Duke, Muller feature in draw

Albion 213 all out drew with North East Valley 120 for six

Albion put up a competitive total at Bishopscourt but could not get the better of North East Valley on a wet day.

Dan Duke scored 73 for Albion while Tim Ford chimed in with 64 as the Albion team put together a decent total, though it took it 52 overs.

The match was delayed by rain and did not start until 1pm. It finished just before 8pm as 96 overs had to be competed in the declaration cricket format.

Travis Muller bowled well for Valley and picked up a fivewicket bag.

North East Valley was keen to hunt down the total but lost a couple of wickets in the opening dozen overs and slipped behind the pace.

Otago Volts bowler Matt Bacon has missed the firstclass game in Alexandra due to a knee injury but it came right quickly. He had a training session and played for Albion on Saturday. He grabbed three wickets and always threatened.

When Llew Johnson got out, North East Valley faced a steep climb to victory and was no longer interested in the chase. Johnson had played club cricket in North Otago on Friday night for his home club, Valley, so it was a busy weekend for the promising batsman.

The last few overs were maidens as Valley protected wickets and Muller was stubborn in his defiance.

UniversityGrange 44 all out lost to Green Island 45 for three by seven wickets

Out at Sunnyvale, rain did not dampen the home side’s fortunes as it had a commanding win over the new boys.

UniversityGrange was asked to bat first and struggled to get anything going. It was all out for 44 in the 30th over.

The new side to the senior grade failed to make three figures last week when it scored 97 against North East Valley but it did not even get to 50 at Sunnyvale.

There were four ducks in the UniversityGrange innings and Joshua Taylor scored nearly half of his side’s runs, getting to 20.

The chief destroyer for Green Island was Blair Soper with a fivewicket bag, while Dion Lobb picked up three wickets in his 400th match.

Green Island made no race of it and Tom Beaton won it on his own, scoring 40 of the 45 runs the home side scored, winning the game in the 14th over.

CarisbrookDunedin 86 all out lost to Taieri 87 for four wickets by six wickets.

Taieri was always in control on its home patch and comfortably disposed of CarisbrookDunedin at Brooklands.

The visiting team batted first and scored a paltry 86, dismissed in the 32nd over.

Bowlers Patrick Arnold and Kurt Johnson batted in the top order but did not spend long at the wicket, and the middle order struggled to get anything going.

Marcus Frost took four cheap wickets and captain Fraser Colson also got in on the act.

Taieri had a few wobbles chasing the target and was 23 for four but Frost and Jaryd Taig came together and got the side home.