Grassroots

Auckland

The Jeff Crowe Cup resumed on Saturday after five weeks of two-day cricket and nobody could have asked for a better day.

At Ken Maunder Park, the day didn’t start well for Takapuna — Sam Devereaux took two quick wickets, dismissing Max O’Dowd in the first over and Rob Sehmi in the third. The Pirates’ misery was compounded when Craig Cachopa was run out for no score by a direct hit from Jonny Basset-Graham. From 5-3, it was hard slog for Takapuna, as Guy Harley and Shane Setia battled with the defensive field set by Suburbs. The pair put on almost all their runs in ones and twos — the first boundary took 13 overs.

They laid a decent foundation, so when Hendrick van Vuuren came in, he was able to make a quickfire 65 off 54. Assisted by Ross ter Braak (16), van Vuuren pushed Takapuna’s total to 205 off their 50 overs. Devereaux finished with 6-30 off his 10 overs. Suburbs’ start was in contrast to Takapuna’s, with Martin Guptill racing to 29 off 14 before he was bowled by Matt Jones, and opening partner Raj Majithia (41) also had no trouble finding the boundary.

There was a touch of speed wobbles though, about the middle overs. Jordan Mcleod (32) and BassetGraham (18) had to survive some tight bowling from Daniel James while still keeping the score ticking over. Suburbs reached the total in 44 overs, winning by two wickets.

In other round-three Jeff Crowe Cup games, Ellerslie lost to University by four wickets after they were bowled out for 92, East Coast Bays scored 169 all out and lost to Grafton by four wickets, Waitakere reached 235-7 to defeat Birkenhead by 102 runs, Parnell reached 319-4 and bowled out Papatoetoe for 186 to win by 133 runs, Howick Pakuranga scored 238-6 to defeat Cornwall by 35 runs and Eden Roskill scored 139 and lost to North Shore by two wickets.

In round five of the Prichard Cup, Takapuna scored 66 all out and lost to Cornwall by seven wickets, Howick Pakuranga scored 307-2 to defeat Unitak by 201 runs and Parnell scored 143 to defeat Papatoetoe by 34 runs.

Bay of Plenty

Greerton made relatively easy work of booking a Baywide Cup home final next weekend after winning away to Tauranga Boys’ College on Saturday.

Poverty Bay batsman Nick Hendrie led the way for Greerton with 68 runs as the visitors posted 235-7. Pip Thickpenny, returning from injury, posted an unbeaten 59, with Charles Williams the best of the Tauranga Boys bowling attack with 3-26. Greerton quick Dan Spencer was in good form in taking three wickets, as Tauranga Boys were removed for 104 to give Greerton a solid 131 run win. Cameron Templer was the best of the Tauranga Boys batsmen with a hard-fought 23 runs. Greerton were unbeaten in the Baywide Cup round robin and also retained the Western Bay Cricket challenge prize of the Baker Cup after defeating the Tauranga students.

Defending champions Cadets earned the other Baywide Cup finals berth when they outstayed Mount Maunganui in an encounter that went into the early evening before a result was declared. Cadets batted first and set their long-time rivals a big target after reaching 245-7. Batting at four, Sean Davey anchored his side’s big score with 91 runs. Skipper Jono Boult (56) and Marcel Collett (48) also made big contributions to the Cadets total. Dominic Crombie grabbed three wickets for the Mount. Mount Maunganui were right in the game before the Cadets bowlers fought back to bowl them out a few runs short of victory. Ben Musgrave and Dan Smith both posted half-centuries, with Jono Boult and Sean Davey backing up their batting heroics with three wickets apiece.

Cadets’ win ended Te Puke’s hopes of making the final. Te Puke made 224-7 against Central Indians, with Iman Singh top-scoring with 75. Central Indians’ overseas all-rounder Jake Rowe scored an unbeaten 101 off 111 balls but his side were dismissed for 217.

ISPS Handa Premiership

Title-chasing Eastern Suburbs have missed out on the chance to break into the top two while Hamilton Wanderers, Canterbury United and Hawke’s Bay United have all made up ground on the leading trio after the latest bout of action in the ISPS Handa Premiership yesterday.

With defending champions Auckland City and Team Wellington both not in action due to the latter’s involvement in the upcoming Fifa Club World Cup, third-placed Suburbs had the chance to leap-frog Wellington into second place and draw nearer to table-topping Auckland in the process.

But they were able to pick up only one point in a frustrating afternoon for Danny Hay’s side at Riverhills Park in Pakuranga, a stoic defensive display from Tasman United holding the Lilywhites to a scoreless draw.

Tasman went into the match with just one win and it was hardly surprising that their game plan involved getting plenty of men behind the ball and making it difficult for Suburbs to break them down with their possession-based style.

Despite seeing little of the ball, the tactic worked for Tasman, who were also indebted to an outstanding display in goal from Nick Stanton.

“It’s tough to break down 11 men but I think the drop of the ball just didn’t really fall our way, we could have scored one or two there,” Suburbs captain Tim Payne said. “We have to be pleased with the performance because I think we dominated the whole game but to come away with a draw is disappointing.”

Tasman counterpart Fox Slotemaker made no apologies for his side’s approach and was pleased to take something back to Nelson.

“They’re very good in the final third and we wanted to really limit the time they had in there,” he said. “We did sit in quite deep and didn’t have quite as much possession as we wanted, but being away from home against such a quality side, you have to expect that. We defended really well and I was really proud of the boys.”

While those who gathered at Riverhills might have felt short-changed by the lack of goals, there were no such problems elsewhere as the net was bulged all over the country.

The most action-packed period took place in Napier, where it was already 2-2 between Hawke’s Bay and Southern United by halftime. Benjamin Wade gave Southern an early lead which was soon cancelled out by Sho Goto and the Bay then hit the front through Sam Mason-Smith.

The hosts failed to take that advantage into the break as Garbhan Coughlan equalised just before the halftime whistle but a bending free kick from Maxime Oliveri midway through the second spell proved enough to earn a third win of the campaign for Hawke’s Bay.

Also picking up their third win were the Dragons of Canterbury, who accounted for Waitakere United 2-1 in Christchurch. Nigerian striker Sanni Issa gave the West Aucklanders the lead but Canterbury drew level with one of the last kicks of the first half through a classy Gary Ogilvie finish and repeated the trick in the second by producing a late Juan Chang Urrea winner.

“You’re always happy when you get three points but there were elements where we needed to improve, certainly our defending in the first half,” Canterbury assistant coach Joe Hall said.

“We have to take away from this the need to manage games. You saw the chances they had — we’ve had some games this season where maybe that hasn’t gone our way but [yesterday] we managed to get through it and we definitely need to continue that.”

Waitakere coach Chris Milicich was disappointed to see so many opportunities go begging and felt that lack of ruthlessness in front of goal cost his side the game.

“I thought we played extremely well and created enough chances to win numerous games,” he said. “We should easily have been a few goals up but we weren’t and we’ve then allowed two pretty soft goals to go in. I think we were by far the better team all game, so we’re pleased with how we played but certainly not with the result.”

The other side to take all three points was Hamilton Wanderers, who hung on to their place in the top four with a 3-1 win over the Wellington Phoenix Reserves at home. Papua New Guinea international Tommy Semmy scored twice for Wanderers before Martin Bueno added a third, while the ‘WeeNix’ could only reply through first-team professional Mitch Nichols, the Socceroo writing the latest chapter in a storied career by netting in New Zealand’s national league.

National Women’s League

The Northern Lights have earned the right to host the final against Canterbury United Pride after both sides earned crucial victories in their last games of the regular season on Saturday.

Leaders Northern had already secured a berth in the final but needed to defeat WaiBOP on the road to make sure of home advantage, while the other finalist was set to come from Canterbury’s hosting of reigning champions Auckland in what essentially amounted to a semifinal.

A strike towards the end of the first half at English from Gabi Rennie — who had just returned to Pride colours after performing heroics at the Fifa Under17 Women’s World Cup — was enough to book Canterbury a sixth straight appearance in the final. Canterbury coach Alana Gunn believed making another final was an indication of the strength of women’s football in the Mainland region.

“The fact we’ve been able to do it again is just so great for the region. It proves we’re consistent and have sustainability,” she said.

With that game kicking off earlier than Northern’s visit to Hamilton, the Pride players had to wait to see if they would have to travel for the final. At one stage though, it was looked like the final could be in Christchurch again with WaiBOP 1-0 up at Gower Park with 20 minutes left. Chloe Henderson had given the hosts, searching for just their second win, the lead midway through the first half.

But Ava Pritchard equalised with a similarly wellplaced shot from the edge of the area before tapping in the winner from close range with seven minutes remaining.