Albion lost in the national club final in Auckland yesterday but not before a breathtaking innings got it into the big show.
Albion went down to Eastern Suburbs, of Wellington, in the final yesterday.
Batting first after winning the toss, Albion struggled through to 194, being dismissed in the 50th over.
Josh Tasman-Jones scored 62 and Jamie Glenn got 28 but the side could not get a partnership going.
In reply, Eastern Suburbs looked in control throughout and won after 43 overs with six wickets intact.
To get to the final, Albion had a fascinating battle with Auckland side Takapuna on Saturday.
Takapuna batted first and amassed a hefty 359 in its 50 overs. With the calculators out, Albion had to get to 237 to get into the final on run rate ahead of Takapuna.
It did not start well, losing four wickets for 22 runs. Then, at 152 for eight wickets, the side was in trouble.
But all-rounder Teja Nidamanuru came to the wicket and blazed his way past the target.
Usually an opener, he batted at No10 after he dislocated his index finger on his non-bowling hand in Takapuna's innings and had to go to hospital. He decided to bat but was in some pain. However, he simply launched at the Takapuna attack and helped the side past the target of 237 and beyond. He ended up hitting a century off 50 balls and hit 94 of his runs in boundaries.
Albion got to 290 with the last two wickets worth 138 runs.
Pakistan's most successful test batsman, Younis Khan, will retire from international cricket at the conclusion of the upcoming three-test series against the West Indies, AP reports.
Younis (39) needs only 23 runs to become the first Pakistani to complete 10,000 test runs. He has played 115 tests and scored 9,977 runs with an average of 53.06 and 34 centuries.
