Lads from Nelson too strong in the end
The Marlborough primary school rep cricket team struggled to make headway against their Nelson counterparts at Horton Park on Sunday.
In a non-tournament fixture, Nelson dominated from the outset, their bowlers and fielders combining expertly to restrict the home side to 96 runs.
Against exceptionally-tight bowling Marlborough lost wickets regularly and scored slowly, their standout batsman being Jack Kelly with a hard-fought 26. Tim Petrie was the other main contributor with 18.
For Nelson, spinner Salon Niraula continued his recent dominance over the Marlborough batsmen, picking up the outstanding figures of 5-13.
In reply Nelson made 165-3, led by their outstanding player Luke Kilworth, who finished with a superb 92, playing shots all round the ground off both the front and back foot.
The Marlborough bowlers toiled hard with little success as Nelson pushed on past Marlbor- ough’s score before sending the home side in to bat again.
In their second innings, Marl- borough made 110 for the loss of three wickets. Once again Jack Kelly led the way with an unbeaten 46, well supported by Cooper Roberts with 33. Although this was a disappointing result for Marlborough, it had to be measured against the strength of an outstanding Nelson team.