Kuranui Old Boys' cricket debut delights

Kuranui Old Boys celebrated their debut match in the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Umpires Cup limited-overs competition on Saturday with a convincing away win over Rathkeale College.

After winning the toss, Kuranui Old Boys chose to bat and were in strife at 54-5 before Sanjay Patel came to the rescue. His knock of 68 got them through to a competitive 158.

Rathkeale College were always struggling in reply and they never looked like overhauling the Kuranui Old Boys total. Their only batsman to get among the runs was John Ryan, who scored 32.

Bowling for Kuranui Old Boys, Jayden Carter finished with the outstanding figures of 7-23 off nine overs while Luke Dingle took 2-18 off six overs.

There was also some fine work in the field, notably from Hayden Spierling who took four catches in the gully.

The Umpire's Cup fixture at the Park Sportsground in Masterton saw Greytown defeat Marist Old Boys by 64 runs.

Put into bat, Greytown initially found runs hard to come by against the accurate bowling of Greg Pullman, Jay Macdonald and Marcus Howie.

That changed when Blake Lyford came to the wicket. He was in punishing form and, with support from Daniel Haxton, was the catalyst to Greytown reaching 199. Lyford made 69 and Haxton 22.

Bowling for Marist Old Boys, Robbie Speers ended with 4-30, Pullman 2-30 and Howie 2-41.

Marist Old Boys also battled in the run-making department and, while a handy 55-run partnership between Speers and Colin Jones gave them some hope, they were all out for 135. Speers made 28, Jay Macdonald 23 and Jones 19.

Haxton completed a solid all-round effort for Greytown by taking 4-30 with his medium pacers while Lyford and Geoff Ewington both snared two wickets .