An all-round team bowling effort from the North East Valley attack gave the Valley dwellers a tense win over Carisbrook-Dunedin.
North East Valley 137 beat Carisbrook-Dunedin 132 by five runs
An opening partnership of 35 between Tom Griffin (17) and Anthony Wilkinson (18) got North East Valley off to a breezy start, but the running-out of Wilkinson in the 8th over triggered a collapse. Within six overs, North East Valley was 56 for four and never recovered, stumbling to 137 off 38.4 overs.
Eight of North East Valley's wickets were evenly shared between Carisbrook-Dunedin's Chris Ware, Josh Cunis, Rhys Phillips and Eamon O'Brien, while Brad Rodden chipped in with 6.1 miserly overs, claiming one for 9.
Carisbrook-Dunedin struck early trouble with both Keiran Eathorne and Nick Eathorne back in the pavillion with 15 runs on the board. Sean Eathorne tried his best to right the ship from the No5 spot, scoring 51, but his departure at 121 for seven halted the home side's momentum, and the last three wickets were lost for 11 runs.
All five bowlers used by North East Valley picked up two wickets, with Jerram Bateman snaring the prized wicket of Sean Eathorne and returning figures of two for 8 off five overs.
Albion 320 for seven beat OBHS first XI 177 by 143 runs
A near complete batting performance from Albion helped the Culling Park side to a comfortable win at Sunnyvale.
Other than the early loss of Taylor Cumberland for 0, all eight other batsmen made double figures as Albion piled on the runs.
Dan Duke led the way with a run-a-ball 70, sharing in a 107-run partnership with Felix Page (44). Matt Brown added some late innings punch with 64 off 43 balls, including five sixes.
Otago Boys' started its reply at a steady rate, but the loss of wickets was equally as steady. Declan Sua (47) and Will Kindley (39) gave an early glimmer of hope to the school boys but the chase ended in the 42nd over.
Matt West was the pick of the Albion bowlers with four for 29 off his 10 overs. Roald Badenhorst also collected two for 16 from seven overs.
Kaikorai 130 for four beat Taieri 124 all out by six wickets
A rollicking knock of 69 from Dan Sharples led the way for Kaikorai to overcome Taieri's total with relative ease at Bishopscourt.
Taieri's innings received a jolt with 14 on the board when three wickets fell on the score in the space of 1.1 overs. Dwayne Weir (37) tried to wrest some momentum back but he had little support other than 16 from Jack Hunter as Taieri battled its way through to 124 from 39.3 overs.
Michael Fraser, Jackson Latham and Geordie Scott took two wickets each for Kaikorai.
Sharples put on 83 for the first wicket with Ryan Duffy (18) and did most of the damage himself, smashing seven fours and three sixes.
Sharples went with the score on 91 and despite some middle-order stutters, Kaikorai reached the target in just the 17th over. This performance allowed them to hold on to the lead in the one-day trophy competition ahead of Albion.
