CRICKET - Wilson's fine display puts City to the sword

A century by Brad Wilson was enough to put paid to City's title aspirations on Saturday, as Kaipara Flats beat the home side by 51 runs at Cobham Oval.
Wilson's sparkling innings of 154 not out underlines the rich vein of form that the opener is enjoying so far this season and it bodes well for Northland as they go into the Brian Dunning one-day tournament in Taupo next week.
Kaipara scored a massive 279/5 in their 50 overs, with Wilson and Tas Satti (51) sharing an opening partnership of 106 on an excellent batting track at the oval.
City's Owain Hopkins said the innings was chanceless.
"He [Wilson] batted very well and showed why he's scoring a silly amount of runs at the moment," he said.
Hopkins said despite the high run-rate required, with City opener Bert Horner also in good form, they were always a chance in the chase.
"When Joey [Yovich] and Bert were together at drinks, we were very much in the game, but then there was a mix-up between them and Joey got ran out and after that we started falling behind the eight ball as the wickets fell," he said.
A late flourish by Chris Page (39) brought City closer to the asking rate, but in the end they were all out for 228.
The win puts Kaipara in the final and at this stage it looks almost certain that they will play Maungakaramea after they beat the other contenders, Onerahi-Central, at Maungakaramea.
The low-scoring match was played on a soft, slow wicket that didn't give much assistance to either the batsman or the bowlers. Only Brett Hood (54) and Michael Parlane (35) troubled the scorer, as Maungakaramea scored 153 in 49 overs.
Charlie Hopkins knocked over the top of the Onerahi batting order and then Australia-bound Tim Southee claimed the vital wickets of Nick Breslin and Greg Strydom after both players had got starts, exposing the tail. Both bowlers finished with three wickets apiece as Onerahi were finally all out for 87.
The presence of Northland representative player Stephen John was enough to motivate Whangarei Boys High School to claim their first win of the competition against Kamo.
John has been held up taking up his position with the team due to visa problems, after replacing long-term coach Jamie Lee. He was there on Saturday, but ironically it was Ben Hyde (47) who top-scored for the students after building on good innings by openers Todd Beehre and Rory Darkins, who both scored 30 apiece, as WBHS scored 199/7 in their 50 overs.
Kamo's batting woes continued, with only some tail-end resistance from Jason Prowse (19) and Derek Ashley (20) saving them blushes. They were largely responsible for getting them to 100 before finally being dismissed.