At a glance
Palmerston finally got off the mark in the club cricket competition with a win over Old Boys.
Palmerston produced their best batting effort of the season to post 262-6 from their 50 overs at Manawaroa Park on Sunday, then held their nerve to bowl Old Boys out 247 in the 48th over.
Because it was a rep weekend, all teams were down on regular troops.
The Palmerston openers made a solid start, with Russell Swindells making 29 from 97 balls and newcomer Gourav Aheer scoring 35.
Redcaps captain Mike Meyer then scored 74 at nearly a run a ball and Corey Perrett added 30 late in the innings.
Old Boys’ best bowler was spinner Trent Mcgrath, taking 2-20 from his 10 overs. Leg-spinner Brynn Cleaver took 2-32 from six overs.
Old Boys then had a good crack at the chase, but lost regular wickets and left themselves too much work to do in the final 10 overs before they were all out with two overs left.
There were a couple of smaller contributions from Old Boys’ batting lineup, but Mcgrath was also their top batsman, scoring 60.
Opening bowler Carlos Jensen took 3-35 and Gurpreet Singh took two wickets.
It was Old Boys’ first loss, but they are still on top of the table.
United stopped their slide of three losses in a row, beating Marist by 111 runs.
United posted what turned out to be a good total batting first of 207-9, then rolled Marist for just 96.
Hayden Hill came in at first drop for United and set the platform for their innings with 65 from 108 balls Palmerston 262-6 (Mike Meyer 74, Gaheer Aheer 35, Corey Perrett 30; Trent Mcgrath 2-20, Brynn Cleaver 2-32) bt Old Boys 247 (Mcgrath 60; Carlos Jensen 3-35, Gurpreet Singh) by 15 runs.
United 207-9 (Hayden Hill 65, Manpreet Singh 25; Connor Morriss 3-30, Dylan Lynch 2-34, Matt Wells 2-35) bt Marist 96 (Lynch 26*; Cam Harris 4-35, Nathan Hill 2-23, Braden Rowe 2-28) by 111 runs.
Freyberg 209-8 (Charles Parker 42, Luke Mcconaghty 30, Ravi Pathirana 28*, Cam Mcnaught 26, Luke Murray 22; Jack Wenham 3-31, Ben O’connor 2-30) bt PNBHS 119 (Caleb Hansen 30, James Stratton 22; Thomas Kuggeleijn 4-14, Pathirana 2-19) by 90 runs.
Points: Old Boys 20, Freyberg 20, United 10, Marist 10, PNBHS 10, Palmerston 5.
Next week: Old Boys v PNBHS, Freyberg v Marist, United v Palmerston.
and a few others chipped in.
Seamers Connor Morriss and Matt Wells were the most consistent of the Marist bowlers, taking 3-30 and 2-35 respectively, while Dylan Lynch had 2-34.
Morriss also got two run outs. Hill was out in the 43rd over with the score at 152-5, as Marist had a period of tight bowling in the middle of the innings.
But Manpreet Singh (25) and Campbell Ingram (21) boosted United’s total with some late runs after the Marist seamers had struck.
Marist’s batting then keeled over in 29.1 overs as veteran United paceman Cam Harris struck with 4-35, including the top three batsman. Nathan Hill and Braden Rowe chimed in with two wickets each as Marist were reduced to 28-5 and then 63-9.
Only four batsmen reached double figures, but Marist were lucky Lynch scored 26 not out from 30 balls at No 10 to make their score more respectable.
Second-placed Freyberg opened up a gap on the rest of the chasing pack by beating Palmerston North Boys’ High School by 90 runs.
The win gives Freyberg a twowin advantage of the three teams tied on two wins.
Freyberg scored 209-8 in their innings, with opener Charles Parker’s 42 the best offering, putting on an opening stand of 79 with Cam Mcnaught, who made 26.
Luke Mcconaghty scored 30 at No 3, Luke Murray 22 at No 4 and Ravi Pathirana was run out in the last over for 28.
The pick of the schoolboy bowlers was spinner Jack Wenham, who took 3-31 from seven overs, including the wicket of his older brother Harry for 17.
Spin twin Ben O’connor took 2-30 from eight overs.
Boys’ High’s bowling and fielding effort was fine, but then their batting let them down and they battled their way to 119 in 47 overs.
Caleb Hansen top scored with 30 at No 3 and No 5 James Stratton made 22
Their best partnership was for the 42 runs for second wicket between Hansen and Tom Tremain (17) and at 49-1 after 12 overs they were in a reasonable position.
But they collapsed as Freyberg medium pacer Thomas Kuggeleijn bowled a tidy nine overs for 4-14 and spinner Pathirana took 2-19.
Sean Fulton got two run outs.