Bays make leaders fight hard

Monday, 28 November 2011

It will be all to play for next weekend as several games in round three of the two-day championship finished evenly balanced at the end of day one.

East Coast Bays, North Shore, and Auckland University will all have to continue their chases with only eight wickets in hand, after each of them lost two wickets late on Saturday evening, but Bays look best placed of the three needing just a further 160 for first innings points against Suburbs New Lynn.

The Takapuna/Cornwall game also looks too close to call but Parnell, Eden Roskill and Ellerslie have mountains to climb if they are to get anything out of their particular games.

Hedley Howarth Trophy - Men`s Premier Two-Day Major Championship

Round Three

Suburbs New Lynn v East Coast Bays - Ken Maunder Park

Last weekend Suburbs New Lynn cemented their spot on top of the major championship ladder with a thumping victory over Papatoetoe, while East Coast Bays were suffering an outright defeat at the hands of Howick Pakuranga.

With that in mind the form guide ahead of their game suggested Suburbs would be heavy favourites - but after day one it was Bays who emerged the happier of the two sides.

Suburbs captain Johnny Bassett-Graham won the toss and elected to take first use of the Ken Maunder Park pitch, and when he cruised to his second half century of the season his decision looked to be a good one. But the skipper lacked support, with only Victor Davies (32) getting to grips with the Bays attack in which Stuart Lipshaw bagged his second consecutive four wicket haul and Richard Lane claimed another three, the home side dismissed for 229 inside 81 overs.

This left the visitors with 24 overs to face and, despite losing two wickets, they finished the day on a solid 69/2 with Tony Manning unbeaten on 30.

Suburbs New Lynn 229 (J Bassett-Graham 62, V Davies 32, S Lipshaw 4-71, R Lane 3-60) plays East Coast Bays 69/2 (T Manning 30*) after day one.

Howick Pakuranga v North Shore - Lloyd Elsmore Park

After an outright victory last weekend, Howick Pakuranga look well placed for a crack at another after day one of their game with North Shore at Lloyd Elsmore Park.

The visitors came into the game full of confidence after defeating Takapuna last weekend, but their attack was put to the sword by the home batting line-up in which three players notched up half centuries.

Colin Munro reached the milestone for the second consecutive week, while all-rounder Donovan Grobbelaar was unbeaten on exactly 50 and PJ Cairns top scored with a free flowing 71 before his side declared on 295/5 after 92 overs.

And in the remaining five overs of play the home team rammed home their advantage by striking two crucial blows to leave the visitors in trouble. Howick will start the second day firmly in the driver's seat, but at least Shore will still have plenty of belief after overcoming a similar situation to win last time out.

Howick Pakuranga 295/5 dec (PJ Cairns 71, C Munro 55, D Grobbelaar 50*, G Morgan 44) plays North Shore 9/2 after day one.

Takapuna v Cornwall - Onewa Domain

It's honours even after day one at Onewa Domain where the home side will resume needing a further 259 runs to win with all ten wickets in hand as they go in search of their first victory of the two-day season.

After losing the toss, Cornwall were sent in and they were once again led by Brad Chemaly whose superb form continued with another 44 runs, taking his season tally to over 300 at an average in excess of 50. Scott Marra also looked in good touch for his 44, but the star of the show was Englishman Jack Shantry who again demonstrated his all-round capabilities when he top scored with an unbeaten 72.

Shantry's batting average is now nudging 40, and after impressing with the ball he is proving to be a more than useful addition to the Cornwall side. His innings enabled Cornwall to eventually post a challenging score of 270 in 91 overs at the crease.

With five overs left for the home side to face at the end of the day the Taka openers survived this tricky period of play with their wickets intact to set up an intriguing battle when play resumes at the weekend.

Cornwall 270 (J Shantry 72*, S Marra 46, B Chemaly 44, S Anderson 35, G Johnson 3-31) plays Takapuna 12/0 after day one.

 

Papatoetoe v Parnell - Papatoetoe Recreation Ground

Papatoetoe look well set to claim first innings point after a successful day with the bat, skipper Gareth Shaw leading by example at the Recreation Reserve.

It wasn't the best of starts for the home skipper when he lost the toss, but Parnell's decision to bowl first backfired as Shaw raced to a century in just 125 balls, striking 13 fours and a six along the way.

Shaw now has 267 runs for the season and his coach Shane Singe is just 10 behind him after he, too, made his mark in the run fest with 86. After passing 20 in four of his previous five knocks Singe has been threatening to post a big one, and after finally converting yet another solid start into a half century, he eventually fell just 14 short of a ton.

Nathan Hattingh (40) and Bharat Popli (39) were two more to enjoy their time at the crease, the home side piling on a formidable 354/9 before declaring in the 95th over.

And a bad day for Parnell then got worse when they lost a wicket before the close of play to leave them with a mountain to climb next Saturday. 

Papatoetoe 354/9 dec (G Shaw 123, S Singe 86, N Hattingh 40, B Popli 39, D Goddard 4-78) plays Parnell 10/1 after day one.

Tom Hellaby Trophy - Men`s Premier Two-Day Minor Championship

Round Three

Eden Roskill v Waitakere City - Keith Hay Park

Barring a major collapse Waitakere City should secure first innings points next Saturday morning, especially if Dusan Hakaraia continues in his current vein of form.

After Roskill were cleaned out for 186, Hakaraia set about the home side's attack smashing them to all parts of Keith Hay Park as he blazed 14 fours and a six. He will resume unbeaten on 92, scored from just 72 balls faced, and a potentially huge score in his sights.

In their 28 overs City raced to 139/3 despite low scores from Anaru Kitchen, Aaron Jeavons and Daniel Morton which saw the team on 51/3 at one stage. Hakaraia combined with Amit Dhadwal in an unbroken 88-run fourth wicket partnership, Dhadwal's contribution being 11.

Earlier in the day English import Keiran Pearce brought up his second consecutive half century, and his third of the season, but when he was dismissed for 61 Roskill crumbled at the hands of Daniel Schischka who claimed 5-47 in 14.5 overs, while Sheahan Huri also bagged three cheap scalps.

Eden Roskill 186 (K Pearce 61, D Schischka 5-47, S Huri 3-9) plays Waitakere City 139/3 (D Hakaraia 92*) after day one.

Top Catch Auckland University v Grafton United - Colin Maiden Park

In the space of seven overs, two Guy Coleman wickets turned an evenly balanced day into a successful one for Grafton.

After his side were bowled out for 288, a par score on a particularly flat Colin Maiden Park pitch, Coleman struck twice, removing Stuart Wood and, with the last ball of the day, Jonty Dineen, to tip the game in his side's favour. 

Coleman had earlier taken the attack to the University bowlers when he hit a quick fire 38 at the top of the order, while Alan Burton fell just one run short of a half century. The game ebbed and flowed throughout the afternoon, with no fewer than five University bowlers claiming wickets, and youngster Cameron Fletcher impressing with the bat.

The New Zealand U19 wicket keeper played a confident and composed innings before accelerating with a vast array of strokes once he passed 50. After the second new ball was taken Fletcher began to run out of partners and in the quest for quick runs he holed out for 86 off the bowling of skipper Chris Dineen who finished with the fine figures of 3-26.

University will resume on day two needing a further 271 runs for victory with eight wickets standing, and after scoring 400 last weekend they will not be short of confidence. But they will have to tackle the run chase without one of last week's heroes, Marc Ellison, who suffered a hamstring injury playing for the Auckland A team in midweek.

Grafton United 288 (C Fletcher 86, A Burton 49, G Coleman 38, C Dineen 3-26, I West 3-63) plays Auckland University 18/2 after day one.

Birkenhead City v Ellerslie - Birkenhead War Memorial

A sensational effort from the lower order has put Birkenhead City in a strong position against Ellerslie.

The day started well for the visitors when they reduced the home side to 25-3. Terry Crabb and Nigel Collins initially rebuilt the innings, sharing an 81 run partnership for the fourth wicket. However Crabb (58), Collins (25) and Darrin Crook were all dismissed in quick succession by Matt Newman (6-111) to put Ellerslie in control.

Allan Plant was next to go, and at 134-7 City were in trouble. Step forward unlikely hero Jacob Curtling. With ducks in his previous two premier innings expectancy levels were not too high, but almost four hours later Curtling had an unbeaten century to his name and City were in the driving seat with 339/9 on the board.

Curtling faced 167 balls, striking 15 boundaries, and he shared in three outstanding lower order partnerships. He added 104 for the eighth wicket with Jason Hill (41), before combining with Satti (34 from 18 balls) to post 64 for the ninth. Not to be outdone, Franklyn Rose then smashed 27 off just 18 balls to complete a remarkable turnaround in fortunes in a memorable day's play.

Birkenhead City 339/9 (J Curtling 107*, T Crabb 58, J Hill 41, T Satti 34, M Newman 6-111) after day one.

Points table after round 2:

Hedley Howarth Trophy - Two-Day Major Championship
Suburbs New Lynn        31.74
Howick Pakuranga        23.36
North Shore                 18.31
Parnell                         17.96
East Coast Bays            16.11
Cornwall                      13.25
Papatoetoe                  10.81
Takapuna                      9.76

Tom Hellaby Trophy - Two-Day Minor Championship
Auckland University     23.97
Ellerslie                       19.54
Eden Roskill                19.37
Grafton United            19.07
Birkenehad City            9.64
Waitakere City              9.53