Tough going for Manawatū women
Manawatū’s women’s cricketers were on the receiving end at the Central Districts twenty20 tournament in Levin.
Manawatū’s batting didn’t fire at the two-day tournament as they lost all four of their games at Donnelly Park and Weraroa Domain at the weekend.
Taranaki won the tournament, beating Wairarapa by 30 runs in Sunday’s final.
Taranaki batted first and scored 108-6 where Shannen Elliot top scored with 42 not out. Esther Lanser and Ocean Bartlett took two wickets apiece.
Wairarapa could only muster 78 in 16 overs, with opener Georgia Atkinson making 17 and Tahlia Jones-dennes 23 at No 7.
Taranaki bowler Aimee Watkins took 3-17, while Taila Hurley took 2-8 and Kelsey Husband 2-31.
In Manawatū’s first game they were beaten by 48 runs by Wairarapa.
Wairarapa scored 106-4 batting first, where Melissa Hansen scored 43 and Lanser scored 31 not out.
Manawatū were then restricted to just 58-9 in 16.5 overs as Hansen took 3-6.
Melissa Murray and Ashtuti Kumar both made 12.
In the second game, Manawatū’ lost to the combined XI, made up of players from Wairarapa, Wellington and Horowhenua Kāpiti, by seven wickets.
Manawatū’ batted first and scored 115-4, with Murray’s 24 the top score and Olivia West was the next best with 19.
Rebecca Burns then hit 60 not out for the combined team and Thamsyn Newton scored 23 not out as they reached 119-3 in 17.2 overs.
Manawatū played the combined team a second time and lost by three runs. The combined team scored 106-5 batting first, with opener Macy Lyford making 51.
Grace Minnis took 2-4 bowling for Manawatū .
Manawatū’s top-order batting didn’t fire and it took 23 from West at No 8 and 19 not out from Mikaela Greig to get them close to the target, but they could only manage 103-9 from their 20 overs.
Erin Buckland and Jordan Bolger took took 2-6 and 2-5, respectively, for the combined team.
In their other game, Manawatū lost to Taranaki by seven wickets.
Manawatū posted 124-5 batting first, with Greig making 50 at No 3 and West scored 17.
Watkins took 3-3 from two overs for Taranaki and Kelsey Husband took 2-22.
Watkins then blasted 66 from 30 balls for Taranaki and Central Hind Nat Dodd finished on 33 not out from 32 balls.
A combined Manawatū and Wairarapa team will play Auckland A at Taupō this weekend.