A brilliant spell from new ball bowler Andrew Goodare powered Southern Counties to a debut win in the Spark Regional Competition as they beat St Peters Cambridge by three wickets on Saturday.
Goodare ripped through the St Peters top order as he claimed figures of 5-38 in the joint venture’s first foray into the regional competition that includes Premier sides from Counties Manukau, Hamilton and Waikato Valley.
Shaun Lovett scored an unbeaten 36 to help Southern reach the target in the 31st over, with three wickets in hand.
It was the first win of the season for the Southern Counties side.
Pukekohe Metro began the defence of the Spark Regional Competition (from the 2020-21 season) with a narrow win over Melville in Hamilton.
Pukekohe Metro bowled the home side out for 215 – Fraser Farrell picking up four wickets while Blair Lovett grabbed three.
In a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in cricket – the Farrell brothers (Fraser and Hamish), who topped the Counties Manukau Cricket Honours board batting stats last week, were both dismissed for a duck, leaving Pukekohe in some trouble.
Opener Simon Lal (72), Deepak Chaudhary (42) and an unbeaten 20 from Harish Chhagan saw the visitors sneak home with one wicket and four overs to spare.
Papakura found themselves on the receiving end of a very strong batting performance by Hamilton Boys, who scored 379-9 off their 50 overs.
Black Caps representative Scott Kuggeleijn showcased his class, scoring 165 off 100 balls for the home side.
Parmjit Singh was the pick of the Papakura bowlers, claiming 3-67.
In reply, Papakura managed 135 all out – Rajan Bhatia top scoring with 36.
A quicker than a-run-a-ball century from skipper Luke Williamson helped Karaka post 275-8 off their 50 overs batting first against Weymouth at Karaka Sports Complex.
He got help from Dan Power (39) and Michael Schofield (50 not out).
The Weymouth run chase got off to a promising start as openers Aryandeep Mann (50) and JayDee Sandhu Singh (34) set a solid platform up front.
But Karaka’s spinners, especially newcomer Shane Patel-Ponda (3-31), turned the screws in the middle stages and Weymouth were bowled out for 220.
Opener Pratik Lawande’s 90 and skipper Sandeep Patel’s 67 helped Manukau City through to 261-8 off their 50 overs batting first against Te Awamutu at Mountfort Park.
Counties Manukau and Northern Districts representative Scott Johnston then took 4-22 while Ivan Burrows and Ashdeep Pabla both picked up a pair of wickets as the home side rolled Te Awamutu for 180.
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