Easts too good for Karori
Eastern Suburbs will be defending their national club cricket title after cruising past Karori in the Ewen Chatfield Trophy final on Sunday.
Karori captain Jarred Sewell won the toss and elected to bat in the 50-over decider at Kilbirnie Park, but had to watch on as his top order crumbled to be 54-5 in the 21st over.
He dug in at that point while Jono Sole blasted a quickfire half century at the other end to give Karori some hope.
It was short-lived though, as evergreen Easts captain Lance Dry collected three quick wickets to clean up the tail, dismissing Karori for 146 as Sewell was left stranded on 40 not out from 83 balls.
Dry finished with excellent figures of 3-19 from nine overs, while Peter Connell was the chief destroyer early, taking 3-33 from eight overs.
Easts made short work of the total, as openers Jeremy Dean (55 off 77) and Ben Orton (36 off 46) put on 70 for the first wicket. Jamie Gibson and Fraser Colson also chipped in as Easts won by seven wickets with more than 18 overs to spare.
It means Easts will have a crack at back-to-back national titles later this year. They became the first Wellington team in six years to win the title when taking out last year’s tournament in Auckland.
In Saturday’s Pearce Cup action, Hutt District were the only team to complete an outright victory. Ben Skilton’s four-wicket haul helped them skittle Upper Hutt for just 98 in 23.3 overs to secure a 70-run win.
Hutt District batsman Troy Johnson’s 132 helped them to 224-6 declared, before they seized control with Dominic Brown’s haul of 5-34 helping dismiss Upper Hutt for 130.
Easts got within two wickets of outright victory over Johnsonville who clung on to finish at 184-8 at stumps, chasing 257.
Connell snared 6-38 as Easts dismissed Johnsonville for 100 to claim a first innings lead of 51, before Jamie Gibson’s innings of 90 helped set a challenging target.
Taita only batted once at Karori Park, with Jason Doyle’s top score of 71 guiding them to 216 and a first innings lead of 33. Karori were 198-7 in their second innings at stumps.
In the second-tier Hazlett Trophy, Onslow had a 10-wicket win over North City after rep bowler Matt McEwan slammed 92 off 74 balls.
Victoria University beat Naenae Old Boys by an innings and 62 runs after skittling the visitors for 132 and 142, while PetoneEastbourne were 95-5 at stumps chasing 166 to beat Wellington Collegians.