Two nailbiters for Sports cricketers
Te Awamutu Sports Blue cricket sponsored by V.E. Vets played Fraser Tech at the Kihikihi Domain and winning of the toss only meant one thing, bat first.
After a shaky start, Curtly Harper and Kristian Clarke dug in and scored 43 each.
Their 79-run partnership had Blue in a good position but then wickets started to fall regularly.
Zac Gibson came in at four and smashed a very important 56 off 39 balls. Blue were eventually all out in the 45th over for 207.
The second innings couldn’t have started any better for Blue, with opening bowlers Clarke and Campbell McKegg ripping through the top order.
Tech were reeling at 5-26 until Sam Sinclair and Josh Dinan came together. They got the run chase back on track with a 90-run partnership. Dinan was removed for 42 in the 32nd over for 116.
Sinclair kept going but also kept running out of batting
partners. Around the carnage, he kept ticking the runs all the way to the last over with one wicket in hand and only requiring two runs for a great win.
Blue weren’t quite ready to give in yet, and on the first ball of the 50th over young Lochie Bolstad charged in from the his bowling mark.
Sinclair tried to hit him into the speedway but only managed a top edge to Brandon Weal at gully who safely took the catch up remove him for 93. A great win for Blue.
Only a short drive up the road at Albert Park, PML sponsored Te Awamutu Gold engaged in a classic encounter with Waitete.
The travelling side won the toss and chose to bowl first in what was the play-off for third place in the Peter Bennet Cup.
Te Awamutu Gold weren’t discouraged by the toss and their opening combination of Tuwhakaiti Winsor and Michael Aitken were eager to get out there. The pair occupied the crease for 10 overs, putting on a partnership of 47 which had the Gold team in a solid position in the 40-over match.
After the openers fell and number three batsman Carl Warner was out caught and bowled, it was left to skipper Clint Sinclair and the in-form Aaron Murtagh to get things back on track.
The pair settled into their innings and guided the home side to drinks (20 overs) with the score at 81-3.
On a field with sizeable boundaries, it was hard to know what a good score would be and the matter wasn’t helped by Gold continuing to lose wickets at key times. Winsor, Aitken, Sinclair and Brett Christopher were all looking comfortable at the crease before all getting out in the 20s.
This was the story of the innings as the home side were all out for 148, an innings that lacked a big score by a top order batsman.
Cricket is a game of two halves — but in this case it was a game of four quarters.
Neither side had their noses in front and the teams fought hard in a match where every run mattered.
Waitete found themselves three wickets down at drinks, with a similar score to what the Gold team had in the first half of their innings.
This meant the game was poised and Waitete captain Jamie Maarhuis held the key.
With him still at the crease having opened for the visitors, PML Gold knew he would be a big scalp.
Maarhuis showed great determination before being dismissed for 49 and with the score at 116-5 it was all on.
Mike Pearson bowled a tidy eight overs of spin to end with figures of 3-35, and Murtagh picked up the key wicket of Maarhuis, but it was a disciplined display of bowling from the entire bowling group that took this game right down to the wire.
Gold thought the game was perched in their favour when Waitete still required 50 runs with three wickets in hand.
However, a stunning partnership between the tailenders swung momentum back in the favour of the visiting team.
The partnership saw Waitete needing just four runs to win and still three wickets in hand, however Te Awamutu opening bowler AJ Mittell had one last-ditch attempt at victory.
With his first ball of his last over he was able to break the partnership and put a few nerves onto the incoming batsmen; he then knocked over the number 10 first ball and was on a hat-trick with Gold needing just one more wicket for victory.
The hat-trick ball was right on the money as was the rest of the over, but the number 11 was good enough to block the over out and allow his team mate to sneak Waitete over the line in the following over.
A great game of cricket played in great spirits.