Sun, Nov 29, 2020 2:21 PM

Falcons fly above local TPL rivals

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Peter Jones

The Falcons grabbed early boasting rights among Marlborough’s two Tasman Premier League cricket sides with a narrow win at Horton Park on Saturday.

They prevailed by nine runs over the Dolphins, defending a mediocre total on the number one pitch.

The Falcons won the toss and elected to bat, a decision they probably rued at 83-7 in the 33

rd

over.

However, Bailey Andrews-Kennedy came to the rescue, forming two lucrative partnerships, with firstly Luke Pannell, then Ben Ivory-McCullum to push their score to a defendable 159-9 after the completion of the 50 overs.

Andrews-Kennedy remained unbeaten on 69 from 117 balls, striking seven fours as he held the innings together in the face of some demanding bowling. Chris Bartholomeusz, with 26 at the top of the order, produced the other innings of note.

Joel Pannell, with the superb figures of 3-9 from seven overs, was the chief destroyer, while Jerrym Lamb, 3-32 from nine, and Will Smith, 2-38 from 10, were the other main wicket-takers.

Dolphins made a solid start to their run chase, Rikki Bovey (22 from 60), Tom Sutherland (17 from 48) and Akhil Pant (20 from 24) pushing them to 71-3 when Pant departed.

Corey Bovey and Smith moved the score to 105 before Bovey was dismissed in the 31

st

over, his side still within striking distance of their target. However, when Smith (38 from 23) was caught and bowled by Nick Weaver at 117-5 the lower order slide began in earnest. Four wickets fell quickly, including that of key batsman Lamb, for the addition of just 14 runs and although Kirk Nicholas (18 not out) briefly threatened to get Dolphins home, when Andrews-Kennedy trapped Pannell lbw in the 47

th

over it was all over.

Tarin Mason (3-17 from 10), Weaver (2-20 from 10), Tim Petrie (2-29 from 9) and Andrews-Kennedy (2-39 from 9.1) did the damage.

T20 begins

The Marlborough senior Twenty20 competition began on Friday evening at Horton Park, with opening round wins to Marlborough Boys’ College and Renwick.

MBC came out on top of a low scoring encounter to beat Wairau Valley by four wickets, while Renwick put a decent score of 133-7 on the board then contained the dangerous Celtic batting line-up to 127-6.

In the Valley v MBC clash, Wairau Valley batted first and limped to a modest score of 99-9 from their 20 overs, Greg Stretch with 28 from 32 balls leading the way with the bat. Cameron Collins, Tim Petrie and Hunter Ruffell each bagged a brace of wickets for the college side. Bailey Andrews-Kennedy, who claimed 3-14 from his four overs, was the pick of the Valley attack.

MBC’s batting effort was far from daunting, but they got the job done for the loss of six wickets, opener Ben Ivory-McCullum top scoring with 28, aided by 19 from Cooper Roberts. Their second wicket partnership of 47 was pivotal in their successful chase.

The evening’s batting highlight came from Renwick opener Kirk Nicholas, who blasted 79 from just 49 balls before being run out from the final ball of the 20 overs. He and Mark Zillwood, with 20, were the main contributors to a handy total.

Jaden Adams picked up two wickets for Celtic while Greg Hegglun, with 1-9 from his three overs, was the most parsimonious.

Celtic’s run chase stuttered throughout, a 65-run third wicket partnership between Tom Sutherland (60 from 47) and Jack Holdaway (30 from 35) setting up a chance of victory before wickets began to fall and the run rate became too daunting.

Renwick’s bowlers were generally economical and disciplined, conceding only one wide in 20 overs, with Cody Golding and Mike Anstis both bagging a brace.

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