Hat-trick of tons for Joon

Just a few days short of his 35th birthday, Deepak Joon issued another reminder of his prolific runscoring talent with a third successive century in Wellington club cricket.

The Hutt District left-hander plundered 141 at a run-a-ball to guide his team to an 80-run victory over North City at Linden Park in round five of the Ewen Chatfield Trophy 50-over competition.

Joon, who made his first-class debut in India in 2004, made seven Plunket Shield appearances for Wellington in the 2014-15 season including an innings of 113 against Northern Districts but wasn’t required since.

He showed his class again to help Hutt post 252-6 batting first on Saturday.

It proved more than enough as spinners Rachin Ravindra (3-40) and Brett Johnson (4-40) accounted for the North City batting lineup who were dismissed for 172. It left Hutt District fourth on the ladder, splitting powerhouses Eastern Suburbs and Karori, ahead of this weekend’s double-header.

Onslow made it five from five, and built a five-point lead over Johnsonville at the top of the ladder, when they beat Taita by 58 runs at Fraser Park.

Onslow scored 184 thanks to 55 from captain Sean O’Connor at the top of the order and 32 from Calvin Harrison. Onslow quickly reduced Taita to 8-3 in reply and it only improved marginally from there as the hosts folded for 126. Harrison (4-34) and O’Connor (3-36) both completed strong all-round contributions for the competition pace-setters.

At Anderson Park, Karori recovered from 86-6 to chase down Collegians’ 208 and win by three wickets.

Ben McMahon’s 68 off 40 helped the home side through to a competitive total that looked to be beyond Karori when they collapsed, before Jono Sole and Harry Wright added 118.

Sole had a standout day, taking 4-47 to go with his matchwinning 78, while Wright was 47 not out as Karori got home with nine overs to spare.

Easts bounced back from their loss to Hutt District with a clinical 105-run win over PetoneEastbourne.

Batting first, Jamie Gibson (69) and Andrew Fullerton-Smith (54) pushed Easts to a competitive 257-9 as Sunny Chan and Kieran Butler each took three wickets for Petone.

Luke Georgeson’s 4-43 was backed up by Lance Dry’s 3-30 as Petone never got close in their chase and were dismissed for 152.

Johnsonville kept up their chase of the leaders as they accounted for Upper Hutt by eight wickets.

Johnsonville skittled their hosts for 111 thanks to 4-36 from Vishi Jeet, and were never in trouble in their controlled chase thanks to Scott Mudgway (32), returning Firebird Luke Woodcock (36 not out) and Andrew Salter (34 not out).

At Kelburn Park, University made hard work of a threewicket victory over winless Naenae Old Boys.

The visitors posted 213-7 with Nick Palmer’s 35 their best. University lost early wickets before South African Devon Conway continued his quest for a Firebirds spot with 67 not out to see his team home in the 43rd over.