the T20 final, adding that title to their 40-over championship won on January 30.

Senior skipper Jerrym Lamb said the run of successes was a proud achievement for the club.

“It’s been pretty good for Celtic lately, that’s for sure. We’ve done all right to clean up all those titles this season.”

The senior side have been the form outfit through the local T20 competition and demonstrated their strength with both bat and ball during Friday’s final at Horton Park.

Batting first Celtic made a rollicking start, openers Josh Poole and Tom Sutherland putting on 98 runs in quick time. They were closing in on the century mark when Poole perished for 56 from just 39 balls, Sutherland following with the score on 109 for 45 from 41.

Jerrym Lamb continued the momentum with 20 from 16 as Renwick’s bowlers began to claw back some momentum. Spinners Patrick Dawkins and Rikki Bovey, who claimed 2-17 from three overs, helped keep the score manageable, along with Mike Anstis, who took 1-24 from four.

Although Celtic were unable to finish with a flourish, they were able to set a highly-competitive target of 146-5 at the end of the 20 overs, maintaining a run rate of 7.3 throughout.

Renwick’s reply struck early trouble from which they never recovered, a combination of tight bowling and injudicious shot-making seeing them precariously poised at 51-6 after 10.4 overs.

Jacob Zillwood, with an unbeaten 30 off 23 balls, and Cody Golding, 18 from 10, tried to push things along late in the piece but they were unable to keep up with the climbing run rate and the final Renwick wicket fell with three balls remaining and just 118 runs on the board.

Poole, with 3-15 from four overs, Lamb, 2-10 from two and Reuben Kepes, 2-28 from four, were the main wicket-takers, while spinner Sutherland and medium pacer Liam Young bowled tidily at the top.

Celtic skipper Jerrym Lamb, who opted to bat upon winning the toss, said Josh and Tom had set a great platform for a decent score.

“When they went we lost a bit of momentum. Renwick did well in the back half to stunt us, then they didn’t get off to a flash start when they batted and were behind the eight ball from then on.”

Falcons’ fielder Cooper Roberts dives forward to take a catch during his side’s TPL game against WTTU on Saturday. Photo Peter Jones.

TPL double

Both Marlborough’s Tasman Premier League teams were at home in the final round of the top of the south 50-over competition on Saturday and took full advantage of that familiarity.

On Horton Park number one, the Dolphins signed off their season with a hefty 100-run win over Stoke Nayland, while the Falcons accounted for WTTU by 49 runs.

Falcons scored 238-8 batting first, No 3 batsman Greg Stretch top-scoring with 82. He featured in a 69-run partnership with son Matthew, who scored 41. Cooper Roberts added 28, as did Tarin Mason, as the home side set a formidable target.

WTTU were in early trouble, losing a couple of key batsmen with just 23 on the board but fought on through the efforts of Jon Routhan (42) and Billy Powick (61). However, Falcons kept on grabbing wickets and had the game in their grasp before bowling the visitors out for 189 in the 48th over.

Mason grabbed 3-22 from his six-over spell while Nick Weaver, Bailey Andrews-Kennedy and Matt Stretch all picked up a brace of wickets.

Dolphins' spin bowler Griffin Carter sends down a delivery during his side's match with Stoke Nayland on Saturday. Photo Peter Jones

Victory was even more comfortable for the Dolphins on the No 1 ground.

Batting first, 79 from 90 balls from No 3 Tom Leonard and 93 from 106 deliveries off the bat of No 5 Josh Poole saw the home side reach 235 before being dismissed in the final over. Their partnership for the fourth wicket was worth 127 runs.

Stoke Nayland’s reply was modest, being dismissed for 135 in the 35th over.

Joel Pannell (2-30), Patrick Dawkins (2-26), and Griffin Carter (2-37) had success with the ball, but it was man-of-the-match Poole who took the bowling honours, bagging 3-8 from 5.2 overs.

Next week the TPL semis take place, with the Falcons hosting WTTU at Horton Park and Wanderers meeting fellow Nelson side ACOB over the hill.