NZCC National Club Championships at Cornwall Park, Auckland
A stunning day at Cornwall Cricket Club
DAY TWO
EASTERN SUBURBS v KAIKORAI
Eastern Suburbs (Wellington) 322/8 (Fraser Colson 144, Lauchie Johns 63; Georgie Scott 3/46) beat Kaikorai (Otago) 159 (Liam Cotton 39, Josh Finnie 31; Jamie Gibson 3/13) by 163 runs
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Liam Cotton tried to get Kaikorai in the game
A strong Easts unit on paper translated into a strong Easts unit on the park as the Welington reps continued to make the most of their players with first-class experience.
Fraser Colson, who has enjoyed a recent run of success with the Wellington Firebirds, dug them out of a hole.
Colson had entered in the ninth over after the three men before him had all been sent back without reaching double figures — and then set about rescuing Easts in style.
After some starts, he found a willing partner in Lauchie Johns and the pair was able to build and give the Eastern Suburbs innings some real substance.
Colson showed impressive hitting ability as he built his score with 15 fours and eight sixes on Cornwall Park number two, the the delight of the pavilion.
The sixes became more an more frequent as he tore through the 80s and 90s, and hitting three figures did not slow him at all — his 144 providing the majority of his side’s impressive total of 322/8.
Ili Tugaga also adding some late flourish at the end as he took Colson’s cue and struck a boundary and two sixes to boost the total.
In reply, Kaikorai looked to be going well early, but eventually continued a theme for the day of chases that simply couldn’t keep up the necessary momentum.
Volt Ryan Duffy
The Dunedin side’s top five all offered starts, but none could kick on to play the matchwinning hand they needed.
After the wickets of top order batsmen Liam Cotton and New Zealand U19 Captain and Volt Josh Finnie, no other Kaikorai player could get past 18.
Firebirds spinner Alecz Day
Their chase fell flat as Easts turned up the bowling heat. Lance Dry rotated his bowlers well as he mixed pace with spin and refused to let Kaikorai settle.
Jamie Gibson continued his solid all-round form as he picked up the final three Kaikorai wickets.
ST ALBANS v MANUKAU CITY
St Albans (Canterbury) 207/8 (Ben Langrope 87 not out, Robbie Polson 38; Ish Sodhi 3/40) beat Manukau City (Northern Districts) 200 (Tamati Clarke 74 not out; James Tapper 3/40, Tom Meyrick 3/43) by seven runs.
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A tight death bowling effort helped inflict a second consecutive loss on Manukau City, while St Albans stayed on a roll on a perfect autumn day at Auckland’s Cornwall Park.
After posting just over 200, St Albans knew they would need a top notch bowling effort to take back-to-back wins and, after having enjoyed the shorter boundaries of Cornwall’s number three ground a day earlier, it seemed many players struggled to make the adjustments to the much bigger main ground.
All but one of the wickets claimed by Manukau City were caught, including a caught and bowled to Sodhi (3-40).
Manukau looked to have St Albans in real strife early after having sent the Canterbury side in, but a big rescue effort from number six Ben Langrope helped them post a defendable total with his unbeaten 87 flying off just 91 balls, including three sixes.
Ben Langrope
Ish Sodhi again made his presence felt for Manukau City as he led the wicket-taking tally, though he was left kicking himself later in the match as the dangerman departed without score — much to St Albans’ relief.
With the bat, Manukau City simply couldn’t string together either one big partnership, or enough small ones, to nudge over the line.
Knight Nick Kelly
Entering in the 17th over, number five Tamati Clarke did his best to hold together the chase through the middle. He picked up the reins from a positive Nick Kelly (19 off 20) to top-score with an unbeaten 74 off 80 balls, but he simply didn’t have a player who could stick with him long enough.
His partnership with captain Ashwyn Herwels threatened to get them there, but the skipper fell seven runs short of the target in the 48th over to seal a good win for St Albans.
NAPIER TECH OLD BOYS V SUBURBS NEW LYNN
Napier Tech Old Boys (Central Districts) 370/9 (Christian Leopard 89, George Diack 51, Matt Edmondson 51, Indika Senarathne 47, Jurgen Andersen 42; Tem Hodson 3/49) beat Suburbs New Lynn (Auckland) 174 (James Parslow 40, Dane Watson 37; Jurgen Andersen 5/42, Indika Senarathne 3/38) by 196 runs
Stag Indika Senarathne made an impact with the ball
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After a tough first-up loss, Napier Tech Old Boys surged back with an impressive victory over Auckland’s Suburbs New Lynn.
The Central Districts side dominated the game from outset — and never took their foot off the gas as they looked to make the most of playing on the smaller number three ground.
The red “Texans” got off to an absolutely flying start and Suburbs struggled to pull them in from there.
All the top three went past 40 as they established a strong foothold in the game. Even after the early frontrunners were dismissed, there was plenty of other willing batsmen.
Young Christian Leopard once again showed his talents as he mixed six fours and six sixes on the way to 89.
Jurgen Anderson then started a fine all-round game as he chipped in with 42 runs late in the innings.
Suburbs faced a daunting tally and their Napier adversaries continued exerting their psychological dominance from the outset.
Both openers were dismissed without scoring.
Michael Barry
A defensive partnership from James Parslow and captain Michael Barry then put Suburbs back into the equation.
James Parlsow's influence comes to a sudden end
But after their wickets, there was little more resistance from the Suburbs middle order.
It wasn’t until some late dash from Dane Watson and Anas Patel that some spark returned to the Suburbs’ chase.
Tech Old Boys was eventually able to wrap things up in the 38th over to secure a whopping victory by nearly 200 runs, handing Suburbs their first defeat.
