Takapuna into Jeff Crowe Cup final

Takapuna have knocked the Jeff Crowe Cup defending champions, Suburbs New Lynn, out of the Auckland club cricket competition.

Takapuna’s four wicket win at Onewa Domain on February 26 has set up a final against Cornwall to be played on March 19.

The limited overs semifinal between Takapuna and Suburbs was originally scheduled to be played on February 19, but grounds conditions saw it postponed a week.

Batting first, Suburbs posted a total of 193.

In spin-friendly conditions, Matt Latham starred for Takapuna taking 5/39 including a hattrick in the penultimate over of the innings.

Latham was backed up by Matt Jones who took 3/32 from his 10 overs.

In reply, Takapuna’s opening batsmen Guy Harley and Dan ter Braak both scored half centuries and Will O’Donnell chipped in with 35 as Takapuna chased the total down in the 40th over.

In the other semifinal, after engineering the early demise of one Cornwall opening batsman on February 19, North Shore struggled to dislodge the other; which ultimately led to their defeat.

Shore had a dream start when they ran Amit Dhadwal out without facing a ball in the first over of the innings, but fellow opener Shastryn Nair stuck around to score a season-high 93 runs as Cornwall posted total of 209 in the match that was reduced to a 48-over a side contest due to wet weather.

Shore’s Chamal Rajapaksha and Akash Choudhary took two wickets each.

Shore were 92/5 at the halfway point in their run chase.

After their exploits with the ball, Rajapaksha and Choudhary threatened to back it up with the bat, their partnership for the sixth wicket frustrating the Cornwall bowlers.

With 60 runs, Rajapaksha was Shore’s top run-scorer as his side were all out in the 45th over for 178.

Sam Anderson has only played a few matches for Cornwall this season, but he was the star with the bowl for the home side. He finished with figures of 3/33 off 8.4 overs.

This will be Cornwall’s third consecutive limited overs final. Takapuna last won the title in 2012/13 season.

DAVID JOSEPH / PHOTOTEK.NZ Takapuna’s Matt Jones took three wickets in his side’s win.