Phil McGregor plays a shot through the leg side against Temuka. Richie Preston looks on.
Celtic, Star and Timaru all consolidated their places in the top three of the South Canterbury senior men’s one-day competition with straight forward victories on Saturday.
Competition leaders Celtic maintained their place at the top of the table with a comfortable nine-wicket victory over fifth-placed Pleasant Point at Celtic, Temuka were bundled out for less than 100 for the second week in a row in their seven-wicket loss to Star and Timaru claimed a comfortable seven wicket win over Waimate.
Waimate won the toss and captain Glen Drake decided they would bat first.
Openers George Morgan and Nathan Sewhoy helped the home side get off to a positive start with a 39 run opening stand, however when Sewhoy went for 18 and Morgan shortly for 29 the side was cautiously placed at 52-3.
From there the wheels fell off other than keeper Ruha Davis’s 16 and some help from extras which contributed 18, Waimate managed to sneak through to 114 before they were bundled out in the 42nd over.
Supeshala Jayathilake again starred with the ball claiming 3-12 from his nine overs, while Josh Dick, Sam Wilson and Jeremy Smallridge all claimed two wickets.
Timaru set out in positive fashion to chase down the runs as quickly as they could.
Opener Alex Lankeshwar was dismissed cheaply for 2, but Nanayakkara (33) and Arthavidu (26) got things back on track with a 49 run partnership before they both fell within two runs of each other. Dick and Jayathilake saw the side home with 19 not out and 11 not out respectively.
In the game at Mountainview High School, Temuka won the toss and decided to bat first in what were bowler friendly conditions.
Phil Lill and Willy Stone set about getting them off to a positive start with a good opening partnership but that did not eventuate as Willy Stone was dismissed by Craig Hinton with Phil McGregor taking a cracker of a catch at gully with the score at 18.
Lill followed him shortly after with the score at 22.
Nick Horsley set about batting through the innings and he was dropped twice in one over it looked as though he would do this but he offered another chance and Star took it , sending him back to the dug out for 16.
Other than 16 from Jamie Tresize that was about as good as it got for Temuka as they managed to scrape through to 92 helped largely by Stars 18 extras. Leg-spinner Dale Warwood, left-arm seamer Jacques Marias and opening bowler Alex McDuff all claimed two wickets each.
McGregor and Adam Fahey continued their good form together with their second 50-run partnership of the season to set Star up for victory.
Fahey went for 32, McGregor soon after for 21 but Paul Arkinstall saw them home with an unbeaten 20 as they chased down the 92 runs required.
Temuka seamer Kevin Teahen starred with the ball for the visitors, claiming all three of the home sides wickets to fall.
Celtic dispatched Pleasant Point with ease to remain top-of-the-table.
Point could only manage 93 in a disappointing effort with Blair Brown top scoring with 23 while Celtic seam bowler Tom Pavletich starred with the ball claiming 6-24.
In reply Celtic took just 19.1 overs to knock off the target with Andy Scott contributing 34, Liam Beck 24 not out and James Laming 22 not out.
Celtic are top with 24 points, Timaru and Star sit second and third with 21 points then Temuka are just behind in fourth with 18 while Point have six points and Waimate have zero.