Kaipaki XI defeat NZ Croatia side
Kaipaki XI bowlers put Croatia to a tough test frustrating batsmen at every turn
Kaipaki Cricket Club XI took on New Zealand Croatia last weekend at Kaipaki Oval in a fixture that has almost a decade of history. Captains Dylan Jeffries (Kaipaki) and Dom Smith-Hodgson (New Zealand Croatia) strode to the middle for the toss.
New Zealand Croatia won the toss and chose to bat first. Kaipaki opened the bowling with Matt Butcher and Sean Crotty.
Both bowlers complemented each other, with Crotty bowling a niggly length and moving the ball away from the right-handed batsmen.
Unfortunately for Croatia, they lost captain Smith-Hodgson early, caught behind by Andrew McLean off the bowling of Crotty.
Butcher then got amongst the wickets striking twice, offering both McLean and Sean Bonenkamp catches which they both accepted.
Butcher finished with 2/23 and Crotty 1/18. Croatia recovered to be 83-3 off 13 overs.
Then Kaipaki’s Erin Hunt came to the bowling crease.
Hunt didn’t just slow down the Croatian run rate but also removed NZ Croatia’s most dangerous player finishing with 1/29 off eight overs.
Hunt bowled in tandem with Mac Gilkison, who finished with 2/47.
The bowler of the innings was offspinner Sean Gutry, who finished with 4/18 off 5.3 overs.
In the field, McLean picked up two catches and a sharp stumping. Bonenkamp also took a catch and saved many runs in the outfield.
New Zealand Croatia were dismissed for 151.
Kaipaki opened the batting with Bonenkamp and New Zealand over40s representative Leighton Parsons.
New Zealand Croatia had two of the fastest bowlers seen at the Kaipaki Oval for many years, and they were backed up by Conor Lally.
Bonenkamp was first to go when he lost his leg stump.
Parsons was joined by young Harry Lowe. Parsons made a patient 25 and Lowe an attractive 31.
Fraser Ward played some attacking shots before he was dismissed as did crowd favourite McLean.
When captain Jeffries and allrounder Gutry came and went, Kaipaki were eight down and still
requiring 31 to win.
This brought together David Fox and Butcher at the crease. Fox hit four
boundaries all behind square and played some technically pleasing drives to finish 37 not-out.
Butcher rounded off a great allround game finishing with 25 not-out. Kaipaki XI got home to finish 153/8.