The Marlborough Senior Reps lost their final Hawke Cup Zone 3 game to Canterbury Country over the weekend but will get a chance to avenge that defeat when the same two teams meet in the Zone final in Rangiora from 5-7 Feb. The Marlborough batsmen struggled against the Country attack taking 88 overs to get to a below par 172 all out, Matthew Stretch top scoring with 64. Country’s batsmen then enjoyed the flat wicket making 340 for 5 before the captains agreed to end the game with no outright win likely. They were led by a superb unbeaten 150 from Jack Boyle. Sam Boyce was the pick of the Marlborough bowlers taking 2-47 from 20 overs.
On the Horton 3 ground Celtic overcame Wairau Valley to win the 3rd grade 40 over final in a closely fought encounter led by another unbeaten century from Luke Holdaway. Ollie Kennedy contributed 71 in Celtic’s 238 for 7 batting first with Caleb Speedy taking 3 wickets. Valley stayed in the hunt led by 77 from Blair Speedy and 44 from Caleb but fell 22 runs short with John Clark taking 4 wickets. 3rd grade now moves to its T20 competition on Friday evenings.
The Central Districts U17 tournament was sadly a casualty of the move to the red traffic light system over the weekend, cancelled for a 2nd time after it was washed out in December. This was hugely disappointing for the team who had been practicing hard and had high hopes for the tournament this year. We are currently looking at other opportunities for the team within the new guidelines.
Our U15 team meanwhile faced some strong opposition at its CD tournament in Levin last week with the highlight being a win over Wairarapa in round 3, Luke Holdaway making 76. Lachlan MacNeill was Marlborough’s leading run maker for the tournament with 124 to finish 16th in the standings while Couper Robinson took the most wickets with 4.
Both our Primary school teams enjoyed their respective festivals in Christchurch and Alexandra. Highlight for the Maroon team was an exciting 9 run win over Southland Country with Max Ruffell making 40 and taking 3-14 as the team defended 207. The Yellow team competed well at the Christchurch festival. Charlie Booker was the team’s leading scorer with 102 runs including a top score of 44 while Louis Hickman led the way with the ball taking 6 wickets including a best of 3-14.
Top performers in recent 2nd and Senior grade games included George Westenra (80no), Carter Aitken (77no), Adam Balasoglou (84no), Kirk Nicholas (87), Harpreet Singh (101), Sukhdeep Singh (120), Luke Frankland (109), Steven Crudis (83). Community Cricket continues under the Red traffic light guidelines with more information available on the MCA website.