Taupō Old Boys win Lakeland cricket title

Taupō Old Boys players celebrate a wicket during their demolition of Geyser John Paul College Old Boys in the Lakeland Reserve Grade final. Photo / Ben Fraser

This year, the Taupō Old Boys Cricket Club celebrate their 50th anniversary. On Saturday, there was even more reason to celebrate as they demolished Geyser John Paul College Old Boys to win the Lakeland 40 Over Competition.

It was a particularly special day, at Ray Boord Park on Saturday, for Taupō captain Joel Rajek - the final was his last game of cricket as he had already decided to step down after this season.

"It's bloody awesome, it was a really good game, especially in my last game of cricket ever and same with Shaun McGreevy. We'll retire now and it feels awesome.

"After we won the quarterfinal I gave the match ball to Shaun, like a count down to our last game. We knew if we added two more to it we owned a trophy too. It feels good to do it."

Taupō lost the toss and were sent in to bat, a decision Geyser JPC may have regretted when Taupō openers Simon Smith and Chris Jackson went ballistic.

When Smith was removed in the eighth over, for 53 off just 24 balls, the damage had already been done as his side sat on 72/1. When Jackson was out for 27 in the 13th over, Taupō were on 104/2 and the platform was set.

Geyser JPC worked their way back into the game with some more controlled bowling late in the innings, but Taupō rolled on to finish on 209 all out.

Despite being under the pump early on in the innings, Jono Collier was the best of the Geyser JPC bowlers, finishing with figures of three wickets for 51 runs. Connor Scott-Moore and Manish Kumar took two wickets each.

"I think the coin toss was a good one to lose, they sent us in to bat and the boys up the top were brutal, it was brilliant," Rajek said.

"They set us off to a good pace and [Geyser JPC] wanted to keep us under 200 I'd say, on a pitch like that, but we got over 200 so the pressure was there."

Taupō carried that momentum into the second innings and had Geyser JPC in disarray from the get-go. Wickets fell regularly and a lack of significant partnerships saw the game fall further and further out of the home side's reach.

Geyser JPC were eventually bowled out for 134, handing Taupō a 75 run win and the trophy. Manny Kumar was the best of the Geyser batsmen with 23 runs as he Tuwhakaiti Winsor (18) and Dilraj Singh (19) mounted a mini fightback late in the innings, but it was not to be.

Thaveen Attanayaka was the best of the Taupō bowlers with three wickets for 37 runs.

Rajek said his side's bowling had been a strength all season. In the semifinal they pulled off a shock win over the table-topping Bay of Plenty Indians after bowling them out for just 97 runs.

"Our bowling was brilliant today, the fielding was phenomenal and like we do we just played as a team, supported each other."

In the Division 2 final, also played on Saturday, Central Cricket Club beat the Rotorua Lions to take home the other piece of silverware up for grabs.

Lakeland 40 Over Cricket Final Scorecard

Taupō Old Boys 209/10 (S Smith 53, T Gresen 36, C Jackson 27, J Collier 51/3) beat Geyser John Paul College Old Boys 134/10 (M Kumar 23, T Attanayaka 37/3).