It was a stunner of a weekend in the RobLawMax Senior Men's and Women's Divison 1 competition.

In Women's Division 1 it was a festival round with all the matches played at Karori Park under the 40 over competiton. Due to a large number of players from North City selected to play the NZC under 19 tournament, Norths had to default their game against Jville, however the teams still played a friendly with Norths coming out on top by 7 runs in a tight tussle. The default putting Johnsonville top of the 40 over ladder after three rounds.

In the other two matches, Upper Hutt defeated Collegians by 45 runs with Beth Tretheway and Sophie Telfer putting on 124 runs for the first wicket to get Upper Hutt off to the perfect start. Sophie making 51 with Beth 49. Cassey Busby also contributing 35 with the bat for Upper Hutt. Collegians, despite a valient chase came up short but with a solid 48 from Amelia Newell. Beth Tretheway in an all round performance also taking figures of 3/40. On Karori 1 City Suburbs fell short by 19 runs against defending champions Petone. Batting first, Petone made 142/10 with Emma Austin contributing 50 at the top of the order. Tori Thompson and Anna Morgan picking up three wickets each with the ball for City Suburbs. Petone's bowlers produced what was required to restrict City Suburbs in the end with Bree James picking up 5/19 and Hannah Hells 4/21 to give Petone a must needed first 40 over win to get their campaign back up and running after defeat to North City last week.

In the Ewen Chatfield Trophy it was wins for Vic Uni, Eastern Suburbs and Taita as we reached the half way point in the competition. At Kelburn Park, Vic took the contest against previously table toppers, Karori. VUW making 233/9 in their 50 overs they restricted Karori to 175 with Tom Valentine picking up 4/42 for the home side. Opener Oscar Wilson top scoring for Karori with 60. Tim Bryant picked up four wickets for Karori with Adam Leonard top scoring for Vic with 47 on the way to a big win. At the Hutt Rec, Easts made light work of Hutt D in the end winning by 136 runs with a superb 86 from Sajith Dhambagolla in the middle order for Easts. Jed Wiggins also contributing 55, Nick Kwant 49 and Nate Wiggins 42 in an all round excellent batting performance from the away side. The pick of the bowlers was seen from Easts skipper, Felix Murray who picked up 6/19.

At Fraser Park, Taita climbed back to the top of the ladder with a 3 wicket win over Onslow. Batting first, Onslow made 131/10, Kieran McComb with figures of 4/18 for Taita with Oscar Jackson making 59 for Onslow. In the succesful low scoring chase for Taita Meet Solanki made 52 before having to retire hurt with Jesse Tashkoff making an important 43 from the middle order. Elliot Seddon peformed well with the ball for Onslow with figures of 4/28 off his 7.2 overs. As mentioned, Taita are top of the ladder on 17 points now opening up a five point gap over Karori (12) in second. Easts hold 3rd on run rate over Vic and Onslow who are all on 11 points. Hutt D are bottom with just one win and six points after five rounds.

In the Hazlett trophy, it was another last over thriller involving Johnsonville, once again though they found themselves on the wrong side of it going down by three wickets to Petone. Petone, following a tough couple of weeks got a much needed win to get their season back on track. An outstanding 62 not out from Nathan Edmonds at number 9 got Petone over the line, supported well by George Wells. Prior, Casey Cowpland had got Petone off to a good start in the chase with 51. Johnsonville had Matthew Nel contribute 82 with the bat along with a 52 from Sean Wakelin. Craig James picking up three wickets for Petone. At Bryan Heath Park, the travelers Upper Hutt comfortably dispatched Wainuiomata by 9 wickets. Aston Steere picked up 4/25 with the ball and once again it was Sam Morgan (52) and Bhavik Patel (45) with the runs to ease the away side home, both not out. Yesh Prashanth had made 42 for Wainui in their 108. Upper Hutt 109/1 after just 10 overs to secure the W.

Finally, to Linden Park where Norths got the better of Naenae by 7 wickets, chasing 168 they got home with 15 overs to spare. Skipper Russell Hughes opening the batting and making 90 during the successful chase. Muhammadd Jawad made 65 for Naenae with the bat with Ishaan Gandhi snearing 4/46 with the ball for Norths. Upper Hutt remain top of the ladder with 18 points, with Norths in 2nd on 15 and Petone third on 13.

Wainui remain bottom of the table on five points, one below Johnsonville in 5th on six points.In the men's reserve grades it was wins for Onslow, Upper Hutt, Petone and Eastern Suburbs in div 3. Upper Hutt now top of the overall table and the 50 over table.

In Division 4 it was wins for Hutt District Reserves, Sri Lankan Sports Premiers, Hutt District Super Challengers and Petone Reserves. These results kept Sri Lankan Sports Club top of the overall ladder with Hutt District Super Challengers top of the 50 over competiton. Both division 3 and 4 having now played 8 rounds overall.

Article added: Monday 02 December 2024