HOROUTA, AGAIN

RELIABLE PERFORMER: Horouta bowler Tushar Balat, in front of umpire Jason Trowill, took 3-19 from his eight overs against OBR at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday. Horouta won the match by five wickets. Picture by Liam Clayton

Horouta have picked up their second win in Poverty Bay cricket’s Doleman Cup competition this season, consigning OBR to another loss.

OBR put up a sometimes casual performance with the bat at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday and they managed just 110, bowled out in 30.1 overs in the 40-over game.

Horouta won the match by five wickets, reaching the target with 15 overs to spare.

That puts Horouta in with a shot of going straight through to the final, but they will need to beat High School Old Boys this week to go to the top of the table and earn direct entry.

The second and third teams on the ladder will play off next week for the other spot in the final, so third-placed OBR are still in with a shout.

Horouta owe much to their captain David Situ for Saturday’s win — their second this season against OBR.

The No.3 scored just eight runs but many of the 35 balls he chewed up were against Landmark Homes OBR’s main strike bowler, Cody Andrews, who produced a fiery spell of quick bowling.

Situ was struck below the right elbow at one point but battled on.

Andrews bowled his eight overs on the trot and he had Situ caught and bowled at the end of his seventh.

That set up a high-stakes contest in the eighth and final over from Andrews. Horouta had their two best batsmen at the crease, Graham Hudson and Keegan Martin . . . and Martin was about to face the first ball of his innings. If Andrews could take one more wicket, OBR would be favourites to snatch the win.

Martin squirted the ball into the leg-side and took a single and Hudson saw out the rest of the over.

Andrews finished with three for 17 and once Horouta had seen off his terrific spell they were unlikely to collapse to defeat.

Hudson, playing as a specialist batsman, scored 43 not out, and Martin fell for 26 when Horouta were 13 runs short of victory. They put on a 50-run partnership, getting Horouta near enough to victory.

OBR captain Jonathan Purcell said that, having put up a sub-par total, his team needed early wickets.

They had Horouta at 14-1 and then a superb piece of cricket made it 25-2. OBR had two catchers in front of the wicket, Andrews steamed in from around the wicket and Horouta opening batsman Parminder Kulaar (17) fell into the trap, hitting the ball straight to Travis Mitchell, who took a brilliant catch close-in on the legside.

Purcell credited his opposite, Situ, for hanging in long enough against some hostile bowling to limit the damage for his team.

OBR’s batting again disappointed the skipper, who won the toss and chose to bat.

Seven batsmen were bowled and their shot selection in many cases looked ill-considered.

“We’re just not scoring the runs,” Purcell said.

OBR’s young top order failed to fire and Horouta bowlers (Tushar Balat and Abdul Fahad) were twice on a hat-trick later in the innings. Balat finished with 3-19 from his eight overs and Fahad had 2-19 off four overs.

No.4 Andrews scored 32 but he fell in the 19th over.

OBR went from 97-5 to 110 all out.

Situ said his team’s bowling was tidy.

With the bat, he didn’t mind copping a blow for the team.

“Cody bowled well,” Situ said.

“It’s the fastest bowling I’ve faced in a while.”

He said everyone in the side stepped up.

“It’s probably the best performance we have put in.”

OBR 110 off 30.1 overs (Cody Andrews 32; Tushar Balat 3-19, Abdul Fahad 2-19, Keegan Martin 2-13) lost to Horouta 112-5 (Graham Hudson 43 not out, Keegan Martin 26; Andrews 3-17).