Cricket: Geyser City beat R&A Sangha to reach McNaughton Trophy final

Geyser City's top scorers in the McNaughton Trophy semi-final Liam Kelly, left, and Kane Vanner take a run. Photo / Stephen Parker

There were some nervous moments during the run chase, but Geyser City have booked a spot in the McNaughton Trophy final for the first time with a win over R&A Sangha.

The five-wicket win in the reserve grade knockout competition semi-final came on the back of a superb innings from Geyser batsman Liam Kelly, who paced his side's run chase perfectly. He finished with 83 not out, hitting a four to win the match with 16 balls to spare.

R&A Sangha, who are based in Tauranga, won the toss and chose to bat first at Smallbone Park yesterday . They may have regretted the decision early, however, as they were 40/4 after nine overs. Geyser's Jono Collier was all over the batsmen, with figures of 23/3 off his first five overs. But the tail wagged as R&A Sangha battled their way to a defendable total of 162 all out off 34.1 overs.

The top scorers for the away team were Vikas Mohan, with 52 off 48 balls, and Manveer Multani, with 38. Collier finished with three wickets for 27 runs off six overs, while Manish Kumar and Eamon O'Donoghue took two wickets each.

Kelly watched his opening partner Joe O'Donoghue go out for 14 in the eighth over before getting to work crafting a match-winning partnership with Kane Vanner. However, after Vanner was bowled on 36 runs Geyser lost three wickets in the space of two overs to put themselves back under pressure.

Step up Cam Ingram, Geyser's top scorer in the competition to that point, who steadied the ship, giving Kelly the strike and ensuring his side got across the line. While he played a patient innings on his way to a half-century, Kelly accelerated, hitting six boundaries after getting his 50. Ingram finished on four not out.

Geyser City's Kane Vanner plays a shot against R&A Sangha during the McNaughton Trophy semi-final at Smallbone Park. Photo / Stephen Parker

Gagandeep Gagan was the best of the R&A Sangha bowlers, taking two wickets for just 18 runs off eight overs. His bowling scalps included that of Vanner, to break up the dangerous partnership building between him and Kelly.

Kelly said he walked out to bat knowing the pitch was "quite a flat surface".

"We just knew we had to see off the spinners, because it was turning. If we could play it around for singles and not lose too many wickets early, we were confident we could accelerate at the end if we needed to," he said.

He admitted he was starting to panic a little when wickets were falling at the other end, but at the same time he had faith in the batsmen to come.

"I don't really open very often, so it was pretty cool to bat out the full innings and score that sort of total. It feels good, especially in a semi-final, it was probably one of the more important innings I've ever played."

Geyser City will play the Mount Maunganui reserves in the final on Sunday, March 11. Venue to be confirmed.