Celtic’s Tom Pavletich sweeps a ball around the corner as Timaru’s Prabodha Arthavidu looks on.
Celtic captain Sam Carlaw led from the front with the ball to propel Celtic to a 48-run win over Timaru at Celtic Sports Ground.
He picked up four wickets in a disciplined bowling performance from the table-topping Celtic side.
Meanwhile, Pleasant Point made Temuka’s task of qualifying for the finals that much tougher with a 59-run win at Aorangi Oval and Star dominated Waimate by 95-runs.
In the main match, Celtic won the toss and decided to put runs on the board against Timaru.
They started brightly putting on 22 for the first wicket before James Laming became the wicket of the day when he was bowled by Jeremy Smallridge for 13.
Adam Beck continued his promising season and made it through to 30 before he was bowled by the standout bowler in South Canterbury cricket this season Supeshala Jayathilake.
Celtic after losing Willie Wright for 1 and Carlaw for a duck looked as though they could be bowled out for less than a 100 at 79-6 but a crucial 34-run partnership between Tom Pavletich (27) and Liam Beck (14) helped Celtic get past 100.
The tail continued to wag as Ben Watson, Glen Matthews and Grant Watt all made double figures and helped the side through to 173.
Timaru made a positive start coasting through to 26 before Alexander Lankeshwar became the first of Dan Laming’s 2 victims.
Carlaw ran Josh Smallridge (17) out soon after and with Jayathilake (15) and Sam Porter (0) joining him in the space of 10 runs, the wheels were beginning to fall off the visitors chase.
Hayden Leonard top scored with 24 but that was not enough as Carlaw bowled with tremendous guile and control to claim 4-12.
Pleasant Point have left Temuka with the difficult task of having to win their last two games after the latter suffered a disappointing loss.
Point have continued to impress in their first season at senior level after moving up from the reserve grade and proved too good for Temuka on Saturday.
Tim Leonard led from the front with the bat for Pleasant Point with the only half century of the weekend, his 66 took them through to 185-9 batting first.
He received valuable support from Chris Murphy 40 and extras chipping in with 31.
Kevin Kerse was the star with the ball for Temuka picking up 3-27 off eight overs, while Kevin Teahen and Phil Lill chipped in with two wickets each.
Temuka could muster only 126 in reply with Jamie Trezise top scoring with 30 while Teahen chipped in with a valuable 20.
Brad Tegelaars was the best of the Pleasant Point bowlers taking 3-12 while Richard Stowell also picked up three wickets.
The final match was between Star and Waimate at Mountain View High School.
Waimate sent the home side into bat and it was a decision which looked to have paid off early.
Star lost Adam Fahey and Daniel Campbell cheaply but thanks to Phil McGregor (21) and Chris Hogan (40) they were able to rescue the innings.
McGregor was bowled and then Hogan who had three lives in his knock was finally caught by Nathan Sewhoy off spinner Glen Drake.
Handy contributions from Jacques Marais (33) and Hamish Dickson (30) helped Star score a competitive 183-9 off 45 overs.
Reid, Drake and Josh Mehrtens all picked up two wickets.
They started strongly with the ball as George Morgan was dismissed in the first over.
Drake came to the crease and looked superb for his 24 but when he departed the wheels fell off the Waimate innings and they were bowled out for 88.
Brayden Lindsay picked up 3-20 and Blair Gunn was also a handy foil taking 3-39 while Dickson claimed 2 wickets.
Celtic are first on 36 points, Star second on 33, Timaru 30, Temuka 24, Pleasant Point 21 and Waimate 0, with everyone but Waimate still a chance of making the play-offs.