Three clubs lead cricket contest
Te Puke, Mount Maunganui and Greerton Singh XI lead the standings in the Western Bay’s reserve T20 competition.
A Reserve Grade hat-trick and a Tauranga Boys’ College batsman carrying his bat, were the highlights of the Western Bay of Plenty Labour weekend cricket played on Saturday.
Greerton Sikh XI all-rounder LS Bhatti, who bowls with great accuracy of a very short run-up grabbed a hat-trick in taking three wickets at a cost of just 4 runs, against Cadets in their Twenty 20 Section Two clash. The Sikh XI posted a big target reaching 173 for the loss of seven wickets, with LS Bhatti top scoring with 56 runs.
Cadets made a determined charge for the win points, before being restricted to 159/7 in their allotted 20 overs. George Catto was the best of the Cadets batting attack with an unbeaten 60, with LS Bhatti turning the momentum in the game with his three successive dismissals.
Despite sitting out the afternoon bye, the Sikh XI’s win over Cadets took them to the top of Section Two after the first four rounds of the T20 competition.
Last season Reserve Grade champions Te Puke and Mount Maunganui led the Section One points table. Te Puke chased down the 111 run target set by Aquinas College without losing a wicket then posted a comfortable victory over Greerton.
Mount Maunganui won an absolute thriller in their match-up with R&A Sangha. Led by a solid 48 from Logan Carr, the Mount side reached 138/8. There was tension on both sides entering the last over of the game, with both sides desperate for victory. The Mount Maunganui bowlers put the brakes on the Sangha batting attack, to restrict their opponents to 135/8 and claim a paper-thin victory.
Tauranga Boys’ College B Grade batsman, Josh Manners, carried his bat through his sides innings to post the best Western Bay Cricket score of the weekend with 81 not out, against new comers Papamoa Tangaroa. The Papamoa new recruits restricted TBC to 155/8 and then got home to a six-wicket win.
Other sides to post wins on B Grade opening day, were Papamoa PapaMOA’s, Singh CC and Papamoa Wanderers. Points: Papamoa Tangaroa 6, Papamoa PapaMOA’s 6, Singh CC 6, Papamoa
Wanderers 6,
WBOPCA Reserve Grade Twenty 20 Section One — Round Three
R&A Sangha 166/5 (Deepak Singh 68, GS Mahal 31) defeated Greerton 103 (Rob Veltman 37, Kuldeep Singh 3/29) Aquinas College 110/6 (Louis Robinson 28, Ryan Crossley 2/11, Cam Murray 3/12) lost to Te Puke 112/0 (Josh Earle 57no, Johnny Coulter 47no) Round Four
Greerton 95 (Chann Multani 33, Ryan Crossley 3/20, Luke Elliffe 3/8) lost to Te Puke 96/4 (Chris Rowe 29no)
Mount Maunganui 138/8 (Logan Carr 48, Gagan Singh 3/23) defeated R&A Sangha 135/8 (Gagan Singh 39, Jimmy Davis 4/18) Points table: Te Puke 6, Mount Maunganui 6, R&A Sangha 4, Aquinas College 0, Greerton 0.
Section Two — Round Three Greerton Sikh XI 173/7 (LS Bhatti 56, Rashpal Cheema 37, Morgan Bidois 3/20) defeated Cadets 159/7 (George Catto 60no, Kersley Corder 33, LS Bhatti 3/4 including a hat-trick) Singh CC 164/8 (Jasper Bhullar 40, Kuljit Singh 29, Joe Smythe 3/31) defeated Tauranga Boys’ College 88/7 (Hunter Dickson 36, Ravi Brar 3/31) Round Four
Katikati 80 (Ravi Brar 3/4, Nasib Kumar 3/29) lost to Greerton Singh XI 84/2 (Kuljit Singh 42no)
Cadets 157/9 (Matt Manners 47, Scott Curtis 4/10) defeated Tauranga Boys College 121 (Scott Curtis 28, Sam Owen 3/17)
Points table: Greerton Sikh XI 6, Singh CC 4, Cadets 4, Tauranga Boys College 2, Katikati 0.
WBOPCA B Grade Championship Mount Maunganui 127 (Jaskirat Singh 3/29, Kulwinder Singh 3/13) lost to Singh CC 128/6 (Jasvir Dhillon 52no)
Tauranga Boys’ College 155/8 (Josh Manners 81no, Aaron Barbour 3/37) lost to Papamoa Tangaroa 157/4 (Aaron Barbour 42, Andrew Boyd 41)
Papamoa Wanderers 173 (Mark Martin 34, Sarn Lee 33, Gurwinder Singh 3/17) defeated Albion 43 (Ivan Foord 5/13, Chris Uden 4/20) Papamoa PapaOMA’s 249/9 (Paul Dunn 53, Mark Divehall 49, Finn Watson 32, Brad Harding 32, Alex Tod 3/35) defeated Grasshoppers 210/9 (Grant Manners 60, Ray Body 56, Bob Curran 32, Tony Jackson 5/45) Katikati v Cadets to be played at a later date; Greerton the bye.
Points: Pa¯pa¯moa Tangaroa 6, Pa¯pa¯moa PapaOMA’s 6, Singh CC 6, Pa¯pa¯moa Wanderers 6, Mount Maunganui 0, Albion 0, Tauranga Boys College 0, Grasshoppers 0 — Cadets, Katikati, Greerton yet to play.