Sudden lapse leaves City sitting pretty

A lapse of concentration cost Kamo the points in the opening match of the Northland Cricket 50-over competition on Saturday.
Chasing City's total of 248, Kamo were looking comfortable at 210-4 with their Zimbabwean professional Terry Duffin at the crease on 132 not out.
"We were going along quite well and I looked up at the scoreboard and it was 210 and ... we still had about eight overs to go and I thought, 'We've got this, this is going to be easy'," Duffin said.
Famous last thoughts, as it happened. A ball later he was out and Kamo's chase quickly foundered. A handful of runs and three overs later they were all out and City, the current one-day champions, banked their first points of this year's competition.
"I think we tried to hit the ball too hard rather than just chipping it around for the ones and twos," Duffin said.
Apart from Curtis Cherrington who was run out by Ian Page for 50, no other Kamo batsmen reached double figures in the unsuccessful chase. City captain Kurt Wilson bowled a telling spell of 5.1 overs, claiming three wickets, including the important scalp of Duffin.
Wilson also featured with the bat, top-scoring with 67 not out, with Page next best, scoring 62.
At Kaipara Flats, the home side carried their winning form from last weekend's Twenty20 competition into their match with Maungakaramea, recording a one-sided win. Kaipara scored a solid 208 in their 50 overs. Then their seam attack again showed their value, stopping the Maungakaramea chase in its tracks. Kaipara captain Tas Satti said he was surprised by the lack of resistance from the visiting batsmen, who were all out for just 40.
"They're a good side who bat all the way down to number-eight but we obviously didn't catch them on a good day because they didn't really bat well on Saturday."
Satti said his side hadn't batted to its potential either but almost all of them had contributed to the total.
"They all chipped in with 20s and 30s and a 40 but where we won it was the disciplined bowling, especially by Gordon Penney, Matthew Taylor and Kyron Dill. They were spot-on from the word go," he said.
Satti said it was too early in the competition to read much into the result but said Kaipara would have Black Cap James Marshall available for the next two matches and that would give them extra confidence.
In the third Premier Grade match, Onerahi-Central proved too strong for Whangarei Boys High School with Harry Darkins in great early-season form to top-score for OC with 81.
WBHS captain Rory Darkins was impressed with his brother's innings but the opposite was true of his side's efforts in the field.
"Our bowling wasn't too flash but it was the fielding that really let us down. We dropped five catches out there and that didn't help at all," he said.
Onerahi opener Craig Russell (62) and professional Greg Strydom (50) were other major contributors to a very smart Onerahi total of 283 for seven.
Tight Onerahi bowling and a lack of patience from the students brought early wickets and a successful chase never looked likely.