Young Guns 140/6, M Fairless 2-31, S Gianotti 1-9
Karori Wildcats 142/7, D Nicholls 33 (22), H Cameron 31 (22).
The Wildcats who arrived early were treated to the spectacle that was a primary school cricket thriller, with the batting team 9 wickets down with 9 runs to get. Little did the Cats know that three hours later we'd be in our own nail-biting finish....
Churton Park is not a classic cricket oval. It is a rectangular soccer football pitch, with rounded corners. Nando won the toss and sent the Young Guns in to bat.
Karori bowled well and J'ville fired a few shots early. Fairless broke through with a yorker to send their opener packing. First change bowler Dan delivered an excellent 4 over spell (1-16),but J'ville were still finding boundaries at the other end. Nando popped back for one over to snaffle the remaining opener, and Alex rolled over 4 overs of offspin (1-22) to keep the brakes on towards the end. Overall good bowling and fielding saw the Young Guns restricted to 140 (on a field that netted them 216 the previous week).
The Cats chase started quick out of the blocks with 3 boundaries in the first over. It also included a diamond duck for Alex though an unfortunate direct hit run out. Hamo and Tommo then built a 33 run partnership before Tom departed 12 (10). Tim fell shortly after. When Hamish was caught for 31 (22) the Wildcats were doing fine for run-rate, but 70-4 with a depleted batting line-up was a bit tense.
Enter Sukhin and D Nicholls. These guys combined for a quick 46 run partnership to bring us within striking distance. Sukhin made 19 (23) and brought Nando into the mix. Dan must have decided that he preferred bating with Sukhin so got dismissed for a innings high score of 33 (22) to take the Cats to 120-6. This meant that ring-in Nick Carr could drive to the crease, and park-up for a while.
Nick and Nando pushed it around and clipped a couple of straight boundaries until Nando, 11 (7), popped one to point's sternum. Big man Gianotti came to the crease and was trying to play tipnies. With 6 runs needed from 2.5 overs, Nick and Simon took it comfortably, before Nick spotted a gap over mid-wicket and then rest was history. (As an aside, the Young Guns were being 'rather unpleasant chaps' during the game, so brilliant to get the win against them!)
The final round of 5 games kicks off next week with the Boom at Karori Park. Chao-hooo!
