Waimate produced a major upset when Jason SewHoy batting at No 8 produced a powerful display of clean hitting to score an unbeaten 76 and see Waimate through to victory over Celtic. Temuka succumbed to Star in just 24 overs while Timaru were unable to field a full team in Geraldine and subsequently lost.The Celtic versus Waimate match doubled as a trial game for the Twenty/20 competition to be played at the Aorangi Bowl on December 20th when these two teams combine to make up one of the 4 teams for the $1000 tournament.
Celtic won the toss and even though they were minus a number of players on representative duty still fielded a strong team. They lost an early wicket before Ryan DeJoux and Mark Tutton (27) added 115 for the 2nd wicket with DeJoux showing class of old as he battered the bowling to all parts of the ground before playing a lazy shot in site of his ‘ton’ and was out for 94 (10 x 4, 4 x 6), but looked to have done enough to set Celtic up for a massive total after getting to 190 for the loss of only 4 wickets.
Waimate toiled away with Allan Reid only conceding 27 runs from his 9 overs but it was the introduction of Matt Devlin’s left-arm spin and the medium pace of Reuben Allan that changed the shape of the match. Devlin took the prized wickets of the DeJouxs and then Allan grabbed 5-39 in a great spell that saw Celtic’s last five wickets fall for only 18 runs as they failed to bat out their 45 overs, thus undoing much of Ryan DeJoux’s good work.
In reply Waimate were soon in trouble, and after Sam Carlaw took a brilliant diving catch to dismiss Hayden Matthews were precariously placed at 55-5 and it looked like it may be early drinks all round, but Waimate again showed they can fight when the chips are down and this time it was Reuben Allan with 43 leading the way as he put partnerships of 45 and 30 with Reid and Jason SewHoy together before Ryan DeJoux took a screamer at square leg to dismiss him.
As SewHoy’s confidence grew so did the strength of the shots, and although he lost a partner quickly his scoring rate suddenly gave Waimate hope as they began regularly scoring 8 and more an over. Alongside Sam Devlin (17) he saw the score through to 165 before SewHoy was joined by No 11 Richard Ford. By now the spectators were under threat as SewHoy brought up his first senior fifty with one of his 6 sixes.
As the pressure went on, the bowlers were found wanting, helping the cause by conceding 40 extras, and were unable to stop SewHoy keeping the strike. Ford survived a good over from Grant Watt, before SewHoy with a flurry of sixes including one that left the ground, crossed Rockdale Rd and landed in the far paddock; saw Waimate through to 217-9 and victory with 4 overs to spare. The significance of SewHoy’s batting easily seen in the final partnership as they added 52 runs and Ford finished 0 not out.
In Temuka a half century to Hamish Dickson and the inexperience of the Temuka batsmen proved the major difference as Star made 185 with Phil McGregor (36) the only other batsman to really get going, but in reply Temuka put up little resistance as Tim Butler with 4-29 and Mark Evans 3-29 helped to dismiss them for 97 and keep Star leading the competition.
Timaru will be asking their club mates lots of questions after only turning up in Geraldine with 9 players, and subsequently lost after Geraldine won the toss and batted first scoring 261-6 from their 45 overs. Matt Barnes produced his best innings since arriving in SC with 100 while the availability of Hamish Drennan also provided dividends as he finished 85 not out. In reply Timaru would be relatively pleased to get to 206, but will be asking “what if” had they fronted with a full team.