Easy win for Rathkeale

Rathkeale College scored a comfortable five-wicket win over arch rivals Wairarapa College in their Gillette Cup national secondary schools cricket elimination match on Saturday.
It was a surprisingly commanding victory for Rathkeale, as Wairarapa College have qualified to play in the Umpires Cup senior men's inter-club limited-overs series this coming weekend.
Wairarapa College won the toss and elected to bat first and they were soon in strife, collapsing to be 5-42 against the accurate Rathkeale pace attack.
However, Wairarapa College's fortunes improved drastically through the batting of Robbie Anderson (33) and Joel Macklin (76 not out) who came in at numbers seven and eight respectively and produced a 105-run partnership.
Macklin was all power on the drive and hammered 11 fours while Anderson was always gritty in his approach. It was mainly due to them that Wairarapa College reached a handy 192 with Jamie Willetts (3-36) being the most successful of the Rathkeale bowlers.
Rathkeale's run chase was marked by their aggressive stance and with Andy Oldfield, who was coming off a century in an inter-school match against Lindisfarne College, making 50 and Doug Bracewell being unbeaten also on 50 they got home with five wickets and 10 overs to spare.
Rathkeale College now play the winner of the Hawke's Bay zone and victory there will see them qualify for the Gillette Cup finals for the second consecutive year.
Short scoreboard: Wairarapa College 192 (J.Macklin 76 not out, R Anderson 33; J.Willetts 3-36, D.van Deventer 2-24) lost to Rathkeale College 194-5 (A.Oldfield 50, D. Bracewell 50 not out, A.Dodd 23; D. Jones 2-40).