Captain’s century proves decisive
A neat century from Bayleys Central Indians’ Captain Stephen Nicholls led his side to a match-winning 242 for the loss of seven wickets against Generation Homes Lake Taupo¯ last weekend.
Daniel Ford was also in good touch with the bat with 69 runs, with Roger Urbahn taking four wickets.
The Central Indians’ total was a bridge too far for the Lake Taupo¯ team, as they were dismissed 74 runs short of their target. Jack Wiggins was the best of the Taupo¯ team, batting 68 runs, while the Rotorua side’s wickets were shared around.
Result: Bayleys Central Indians 242/7 (Stephen Nicholls 100, Daniel Ford 69; Roger Urbahn 4/52) defeated Generation Homes Lake Taupo¯ 171 (Jack Wiggins 68).
In the Bay of Plenty Cup, Eves Realty Greerton have one hand on the trophy with a round remaining in the first-past-the-post competition. They won a battle of attrition against Bond & Co Mt Maunganui, with all 20 wickets falling in the match.
Greerton won the toss and batted first on their home pitch at Pemberton Park last Saturday. The Mount bowlers put plenty of pressure on the Greerton top order, and with 99 runs up for the loss of five wickets, the hosts were in some trouble.
Batting at seven, Umesh Ranaraja dug deep into his batting arsenal to hit his side’s top score of 59, with Brandon Laurenzi contributing 34 runs, as the home side were bowled out for 202. Mount veteran Peter Drysdale, pulled some more rabbits out of his hat of experience, grabbing five wickets at a cost of 28 runs. Ben Musgrave anchored the Mt Maunganui reply with a hard-fought 44 runs. Three further Mount batsmen got promising starts reaching the 20s, without going on, as the Greerton bowlers started to take control. A five-wicket bag from James Boyd did plenty of damage as Mt Maunganui were removed 22 runs short of their target.
With Mt Maunganui sitting out the last round bye, the only theoretical challenger to stop Greerton taking out the 2020 Bay of Plenty Cup title, is Flying Mullet Te Puke — who would have to comprehensively defeat Papamoa to pick up bonus points and then hope the Holland Beckett Law Tauranga Boys College upset Greerton.
Points table (provisional) Greerton 48, Mount Maunganui 44, Te Puke 41, Central Indians 35, Tauranga Boys College 25, Papamoa 24, Cadets 23, Lake Taupo¯ 9, Geyser 7.