by 59 runs at Brooklands Park
Taieri captain led Cam McAuslan his side to victory over Carisbrook-Dunedin with a well constructed inning of 90.
McAuslan went out to bat after his side made a steady start to game at 56 for two.
McAuslan anchored the Taieri innings scoring at a consistent strike rate despite wickets falling.
A free-swinging Jarrod Casey was the best of McAuslan’s partners hitting two fours and two sixes to get to 22 runs before being bowled by Nathan Smith.
Smith finished with handy figures of 44 for two from his 14 overs.
The star of the Carisbrook-Dunedin bowling attack was Kurt Johnston who finally brought down McAuslan in the 58th over.
Two balls later, Johnston cleaned up the Taieri tail to finish with 54 for five off 11.2 overs.
Sean Eathorne and No4 Nathan Smith set about getting Taieri’s innings back on track after the loss of two early wickets nd did exactly that by getting Carisbrook-Dunedin through to 113 for three.
Eathorne’s anchoring innings eventually came to an end when he was caught by Jerrym Frost off the bowling of Quentin Gare for 67.
Two more wickets fell before Smith and Pat Arnold doggedly tried to save the game, but Smith’s hopes of carrying his side to victory were dashed when he was run out for 42.
Arnold dug in as wickets continued to fall around him but was eventually the last wicket to fall when bowled by Brad Frost for 22 from 77 balls.
The wicket sealed a 59-run win for Taieri.
Frost shared the Taieri bowling honours with Marcus Frost and Quentin Gare, each taking three wickets.
North East Valley beat Albion
by 53 runs at Logan Park
The North East Valley-Albion game played out similarly to the Taieri-Carisbrook Dunedin match.
Again, one team set a total that was not able to be chased down and it was also done with a mainstay innings by one batsman.
That batsman was recent Otago new cap Llew Johnson who blasted a game-winning 126 runs from 122 balls.
Johnson was in almost 40 overs blasting 16 fours and six sixes after coming to the wicket with his side at 17 for two in the fifth over.
The No4 eventually fell caught behind to bowler Matthew Bacon in the 45th over. The catch was wicketkeeper Tim Ford’s fifth on a busy day with the gloves.
The wicket was Bacon’s fourth as he finished with figures of four for 64 from 15 overs.
Josh Tasman-Jones cleaned up the North East Valley tail to claim economical figures of three for 20 off almost 10 overs. Bacon and Tasman-Jones were also to star with the bat during Albion’s innings.
The pair were the two who evaded the pinpoint bowling of Jamie Murley.
Murley had both Albion openers gone early which sent Tasman-Jones to the crease.
His 37 runs was one of the highlights of a tough day with the bat for Albion. After he was dismissed off Declan Su’a’s bowling, Bacon tried to salvage some respectability for his side. He blasted eight fours and two sixes on his way to an unbeaten 58.
Unfortunately, Bacon ran out of partners, largely due to Murley ripping through the Albion tail.
Murley took four of Bacon’s partners in succession to win his side the match and leave Albion 53 all out and 53 runs short of victory.
Murley took seven wickets for just 44 runs from 14.5 overs.
