Craig Davies 110
Celtic captain Craig Davies smashed a 63-ball century as Celtic crushed the Cavaliers by 81 runs in their twenty20 match last night.
Davies hit 16 fours and two sixes before he was dismissed for 110 as Celtic amassed 184 for two in their 20 overs before rolling the Cavaliers for 103.
Davies started his innings sedately by seeing off a maiden from Dan O’Brien.
It was to prove the calm before the storm as Davies and Jacob Naylor (39) put on 109 for the first wicket.
Davies played shots all round Aorangi Oval, but his driving on the up was a feature of the innings.
He hit Jason McCone for three fours and a six in his lone over which cost him 23.
While Jamie Eggleton’s catch at long-off allowed his father, Bruce Eggleton, the opening wicket of the match, former Roncalli spinner Ben Simpson could feel annoyed not to have had got his former school captain out earlier, being let down by two dropped catches off his bowling.
Davies was in sublime touch but the batsmen around him struggled to hit the ball as cleanly.
His dismissal, when caught on the square-leg boundary off the bowling of Mark Evans, meant the final two overs of the innings were economic and allowed the Cavaliers to keep their target to under 200.
Simpson bowled three overs for 19 runs, while Evans bowled three overs for 18 and earned the prized wicket of Davies.
The run chase could not have started worse.
The composite side lost their first three wickets for two runs, with fast bowler Ben Watson grabbing two wickets in the opening over.
A hard-hitting 38 from McCone and a breezy 42 from Grant Brookland allowed some respectability to creep into the scorecard.
The pair added 69 for the fifth wicket after they came together at 17 for four.
It was left to the in-form James Blackstock to mop up the tail once the pair departed.
He took four for 13 from 2.3 overs, to confirm he was unlucky not to be called up as the third seamer for South Canterbury’s Hawke Cup team for their match against Mid Canterbury today.
There is a full round of twenty20 games today, with all six teams in action.