SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD Sam Carlaw was the toast of Celtic as he took 7-99 bowling his left arm orthodox spinners against Timaru, helping to dismiss them in their first innings for 236, while in Waimate Kevin Teahen was back to his lethal best taking 6-9 as Waimate crumbled to be 45-8 at the end of play after Julian Danby had earlier scored an unbeaten century for Temuka.
Timaru won the toss and batted first looking to take advantage of the new points system in senior cricket and the short boundaries and fast outfield at Rockdale Road. An opening stand of 76 between Hayden Butler (47) and Gerald Piddock (26) saw a good start before a breakthrough by Dan Laming led to a mini collapse as they fell to 87-4 and Carlaw began to take control. In his first season of senior cricket, Timaru battled to 142-7 before Hayden Leonard arrived at the crease and set about posting a respectable score for his team. He helped to markedly increase Carlaw’s bowling figures on his way to a typically aggressive 57 not out, sharing in partnerships of 20, 28 and 46 as the tail wagged with Timaru eventually posting a respectable 236.
In fading light Celtic then set about the chase adding 75 for the first wicket off only 12.2 overs when Andy Scott was out for 37. Steady drizzle, failing light and a greasy ball led to play being halted for half an hour, but after resumption the game swung back Timaru’s way as Hayden and Chris Leonard grabbed three wickets to leave Celtic 121-4 when bad light stopped play.
Temuka batted first in Waimate, scoring runs steadily between rain breaks and sun showers as they tried to avenge their earlier loss in the one-day competition. New recruit Julian Danby soon showed his prowess on a firm track, whether driving on the front foot or pulling off the back foot, as he anchored the innings with a polished 106 not out off only 120 balls – exactly half of his team’s total of 212. He will be thankful for a ninth wicket partnership of 54 with Taj Bullivant to reach his milestone.
For Waimate, all six bowlers used took wickets with Sam Devlin 3-69 the best.
Although Kevin Teahen had his first failure (if 18 is a failure) with the bat for the season for Temuka, he soon made up for it with the ball as he routed Waimate, taking 6-9 from 12 overs. Robbie Histen and Dillon Lees grabbed the other two wickets cheaply.
Waimate will be praying for rain all next weekend as they sit poised on the end of an outright drubbing at 45-8.
In Geraldine, although the scores indicate a poor pitch, it was not the case, but rather fine bowling. Star were sent into bat and began well with Phil McGregor and Tom Bouch (42) adding 47 runs for the first wicket, but soon after there was a steady procession of players back to the pavilion. Matt Morrison had three successful lbw appeals amongst his five wickets for 39 as Star were dismissed for 129 in the 40th over.
In reply Geraldine have a lot of work ahead next week to save the match as they currently sit at 54-7, but if they can somehow get to 100 then this match may still be anyone’s for the taking. For Star all the bowlers chimed in with Jeremy Lane leading the way with 3-18 and they will be hoping to remove the remaining batsmen quickly.