Cheviot charge to impressive victory
Wins for Cheviot, LeestonSouthbridge and Ohoka marked the switch back to the one-day format in country cricket at the weekend.
After rounds of Twenty20, it was a return to the 45-over CRV Ambreed Country Premier One Day competition on Saturday.
At Lincoln Domain, cellardwellers Lincoln came within a lusty blow of their first win of the competition.
The road-tripping Cheviot Magpies elected to bat first and posted a par-score of 194, with opener Harrison Darling continuing his fine season with a well-made 61 off 88 balls.
Drew Sporke was the pick of the bowlers, grabbing four wickets.
Lincoln made a shaky start to their chase, with Cheviot’s Will Smith knocking off the top order, and leaving them reeling at 66/5.
But middle-order batsman Josh Suzana played a sterling hand, smoking 68 off 81 balls and taking the game down to the final ball.
Needing four to win, Suzana lucked out and was bowled by rising star Angus Sidey, who held his nerve to claim the emphatic win for Cheviot.
A star-studded clash of the heavyweights played out at Leeston Park on Saturday.
Leeston-Southbridge batted first against visiting Darfield and after a slow start, posted an imposing 228/8 in their allotted 45 overs.
Harry Chamberlain (62 runs off 94 balls) and brother Sam Chamberlain (48 off 70) led the charge, but there were solid contributions down the order, with every batsman coming in with a positive intent.
Zak Foulkes was again the pick of the Darfield bowlers, taking 2/25 in his nine overs, and showing why he is on the fringes of breaking into the Canterbury team.
After seeing off first-class seamer Will Williams, Darfield made their way through to 48/2 after 12 overs, bringing Jesse Frew to the crease.
While Frew was in, Darfield felt like they had a chance of running down the total, especially when he formed an 81-run partnership with Ryan Hughes (26 off 38) for the fourth wicket.
But when the canny off-spin of Tim Gruijters had Frew trapped LBW for 79 in the 43rd over, Leeston-Southbridge quickly wrapped up the solid 27-run win.
At Weedons Domain, Ohoka thrashed Weedons by 120 runs, thanks to fine knocks by Will Hamilton (71 off 80) and Toby Beale (62 off 89), and a fivewicket haul from George Mauger.
Southbrook, meanwhile, forfeited its match against rivals Sefton and OxfordRangiora had the bye.