Marist bat in their first victory

Cricket

Marist Old Boys provided the highlight in The Rock Twenty20 senior men's cricket matches in Wairarapa on Saturday.

Their win over Red Star was their first for the 2012-13 season in any form of club cricket and they did it in style.

Red Star batted first and the loss of early wickets for few runs put them on the back foot and they never recovered, being all out for just 82.

Marist Old Boys also found runs hard to come by but seasoned campaigner Robin James steadied the ship and his 48 not out got them home by four wickets. Bowling for Red Star, Jon Dudley finished with 3-20.

Aaron Bidlake might be known as a promising thoroughbred racing trainers but he's no mug as a cricketer, either. That much was apparent in Flight Centre's Lansdowne's 37-run win over Wairarapa College. Bidlake top scored with 55 as Lansdowne reached 133-8. Bowling for the students, Hamish Finlayson took 2-5 and Lucien Burt 2-23.

Wairarapa College was dismissed for 96 and Bidlake demonstrated his all-round qualities in taking 4-8. He was well supported by former Wairarapa rep Chris Jefferies who took 4-26. Tim Griffith (29) was the best of the Wairarapa College batsmen.

There was an exciting finish between A1 Homes Kuranui Old Boys and Turkey Red Greytown, with the former taking the honours by one wicket.

Greytown made 98 of which Mark Childs provided 29. Bowling for Kuranui Old Boys Nathan Kapene took 3-13 and Hayden Spierling 2-11. Kuranui Old Boys reached their target with nine wickets down after some useful Greytown bowling, spearheaded by Blake Lyford (3-9), Glen Jonas (2-14) and Jason Laing (2-20).