National Club Championship Wrap

Posted: Monday, 13 April 2015

The Greerton Premier Cricket team can be well pleased with their performances at the 21st National Club Cricket Championships hosted by the Cornwall CC in Auckland last week (7 – 12 April 2015)

The following daily reports from Cornwall CC Media spokesperson Reed Hallett, more than adequately sum up the Greerton journey, to finish in a highly creditable fourth place.

National Club Cricket Championships Playoff for Third/Fourth – Sunday 12 April 2015
Greerton (Northern Districts) 205 (C Neal 49, C Williams 40; J Medlin 3-32) LOST TO Albion (Otago) 206/3 (J Harper 63*, M Somerville 46*, T Cumberland 42; M Jarvis 3-40) by 7 wickets
Greerton came out looking to pile on the runs early as they desired the bronze medal up for grabs in this match. Not getting off to a great start losing an opener in the third over, Cam Neal and Kent Hodder formed a partnership to get back on track to a defendable total but after Neal fell there was a minor collapse and Greerton found themselves at 142/7. The tail still had some fight left in it and helped Greerton push through to a defendable 205.
Greerton struggled to take wickets against a determined Albion side as they cruised to 78/1 with a strong opening partnership. Even with the quick loss of three wickets it allowed Jack Harper (63 off 70) and Mark Somerville (46 off 52) to step up and bring Albion home and win the bronze medal.

Day One
Cornwall (Auckland) 272 (T Wilson 71, B Chemaly 67, T Nidamanuru 38, M Guptill-Bunce 34; D Spencer 6-40) DEFEATED Greerton (Northern Districts) 200 (B Hampton104, T MacRury 37; T Nidamanuru 4-33) by 72 runs.
Winning the toss was a great start to Cornwall’s return to the Club Champs after a seven year absence with Captain Martin Guptill-Bunce deciding to bat first. The decision looked to have been the wrong one early on as Cornwall slumped to 117/6 in the 28th over. Up stepped Brad Chemaly (67 off 80) and Tim Wilson (71 off 59) to stabilize Cornwall’s innings and help them push to a strong score of 272.
Cornwall struck early on with the ball leaving Greerton well behind the run rate at 2-30 after 10 overs. The early wickets only brought Brett Hampton to the crease where he scored the fastest century of the day (104 off 69). His dismissal sparked a lower order collapse with the final four wickets falling for 14 runs. Greerton all out for 200, Cornwall win by 72 runs.

Day Two
Onslow (Wellington) 75 (S Wineti 3-14 D Spencer 3-27) LOST TO Greerton 76/1 (C Williams, T MacRury 32) by nine wickets.
Onslow came out looking to put runs on the board as they won the toss and elected to bat first. The decision backfired on the boys from Wellington as Greerton’s opening bowlers Brett Hampton and Campbell Thomas had Onslow struggling at 23/4 after 8 overs. Needing to dig in and rebuild, Sam Keegan and Matt McEwan showed some fighting spirit for Onslow but fell victim to Greerton captain Shane Wineti and top wicket taker Daniel Spencer who grabbed three scalps each on their way to knocking Onslow over for 75.
It was obvious Greerton wanted to wrap things up before lunch as they didn’t hold back chasing down Onslow’s total in just over ten overs. Only losing one man in the nine wicket win capped off a powerful display by Greerton that puts them right back in the hunt for the championship.

Day Three
Napier Old Boys Marist (Central Districts) 165 (A Prasad 62; C Thomas 3-36) LOST TO Greerton (Northern Districts) 168/6 (R Earl 44*, T Clout 38) by four wickets
Looking to chalk up their first win of the National Club Champs, Napier Old Boys got a good start winning the toss and electing to bat. Once again the opening partnership for Napier got some runs on the board early but in an almost identical situation to yesterday’s game the loss of the first wicket for Old Boys signaled a collapse falling from 40/1 to 75/7. Anup Prasad offered some fight to help push Napier to a defendable total of 165.
Tom MacRury and Charles Williams got off to a solid start for Greerton posting 31 in their opening stand, but after MacRury departed Greerton’s top order collapsed struggling at 72/5 and looking like more could fall. Middle order batsmen Tommy Clout and Richard Earl then stepped in and anchored Greerton’s innings to successfully chase down the 165 Napier set with four wickets to spare. Napier Old Boys Marist will now look to tomorrow for their first win.

Day Four
Albion (Otago) 253/8 (J Harper 72, T Cumberland 41, D Duke 40, M McCall 34; D Spencer 6-52) DEFEATED Greerton (Northern Districts) 126 (T Marsh 3-29, J Medlin 3-24) by five wickets.
Greerton won the toss and sent Albion into bat first out on the number one at Cornwall Park. Albion’s batting lineup hadn’t really fired during the tournament so were well overdue for an all-round performance. Even with top run scorer Roald Badenhorst being rested, it didn’t stop Albion putting in a good batting effort as there were solid contributions made by four of the top five for Albion as they pushed their way to 253/8 lead by a top score of 72 by Jack Harper. Credit also needs to be given to Dan Spencer who grabbed his second six wicket bag for the tournament for Greerton and now leads wicket takers on 17 scalps.
Greerton’s start was not helped by a quick flurry of lost wickets, being 5 down after 12 overs on 47. Yesterday’s saviors for Greerton Richard Earl and Tommy Clout found themselves in the same position for the second game in a row trying to bring their side back from 5 down. Clever bowling by Jeremy Medlin playing his first game of the tournament was Greerton’s as he knocked out their middle order claiming 3-24, Greerton’s tail offered a little bit of fight but ended up all out for 126

Day Five
Greerton (Northern Districts) 220 (B Hampton 69, T MacRury 46, C Williams 37 ; J Bevin 3-36, G Earl 3-27) LOST TO St Albans (Canterbury) 221/8 (W Southby 79, N Roberts 45, D Johnston 35 ; B Hampton 6-39) by two wickets
When Greerton won the toss they were always going to bat first against St Albans on the smaller number three pitch. Greerton got off to a solid start as well with Tom MacRury and Charles Williams leading the way with a 69 run opening stand. Unfortunately for Greerton after both openers were dismissed only Brett Hampton (69 off 59) was able to add a decent contribution as St Albans cleaned them out for 220.
Greerton could smell an upset in the early stages of St Albans innings, great bowling by Brett Hampton had them struggling at 44/5. It took good efforts from William Southby (79 off 105) and Nathan Roberts (45 off 60) to put St Albans back on track and even after a bit of a wobbly finish by St Albans they managed to just get across the line to win by two wickets and set up a rematch with Cornwall in the final tomorrow.

Share this page: