PREMIER CLUB CRICKET | 28 October 2023
CLUB
CITYGUARD Premier Men – Hedley Howarth Two Day Competition | Round One, Day Two
Parnell 160 (Nick Stobart 4/50) & 117 (William Ormiston 52, Stobart 6/25) beat Auckland University 131 & 100 (Henry King 4/28) by 46 runs
COLIN MAIDEN PARK | Ball continued to dominate bat out at East Auckland with Parnell doing enough to complete an outright win over Auckland University at Colin Maiden Park. Resuming on 128/9, Uni could only add 3 runs to their overnight score. Looking to run through Parnell and set up a gettable chase, the home side had to counter a strong start from the Parnell top order, who were sitting on 1/68 at one point. AUCC captain Nick Stobart then stepped up to the plate, running through the Parnell middle order to finish with 6/25, and match figures of 10/75. Parnell managed 117, an overall lead of 146. Both teams had a sniff of the outright, but the Parnell bowlers were fired up for the occasion, running through Uni for 100 to set up a 46-run win. Wickets were shared around but Henry King stood out with 4/28.
SCORECARD
Takapuna 293/9 dec (Tristan Van Ingen-Kal 84, Guy Harley 80) beat North Shore 145 (Mike Sclanders 4/22, Ross ter Braak 4/35) & 65 (ter Braak 8/17) by an innings & 83 runs
ONEWA DOMAIN | Takapuna continued their good work from last week to complete a brutal innings and 83-run slaying of defending champions North Shore. Resuming on 216/3, Takapuna took an aggressive approach to put runs on the board, perhaps with one eye on the heavens as leaden skies. They boshed a further 77 runs before declaring with 293/9, a lead of 148. Batting again to save the match, North Shore couldn't handle the penetrating left-arm pace of Ross ter Braak, who tore through their batters with 8/17 as Shore folded for 65. Ter Braak ended with match figures of 12/52. Taka looked fired up this season as will tough to beat if they continue this kind of form into November.
Eden Roskill 370/7 (Kanav Gambhir 127, Neil Patel 79*, Aman Bhardwaj 61) & 28/0 beat Cornwall 304 (Dimithri Gallage 102, Aditya Edekar 65, Dev Ratra 5/85) on first innings
KEITH HAY PARK | At Keith Hay Park, Eden Roskill and Cornwall continued to battle it out as their encounter ended in the only non-outright result of Hedley Howarth round one. Resuming overnight on 43/1, Cornwall's top and middle order fired, before an Eden Roskill comeback ended their innings at 304, 66 runs shy of of ERDCC's 370/7. Dimithri Gallage became Cornwall's first centurion of 2023/24 with 102 off 140, supported ably by Aditya Edekar's 65. Dev Ratra, who ran through Cornwall's middle and lower order, was the pick of the bowlers with 5/85. Batting again, Roskill reached 28 without loss before stumps, taking first innings points.
East Coast Bays 339/8 declared (Cole Briggs 102, Ryan Schierhout 70) beat Suburbs New Lynn 175 (Tejas Patel 53, Kyle Kieser 5/43) & 111 (Blair Smith 5/50) by an innings & 53 runs
WINDSOR PARK | Up at Windsor Park, East Coast Bays marched confidently into the Hedley Howarth with an annihilation of Suburbs New Lynn by an innings and 53 runs. Starting at 272/5, Bays bashed their way to 339/8 before declaring 164 runs ahead. Kyle Keiser followed up his 5 wicket bag with an aggressive 45 off 46. Facing a mountain to club just to make the home team bat again, Suburbs never really fired a shot in their second innings, succumbing to Blair Smith (5/50) to castle for 111. It was an abrupt end to a dominant display of two-day cricket by ECB, who will now look to bring their positive approach to next week's encounter with Eden Roskill at Keith Hay Park.
CITYGUARD Premier Men – Tom Hellaby Two Day Competition | Round One, Day Two
Grafton 303/4 declared (Taine Bayly 109*, Jeremy Houghton 100*, Sineth Gunawardene 51) beat Papatoetoe 99 (Nikheil Bhana 5/25) & 125 (Bayly 6/37) by an innings & 79 runs.
PAPATOETOE RECREATION GROUND | In the second most one-sided match of Tom Hellaby round one, Grafton showed why they'll be a force to reckon with in the competition this season with the destruction of Papatoetoe by an innings and 79 runs. Resuming at 271/4 with set batters Houghton (93*) and Bayly (84*), Grafton batted long enough to get the pair at the crease to their centuries before declaring on 303/4. In arrears by 203 runs, Papatoetoe once again crumbled as Taine Bayly paired his ton with an impressive 6/37, making for one of the most memorable all-round performances of the season so far. Bowling Papatoetoe out for 125 to complete the outright win, Grafton take 23.5 points to put them second only to Howick Pakuranga (23.9) after one round of two day cricket.
Howick Pakuranga 346/3 declared (Lachlan Stackpole 167*, Andy Morrison 69*, David Winn 65) beat Kumeu 139 & 68 (Harmeet Singh 4/25) by an innings & 139 runs
HUAPAI DOMAIN | In definitely the most one-sided match of the season so far, Howick Pakuranga only required 37.2 overs of play to complete a withering takedown of Kumeu at Huapai Domain. Declaring their innings at 346/3 overnight, Howick Pak were sitting on a 207 lead over the home side. Kumeu then folded for 68, handing an innings and 139-run win to the visitors. All of the HPCC bowlers landed blows but Harmeet Singh (4/25) and Sam Molloy (3/9) were the picks as they completed a savage innings and 139-run win. Howick Pakuranga look like a tough beat this season, but we'll have to wait until March 2nd for them to take on the other heavyweights, Grafton.
Ellerslie 167/6 dec. and 222/7 (Benjamin Wilson 52*, Ankit Desai 5/65) beat Hibiscus Coast 165 & 223/8 dec. (Tharusha Manage 78*, Ryan Newman 54) by 3 wickets
MICHAELS AVE RESERVE | Last week we predicted an exciting conclusion to this match between our most northerly club Hibiscus Coast and underrated Ellerslie and thankfully we were treated to exactly that, with the best run chase of the round playing out at Michael Ave Reserve. Resuming overnight at 8/0 with a lead of just 6 runs, Hibiscus were looking at setting up a total that Ellerslie couldn't chase.
This task didn't start too well for Hibiscus as they stumbled to 4/49. Ryan Newman propped his team up with 54 off 66 before another collapse left them at 148/8. They needed a hero and thankfully Tharusha Manage stepped up to the plate, smashing 78 to lift his team to 223/8 before the declaration. With the way the match had been going, Hibiscus would have been quietly confident that they had enough on the board to put pressure on Ellerslie. Unfortunately for them Ellerslie got off to the best possible start with a 77-run opening partnership. The visitors hit back with a flurry of strikes to leave Ellerslie battling at 6/160, but the home side got home thanks to Benjamin Wilson's 52 off 36, grabbing a 3 wicket win and outright points in the process. Ankit Desai's 5/65 was the standout bowling performance for Hibiscus Coast.
Waitakere 303/9 dec. (Navan Lombard 81, Aman Kaundal 61, Sachin Variath 57, Anuradha Jayampathi 4/70) beat Birkenhead 201 (Kaundal 5/58) and 110/8 (Paul Whynn 4/24) on first innings
TE ATATU PARK | Out west, Birkenhead lost 17 wickets in one day to Waitakere but managed to avoid an outright loss. Resuming at 25/1 and trailing by 178 runs, the North Shore side managed to lift themselves to 201 thanks to a pair of 40s to veteran Brian Barnard (48) and Anuradha Jayampathi (46). Aman Kaundal was the pick of the Waitakere bowlers, following up his 61 with the bat last week with 5/58. Enforcing the follow on, the home team gave themselves another crack at Birkenhead to try force an outright result. For their part, Birkenhead held firm despite losing a brace of wickets at the top. Masur Masand was their hero at the end, counter-attacking with 38 not out as they finished on 110/8.
Premier Women – Prichard Cup | Round Two
Cornwall 129/8 off 40 overs beat Howick Pakuranga 122 (Josie Penfold 40*) by 7 runs
LLOYD ELSMORE PARK | With the Auckland HEARTS yet to begin their season, and the WHITEFERNS back from their South African tour, the clash between these two sides was always going to be eye-wateringly stacked with talent. That said, even with the sides boasting the collective batting power of Sarah Carnachan, Saachi Shahri, Marama Downes and Skye Bowden, ball dominated the bat in a showdown that went right down to the wire.
Winning the toss and electing to bowl in cloudy, windy conditions, Howick Pak's superstar bowling lineup went about their work with Molly Penfold, Josie Penfold, Amberly Parr, Downes and Bowden all getting stuck in with wickets. Cornwall battled to 129/8 from their 40 overs and needed early wickets to stop HPCC from mowing down the total. Thankfully for them, HEARTS bowlers Bree Illing and Amie Hucker struck with breakthroughs at the top. Some middle order graft got Howick Pakuranga to 116/6 and they found themselves in the box seat before collapsing at the final hurdle, still 8 runs short of the win. Josie Penfold was left stranded with 40 off 45.
Parnell 152/9 off 40 overs (Cate Pedersen 42, Kaitlyn Halliday 4/23) beat Takapuna 76 by 76 runs
MELVILLE PARK | In perhaps the first upset of the season, Parnell firmly beat the usually-favoured Takapuna Premier Women by 76 runs at Melville Park. Being sent in to bat, Parnell managed 152/9 pff their 40 overs, Cate Pedersen (42), Monique Way (29) and extras (26) leading the way. Kaitlyn Halliday was the pick of the Taka bowlers with 4/23. In reply, the young Takapuna side never fired a shot as they were bundled out for 76, exactly half of Parnell's score. Rishika Jaswal (3/15), Shreya Naidu (3/16) and Yasmeen Kareem (3/17) did the majority of the damage for Parnell.
Auckland University 297/3 off 40 overs (Naomi Matthews 127*, Kayla van Spall 59) beat Kumeu/North Shore 29 by 268 runs
COLIN MAIDEN PARK | This season's Prichard Cup features eight teams for the first time, giving opportunities to the likes of Suburbs New Lynn Premier Women and the female players from North Shore and Kumeu, who have teamed up to form their own premier team. This means they're able to compete against much more experienced players and diplomatically, means they will also come out second best a lot of the time as they develop and grow.
One-sided results like Auckland University's thrashing of Kumeu/North Shore should be expected, and hopefully will decrease in magnitude as the season progresses and the players get better. Still, this was a good opportunity to see the talent of AUCC on full display, especially their much vaunted opening batting pair of captain Naomi Matthews (129*) and Kayla van Spall (59). KCC/NSCC won't come up against bowlers as accurate and tenacious every week, and let's hope when the cards fall in their favour, we can see some better results for them as the season progresses!
Suburbs New Lynn 163/4 off 40 overs (Tushika Singh 56*) beat Papatoetoe 94 by 69 runs
KEN MAUNDER PARK | At their home ground, Suburbs New Lynn nabbed their first win of the Prichard Cup as they completed a stomping display against Papatoetoe. After being sent in by the visitors, SNL lifted themselves to 163/4 off the back of opener Tushika Singh carrying her bat to end with 56 not out. They then completed a strangehold of the Papatoetoe batters, restricted them to 94 off 25/3 overs, with the wickets shared around the bowlers. This was a great win for Suburbs and will give them plenty of confidence when they come up against stiffer challenges as the season progresses.
Legends Cup | Round One
Team Huddleston 146/3 off 28 overs (Maddy Green 47*) beat Team Perkins 249/8 (Izzy Gaze 122, Anika Todd 4/51) on DLS
MELVILLE PARK | As part of the realignment of the female cricket offerings that Auckland Cricket provides, an all-new competition is being rolled out. Pitted as being a bridge between club and domestic cricket with new and established talent being given the platform to perform, the Legends Cup, featuring two teams named for two recently retired HEARTS players, Holly Huddleston and Katie Perkins, got off to a rollicking, albeit rain affected start on Sunday at Melville Park.
In chilly, blustery conditions, Team Perkins batted first and were immediately in trouble with Saachi Shahri and captain Prue Catton falling to Anika Todd and Bree Illing accounting for Rishika Jaswal. Enter Izzy Gaze, who smashed her way to 122 off 90 balls with 14 fours and four mighty sixes. This was a brutal onslaught by Gaze, and a great way to get into form ahead of the domestic season as she faced off against her HEARTS teammates Illing, Molly Penfold and Skye Bowden. She was ably supported by Kate Irwin's 43 in a partnership of 165. Despite all the established talent on display, it was up-and-coming seamer Todd's day to shine as she broke the partnership and finished with figures of 4/51 off her 10 overs.
In reply, Team Huddleston batted sensibly in challenging conditions for the bowlers, with 33 wides being sent down. Young opener Neena Woollaston batted watchfully for her 32 before WHITEFERNS batter, and HEARTS skipper Maddy Green picked up the tempo before the rain came. Her 47* lifted Team Huddleston to 146/3 off 28 overs, enough to be declared winners via the DLS system.
The Legends Cup will resume next Sunday with the same opposition facing off at Melville Park once again. This is going to be a stonking competition, so let's hope the rain stays away this time!
Article added: Monday 30 October 2023
