Mason century sinks Valley

A spectacular century from Wairau’s Tarin Mason highlighted the latest round of Marlborough Twenty20 cricket at Horton Park on Friday evening.

The rep allrounder smashed a superb 106 runs from just 55 deliveries to enable his side to post an imposing total of 234-5 from their 20 over allocation. Their rivals, Wairau Valley, were only able to muster 115-3 in reply.

Opener Mason’s knock included just three fours, but 12 sixes, his first 50 coming from 34 balls, his second from just 18 more as he took to all the Valley bowlers.

Fellow opener Joel Lavender got things started with 25 from 20, while Harrison Boyce added more momentum in the middle order, slamming 57 from 22 balls.

Matthew Stretch scored 58 from 53 balls in Valley’s reply, Olly Pauling contributing 28 from 51 for a side that was always well behind the lofty asking rate.

In the other match, played on the Horton Park No 1 ground, Renwick and Marlborough Boys’ College played out a much tighter encounter, the former winning by four runs.

Renwick scored a mediocre total of 133-5, then defended it against the students, who were well placed to chase it down but lost their way in the final three overs.

At the centre of Renwick’s batting effort was opener Luke Frankland, who carried his bat for a well-compiled 77 not out from 64 balls, mixing aggression with clever placement. He received scant assistance from his fellow batsman, the best of the rest coming from Akhil Pant and Blair Timms, who both scored 15.

Griffin Carter grabbed a brace of wickets for MBC, while Luke Pannell and Tim Petrie were economical.

At 17-2, MBC’s reply got off to a rocky start, but a 98-run partnership between rep players Cooper Roberts and Petrie saw them needing 20 runs from 14 balls midway through the 18^th over.

However, the run out of Roberts for 46 from 40 balls opened the door for Renwick then, when Petrie departed in the next over for 54 from 45, the writing was on the wall.

With fresh batsmen at the wicket and 10 runs required from Pant’s final over, MBC were only able to limp to 129-6 when the last ball was bowled.

Mike Anstiss, with 2-8 from three overs, was the most successful of a steady Renwick attack who were able to produce the goods as the match went down to the wire.

Standings:Wairau 8, Celtic 8, Renwick 4, Wairau Valley 4, MBC 0.