Sun, Oct 17, 2021 7:02 PM

Celtic favoured to feature in cricket final

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Peter Jones

Celtic staked a bold claim for a berth in the Marlborough senior 40-over final by registering their second consecutive win at Horton Park.

After disposing of Wairau Valley last weekend, the defending champs took care of Wairau by five wickets on Saturday afternoon.

The finalist will not be confirmed until the final round as both Renwick and Valley could conceivably catch Celtic if they can pick up wins, plus batting and bowling bonus points next weekend. Wairau’s second loss sees them drop out of contention.

As in their previous outing, Wairau were unable to put enough runs on the scoreboard to trouble the chasing side.

However, they made a decent start, an opening partnership of 60 in 10 overs between Tarin Mason (36 from 44) and Hunter Ruffell (11 from 24) setting the platform for a decent total. Then, wickets fell quickly as spinner Tom Sutherland cut a swathe through the Wairau middle order, ultimately picking up 4-18 from eight overs. Nick Weaver, with 35 from 29 balls, contributed handily to Wairau’s total but they were all out for 151 in the 37thover.

Tom Sloan and Liam Young both picked up a brace of wickets.

Celtic’s reply was steady, openers Joel Logan (29 from 34) and Logan Robinson 17 from 30) contributing 43 for the first wicket, before Josh Poole (42 not out from 78 balls) and Sutherland (21 from 28) ensured there would be no major hiccups on their way to the winning total.

Josh Alexander, with 2-9 from four overs, was the pick of the Wairau attack.

Meanwhile, Valley quickly bounced back from an under-par effort last Saturday to comprehensively beat Renwick by seven wickets on Horton Park three.

Renwick batted first and were dismissed for just 68 in the 26th over. Akhil Pant’s 18 runs was top score with no other Renwick batsman reaching double figures.

Jethro Moran was the chief destroyer, grabbing 4-14 in six overs. Spin bowler Matthew Stretch picked up 2-5 from five overs while medium pacer Sukh Aulakh bagged 2-9 from four.

Valley set about their lowly target in haste, Greg Stretch slamming a quickfire 19, followed by 27 from 18 balls by newcomer Aulakh, to set the tone as they raced to their winning tally in the 11th over for the loss of just three wickets.

Points: Celtic 15, Valley 10, Renwick 8, Wairau 4.

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