Waimate assured themselves of a spot in the Placemakers T20 final after beating the Cavaliers at home on a great day for cricket at Knottingley Park.
Celtic’s win over Temuka also assured them of a final as well, while Star finally had some cause to celebrate after Tyler Cox hit two sixes in the final over, the second off the penultimate ball to carry his team to 109-7 and victory over Timaru, who surprisingly bowled a spinner in the final over when Star still needed 13 runs.
In Waimate the Cavaliers with only Mark Evans backing up from Friday night’s match, had a few new faces on display but still managed to score 97-7 from their 20 overs with former South Canterbury captain Todd Elliotte leading the way with 32 and Aorangi Oval groundsman Mike Davies making a return to competitive cricket after 20 years with 28 the leading scorers. However it was the return of Matt Devlin for Waimate in a one-off match (he had contemplated playing for the Cavaliers until Waimate were short with rep players out) that was most effective as he took 4-19 to be the chief destroyer with his left-arm spin.
In reply Waimate made reasonably easy work of it winning for the loss of 3 wickets in the 16th over with Hayden Matthews and Scott Willoughby not out at each end after Nathan Sew Hoy had earlier top-scored with 39, while for the Cavaliers Nick Noone, Elliotte and Evans all grabbed a wicket each and Greg Rodden was tight but unsuccessful with 0-13 off three overs.