Wanderers pile on runs as Carey cracks ton in opener

The wait’s been worth it for Pete Carey and his Wanderers’ teammates after they left Athletic College Old Boys writhing on the Brightwater turf on Saturday.

With the first two rounds of this season’s Car Company Nelson premier 110-over cricket series lost to bad weather, Wanderers wasted no time in establishing themselves with a comprehensive batting effort on their home pitch.

Carey highlighted Wanderers’ mammoth score of 335-4 declared off 52 overs with the season’s first premier club century, before the home team dismissed ACOB for 118 off 29.4 overs for a massive 217-run win.

The experienced left-hander hit 123 runs off 130 balls, including 19 fours, after compiling an impressive 199 runs with Joe O’Connor in their opening stand.

O’Connor produced a typically belligerent knock, smashing 90 runs off 80 balls and hitting seven fours and five sixes, before Carey also added 41 runs in tandem with Nathan Brown for the third wicket when Carey finally departed at 258-3.

Brown and Ollie O’Connor twisted the knife with an unbroken 59-run fifth-wicket stand to leave Brown unbeaten on 68 off just 62 balls at the declaration, with O’Connor not out 21.

Left-arm spinner Sam Halsey provided ACOB’s attack some consolation with 3-61 and at 58-1 in reply, ACOB might have even contemplated some outside hope of a competitive chase.

It never materialised. Once opener Daniel Endersby’s wicket fell at 58-2, Wanderers’ bowlers wrapped up the remaining eight wickets for the addition of just 60 runs – including Josh Clarkson for a first ball duck.

Liam Baird still managed to top-score with 40 runs, opener James Graham (20) and Dave Boocock (25) also contributing. But with Hayden Taylor (4-32), Joe O’Connor (3-10) and Matt Cross (2-19) leading the assault, ACOB’s resistance was minimal.

A crucial half century by Dylan Eginton, backed up by a superb team bowling performance, helped steer Stoke Nayland to a 52-run win over Nelson College at Ngawhatu Park.

Chasing just 145 runs for victory, Nelson College were eventually rolled for 92 runs off 51.5 overs as Stoke Nayland’s bowlers gradu- ally turned the screws.

Having been sent in, Stoke Nayland had earlier been in serious trouble at 59-6 after the College bowlers had similarly chipped away at the top order, only opening batsman Kurt Pahl making any impression with 21 runs.

Eginton eventually seized the initiative, partnering Aditya Puri in a critical 68-run seventh-wicket stand before finally falling for 73 at 142-8, having hit six fours and four sixes off 95 balls.

But while the College bowlers had been unrelenting, left-arm spinner Felix Murray (3-23) and seamer Tom Zohrab (3-36) sharing the major spoils, Stoke Nayland’s experienced attack proved even more destructive.

Despite a 35-run second-wicket stand between David Zohrab (12) and Ben Hazlett (21), Stoke Nayland’s bowlers took control to ultimately leave the innings in tatters.

Skipper Ryan Edwards led from the front with excellent figures of 4-17 off his 14 overs, Puri taking 3-26 off 12 and Eginton also economical with 1-16 off 11 overs. Brad Duncan (1-13) and Courteney MacKenzie (0-5) also kept it tight.

Waimea Toi Toi United got home with three balls to spare against Wakatu at Victory Square to seal an 80-run win.

Openers Tom Ingham and Steve Binnie had laid the foundations for WTTU’s innings of 211 with a solid 72-run opening partnership, Ingham gone for 33 and Binnie eventually departing for a gamehigh 68 at 118-3, having faced 109 balls and hitting six fours and three sixes.

Jon Routhan (37) and Cade Armstrong (18) helped provide some substance through the middle of the innings as seamer Malcolm Mitchell (4-47) began to get amongst the wickets, with Doug Seward (19) the last man out in the 58th over. Ryan Hooper (3-25) and Dhamesha Rathnayake (2-38) provided the best support.

Left 52 overs to achieve their 212-run target, Wakatu’s batsmen never really threatened despite solid starts by Brad Smith, who hit 39 runs off 33 balls, including three fours and three sixes, and Campbell McLean (24).

It was ultimately left to representative seamer Sam Baxendine (3-14) to wrap up the innings, Baxendine capturing the wickets of Rathnayake and Cody Golding off consecutive deliveries to dismiss Wakatu for 131 with just three balls remaining. Scoreboards: