Duracrete Products City captain Craig Little starred with bat and ball as he lead his side to a six-run win over Onerahi Central at Cobham Oval in the Lion Red Cup. Photo/John Stone
The Lion Red Cup kicked off in exciting fashion as Duracrete Products City, Whangarei Boys High School First XI and Maungakaramea picked up opening round wins.
At Cobham Oval, City enjoyed a tense six-run win over Onerahi Central.
Batting first, City were under early pressure as Sean Doel (2-9) and Charlie Roebuck (2-9) put the skids on early.
Doel bowled opener Joey Yovich for a duck, then trapped Ian Page in front. Roebuck then removed James Thompson and Harry Darkins to leave City reeling at 36-4.
Spinners Henry Cooper (2-32) and Sam Walker came in to further tighten the screws.
Cooper contributed a brilliant diving one handed catch off his own bowling and followed that with the dismissal of Bert Horner, who battled for his 37 runs.
City captain Craig Little showed a lot of fight when he came to the crease, combining with Ryan Brown (20) for an important 37-run stand for the eighth wicket.
Tom Herman (3-34) came back for Onerahi and knocked over the tail, leaving his side a chase of 139.
Onerahi didn't have the best of starts with Todd Beehre (21), Brad Kneebone (3) and Cooper (8) being dismissed before the score reached 40.
Roebuck (36) and Rory Anders (25) batted well for a 66-run partnership that looked like it would get Onerahi across the line.
However, the dismissal of Roebuck at 105/4 sparked a big collapse that saw Onerahi lose their last six wickets for just 28 runs.
Little (3-31) and Brown (4-21) took those six wickets between them as the combination of pace and spin proved too much for Onerahi, falling just six runs short.
Meanwhile, WBHS began their season with a huge win over Kaipara Flats.
Batting first, WBHS had an inauspicious start as they lost captain Lewis Miller and Quinn Pooley for ducks. Both batsman were run out after two pieces of great fielding.
Jordan Kose and Simar Virk took the important wickets of Rory Christopherson and Caleb Boswell-Smith to leave WBHS at 73/4.
However, they rallied through Chamod Peiris (53) and Luke Trigg (31) as they went about their business.
But the bowling of Ewen Thompson (1/17) and Kyran Dill (2/20) broke the partnership and restricted WBHS to 157/8 from their 50 overs.
Kaipara Flats were in all sorts of trouble early in their innings as they lost their first six wickets for just 40 runs.
In his hat-trick, Watson had two caught behind by Neal Parlane, before dismantling the stumps of Jason Prowse for the trio, giving him match figures of 5/26.
Hyde was the final man to fall at 110.
Opening bowlers Lakhvir Singh and Warren van Wyk gave Kamo a glimmer of hope when they took two wickets in the first three overs.
However, Watson (21), Parlane (15 not out) and Tyler Lortan (57 not out) saw Maungakaramea home with more than 26 overs remaining.
Lion Red Cup Results: Duracrete Products City 139 (Craig Little 44, Bert Horner 37, Tom Herman 3/34) beat Onerahi Central 133 (Charlie Roebuck 36, Ryan Brown 4/24, Craig Little 3/31) by six runs WBHS 1st XI 157/8 (Chamod Peiris 53, Luke Trigg 31) beat Kaipara Flats 136 (Kevin Forde 58*, Cullen Lowe 5/21) by 21 runs Kamo 110 (Ben Hyde 62, Kurtley Watson 5/26, Jason Morgan 3/22) lost to Maungakaramea 113/3 (Tyler Lortan 57*) by seven wickets