Aussies dominate Kiwis in series played at Mount Maunganui

Kristyan Prince watches the ball closely batting for New Zealand against Australia Over 45s. Photo/File

The Trans-Tasman Masters Indoor Cricket series played in Mount Maunganui last week was dominated by Australia who took out three of the four titles at the Bay Indoor Centre at Mount Maunganui.

Australia made a clean sweep of the Over 40, 45 and 50-year divisions winning all three categories 5-0. Kiwi pride was restored in the highly competitive Over 35 age group, with New Zealand taking out the series 4-1.

The New Zealand Over 35 side opened their campaign with a rousing win on day one, posting a solid 75 and then bowling and fielding with real enthusiasm to restrict Australia to 36 runs and claim the honours.

Australia roared back into contention on Friday morning with a solid victory, to square the series. Friday evening produced an incredible atmosphere with a large vocal home-town crowd cheering the Kiwis to a dominant win, to move 2-1 up in the transtasman battle.

Saturday morning's games followed a predictable path in the older grades, leaving the 35s to again get up over the visitors to take the fourth encounter 60-46 and grab a rare series win.

In front of a full house on Saturday evening, the New Zealand teams upped their performances with the Over 45s posting a solid 80 runs, before a last Australian partnership of 38 got them home to victory. The New Zealand Over 50s looked to be chasing another big score before restricting their opponents to 78. Concerted Australian bowling and fielding restricted the Kiwis to 70, to give the Australians another clean sweep. The 40s match-up followed a similar line with the Kiwis falling six runs short.

The final game of a great week saw the New Zealand Over 35s dominate their opponents with an 84-48 win, to seal the series 4-1.

Cricket Australia Indoor Cricket Manager Briana Binch said "The tournament has provided our Australian Masters players with a great opportunity to represent their country against our Trans Tasman rivals in New Zealand.

"Australia and New Zealand are two of the strongest countries in World Indoor Cricket and it's great for the Masters players to have an international event to develop their game, ahead of a World Series event in 2019.

"There was some fierce competition on the court, particularly in the Over 35 grade. Whilst our Over 40s, 45s and 50s dominated their series, there were some close contests during the three days of play. New Zealand outplayed our Over 35 representatives for the majority of the event and thoroughly deserved their series win.

"The Bay Indoor Centre provided outstanding hospitality to all our teams and Mount Maunganui provided the perfect location for our players to experience the cultural and tourist activities on offer."

Trans-Tasman Masters Indoor Cricket Series
Over 35: New Zealand 4 - Australia 1
Over 40: Australia 5 - New Zealand 0
Over 45: Australia 5 - New Zealand 0
Over 50: Australia 5 - New Zealand 0