Fight for finals spot inspires top form

Whangarei Boys' High School (WBHS) and Maungakaramea have booked themselves a berth in the Northland Cricket Association Premier Grade Club Twenty20 Championship final.
After two matches in the championship's second weekend of competition on the artificial wickets at Kensington Park, Maungakaramea, Boys' High and City were on equal standings and needed to win their last match to progress through to the final.
Maungakaramea faced off with Kamo and batted first, with Dean Child and Mark Southee opening the batting.
Child was outstanding with the bat, reaching 82 before he was dismissed by medium fast bowler Josh Ashley, while Joe O'Sullivan scored 31, helping the side to a total of 161/6.
Kamo skipper Jamie Millar and Luke Russell did their best to get their side off to a good start, hitting 30 and 25 respectively, but Maungakaramea's bowling and some good work in the field had the rest of the team scrambling for runs. O'Sullivan was the clear pick of the Maungakaramea bowlers with three wickets for eight runs off his three overs, helping restrict Kamo to a total of 103/8 at the end of their innings.
The win  put Maungakaramea in the final against the winner of the City and  WBHS clash,  played across the park.
WBHS had an early lead in the competition, but dropped their first match on Sunday to Maungakaramea.
After winning their next match against Kaipara Flats, they were level on points with City, who defeated Kaipara Flats and Kamo earlier.
City opted to bowl first, but may have regretted it after some big hitting by students Henry Cooper (60) and Todd Beehre (23) saw Boys High reach a good total of 141/5. Chris Page was the pick of the City bowlers with 2/25 off his four overs.
Boy's High bowlers Vishaan Harypursat and Ryan Smith were on form as the fielding team tore the City batting line-up apart. Harypursat took 3/27 off his four overs while Smith took 2/9 off two.
City captain Bert Horner hit a respectable 32 while Josh Matthews smacked 28 as they reached 119/9, falling short of a place in the final.
Meanwhile, last season's T20 champions Kaipara Flats finally had a win in their third and final match of the day over Onerahi-Central.
Kaipara batted first, scoring 125/8 but Onerahi could only manage 92 runs in their 20 overs with one wicket remaining intact.
It was Onerahi's third loss of the day - they were defeated by Kamo and Maungakaramea in their earlier games. The date and venue of the final haven't been confirmed.