A staggering 108 from Timaru’s Sam Porter gave his team great momentum heading into a South Canterbury Twenty20 cricket semifinal against defending champions Celtic this Friday.
Porter’s knock in the last round-robin match last night and an unbeaten 80 from captain Josh Smallridge helped the home team to a 132-run win over Timaru Boys’ High School to secure top spot in their pool.
Timaru posted 234 for three batting first.
Nick Galwey took four wickets and Zane Sanders three as the schoolboys were restricted to 102 all out in reply Temuka grabbed top spot in the other pool and will now face Waimate on Friday after beating Celtic by 20 runs.
The Magpies defended 167 on their home pitch.
Star got past Roncalli/Celtic by 12 runs successfully defending 135 at Ashbury Park 6 thanks to 34 from Paul Arkinstall and three wickets from Henry Race.
In the winner-take all match at Aorangi Oval, Waimate blazed their way into the semi-finals after an eight-wicket win over the Cavaliers.
The hosts posted 150 for six on the back of a strong middle-order batting effort.
Nathan Tubb top-scored with 38 which included eight boundaries. Jason McCone added 34 while Andrew McRae offered steady support with 23.
Scott Willoughby was the early destroyer for the visitors. He took 23 runs off one Mike Davies over as his team raced to 50 inside four overs.
He then got his half century inside six overs as he used the strong southerly breeze to hit the ball well over the boundary many times.
A stupid quick single behind square cost him his wicket when he was caught well short of his ground on 72 off 30 balls.
Waimate were – for 2 after nine overs at the time.
While it halted the momentum of the innings temporarily, Alan Reid, who caused the run out, kept the runs ticking over to guide his team home with an unbeaten 45.
Waimate got home with 22 balls to spare.