Limited overs cricket lights up

Runs flowed in the third round of Jeff Crowe Cup action.

Takapuna beat Waitakere in the limited overs match despite some fight from the Waitakere batting lineup. Will O’Donnell was the shining light for the home side top scoring with 85. Chasing 260 for victory Waitakere fell 42 runs short. Aaron Watson with five wickets for 41 runs was the pick of the Takapuna bowlers.

It was a run fest at Vauxhall Road with North Shore scoring 319/9 to beat Birkenhead by 93 runs. Openers Ryan Thompson and Matt Selby laid the platform for the Shore, Thompson scoring 47 and Selby 55. They stumbled a bit in the middle before number seven C Rajapaksha came in and plastered it all around the park on his way to 94 from 61 balls, his innings including five sixes and eight fours.

Birkenhead reached 226. Solid contributions from Laurie Agnew (48) and Jeremy Houghton (66) not enough to get them home. Rajapaksha completed a particularly good day, capping his runs with bowling figures of 3/47 from his 10 overs.

Suburbs New Lynn claimed a 77 run win over East Coast Bays. Auckland Aces player Sean Solia scored 126 from 130 balls, as Suburbs reached 267/9. In reply the East Coast Bays’ Richard and Andy Lane both scored freely at times, however the visitors consistently lost wickets in the chase and were all out for 190.