Queenstown Ballarat downs Albion
WINS to Queenstown Ballarat, Blacks Hill and Maniototo highlighted Central Otago cricket as the competition reentered the 40over Koford Cup senior and Partridge Cup senior reserve stage of the season.
Albion made the trip over the hill to take on the Queenstown Ballarat side and posted 192. Josh Roberts (62) and Ryan Wheeler (38) were the main contributors.
Swaran Sandhu (with three for 20) and veteran Adam Hubber (two for 5), led the bowling effort for the home side.
In reply, the Queenstown side was reasonably untroubled and reached the target of 193 for the loss of just four wickets. Englishman Harry Gadd topscored with 79, and Eathan Kean added 62 to complete the victory.
Tom Myles was the pick of the visiting bowlers, with three for 45 in the losing effort.
Blacks Hill got its season back on track with a convincing win at home in Omakau over the well performed Queenstown Wakatipu side.
Blacks Hill completed a sixwicket win after restricting the visiting team to 114 when batting first. Gabe White topscored with 35, while Angus Herron chipped in with 19 batting at No 9. The wickets were shared by the bowlers, with Andy Singh taking three for 22 off his eight overs.
The home side took just 17.2 overs to chase the target down, finishing at 115 for four. Tom Hutton took the bull by the horns and belted 52, while George Catto was not out 23 at the finish. Herron took two for 18 off his five overs.
Maniototo pulled off a great victory over Cromwell, chasing down the 247 required for the win with just one wicket left and three balls remaining.
SS Singh (130) and Sam Pimm (42) got Cromwell off to a great start, putting on 89 for the first wicket, then Mark Knox chimed in with 22. All the bowlers copped a bit of tap, with the exception of Country Hawke Cup bowler Sam Blakely, who took two for 31 off eight overs.
Maniototo too got off to a brisk start, with Marc Cormack’s 52 made from 34 balls, and including 11 boundaries.
Sam Pringle continued the momentum with 48 off 42 balls, including four fours and three sixes, which kept the home side up with the required run rate.
The Maniototo lower order brought the team home, as Kieran Parker (37), Sam Blakely (23) and Willie Miller (20 not out) got the job done. Centurion Singh also took two wickets for 31, and Andy Lyne had the best figures of three for 41.