NTOB premier club men celebrate their Hawke's Bay Twenty20 crown last night. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
NTOB premier club men celebrate their Hawke's Bay Twenty20 crown last night. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
The Texans' glorious run this summer continued yesterday when they claimed the Hawke's Bay premier men's club Twenty20 crown in Napier.
The Complete Flooring Napier Technical Old Boys (NTOB) side beat Bayley's Real Estate Havelock North CC by six wickets in the final at Nelson Park, Napier.
"It was agood performance," was the understatement from Dale Smidt, the coach of NTOB who will fly the Bay flag at the NZ Club Championship in Auckland later in summer.
In winning the T20 title, the Liam Rukuwai-captained team eclipsed their club record with 15 premier victories on the trot.
"It was pretty special so the boys are very proud about that," Smidt said before the premier men play two more rounds of Property brokers-sponsored 50-over matches to decide who will progress to the playoffs to end the season on a high note.
Last night, the villagers won the toss and elected to bat but their total of 140-3 in 20 overs didn't have a daunting look about it.
Openers Mitchell Hammond and Todd Astill provided the platform with 50 and 33 runs, respectively, before No 4 james Field came to the party, albeit a little late, with 32 from 17 balls.
"If we had batted first we would have taken 180 as a par total so we were happy chasing down 140," Smidt said.
He hailed bowlers Indika Senarathne who took 1-15 from four overs as well as Craig Herrick who claimed 2-16 from three overs.
"Indy is a very underrated bowler. To be honest I think his bowling is better than his batting right now.
"No one has taken after him as a bowler yet. He can bowl offpsin and leg spin so he mixes it up and keeps the batsmen guessing," Smidt said.
Senarathne opened batting with 32 runs from 20 balls but it was No 4 Bronson Meehan with an unbeaten 50 from 38 balls, including six boundaries and two sixes, that steered them to a comfortable victory with 16 balls to spare.
"Bronson doesn't sell his wickets cheaply," Dale said, revealing that since Meehan came to the fold before Christmas the side hasn't struggled with the bat.
"In twenty20 he is a lot more expansive with his shots and that's a reflection of his ability. In fact he's been great in all formats of the game for us."
Smidt said with just the one-dayers to go the prem season seemed to ending much earlier this summer and that was a testament to Bay conditions.
