Jimmy Laming 96
Dan Laming 96
Celtic’s James and Dan Laming’s individual performances erased any hope of victory for Temuka while other matches also resulted in one-sided wins to Timaru and Star.
Celtic won the toss and decided to bat first at home and scoring an imposing 320-5 from their 45 over stint at the batting crease; a tally built around the 156-run partnership between brothers James and Dan Laming for the third wicket after Dan batting at No 4 joined opening batsman and captain James with the score 66-2.
They built their foundation steadily, going to drinks after 25 overs with the score on 107, but after drinks and for the final 20 overs they exploded as Celtic scored at more than 10 runs an over through until the finish.
None of the bowlers were spared as the brothers gave a master class in batsmanship, inter-mingling well-run singles, twos and threes with numerous boundaries.
From the sidelines the only question seemed to be whether Dan would catch James and score his century first. It was a disappointment, and even more so for James himself when he was out for 96 attempting to pull a short delivery from Joe Wagner that he top-edged and Hayden Broker managed to hold onto.
Then just a few overs later Dan was caught on the wide long-on boundary hitting into the wind also for 96, so there was nothing to separate them, despite both players deserving centuries.
The partnership was a catalyst for the remaining Celtic batsmen to attack everything as cameos from Jake Naylor 26, Andrew Buckingham 29 not out and Sam Carlaw with a 7 ball unbeaten 25 took the score quickly over 300.
There was no respite for any of the Temuka bowlers although Kevin Kerse conceded only 37 runs from his 9 overs.
In reply, Temuka began steadily with opener Willie Stone again top-scoring for his side with 32 and an opening partnership of 40 runs but this time James Blackstock made the breakthrough sending the first three batsman back to the pavilion on his way to his best figures this season with 3-22.
Broker went on attack quickly making his way to 27 before he walked over the top of a delivery from Sam Carlaw to be bowled, and Dan Laming then showed his all round qualities as he took 4-28 off his 8 overs to cap off a good day at the office and clean up the middle order.
In the end Temuka had no real answer to the Lamings and were all out for 139 in the over.
Across town at Ashbury Park Roncalli/Celtic hosted Star in what many believed would be a tight match, but Star quickly dispelled those thoughts.
Roncalli/Celtic won the toss and batted first but their batsmen were soon making a beaten path back to the pavilion as Craig Hinton with 3-7 off his 9 overs and Jeremy Lane with 2-12 destroyed the top-order who were teetering at 16-5 and on target for a very embarrassing scoreline.
It was left to stalwart Ants de Joux to arrest the slide, but he found the going hard too, taking 11 overs to get off the mark and batting 20 all told for the team’s top score of 13!
He had some support from Jarrod Woofinden and Grant Watt, but eventually the Star spin attack of Dale Warwood (3-12) and Jacques Marais (2-17) cleaned up the tail dismissing Roncalli/Celtic for 64.
It took Star 21 overs to achieve victory, but they did it in style losing only one wicket as Danny Campbell (23) and Phil McGregor (16) both finished unbeaten at the end of the game.
Timaru dominated proceedings at Waimate after being asked to bat first and scoring 212-5. Their innings included fifties to both South Canterbury Senior representatives Prabodha Artavidu and Zane Sanders and double-figure contributions from everyone else.
For Waimate bowling honours were shared amongst four, with the best return to Connor Farrell with 1-30.
In reply Waimate could find no answers as they stumbled along to 48-8 before being dismissed for 56 with only Sam Porter (17) and extras reaching double figures.