Cricket: Kamo snatch defeat as Kaipara Flats progress to Northland T20 final

Onerahi Central opener Todd Beehre scored an important 31 to get his side off to a good start against Kamo on Friday at Cobham Oval. Photo / John Stone

Kaipara Flats have taken advantage of a Kamo collapse to snatch the second berth in the Northland club T20 final.

Kaipara will play City on January 13 to decide which club is the best in the game's shortest format after they snuck past Maungakaramea on Saturday at Bourne Dean Domain. Rain interrupted Kaipara's chase of their opponent's 119 and were forced to stop play at 82/2 after 13 overs.

With Kaipara needing only 28 off the final seven overs, the game was not resumed and the home side claimed the win.

All three of Kamo, Onerahi and Kaipara were left on 12 points but the latter's superior run rate of +0.213 was enough to put them into the final.

However, Kaipara were helped in their journey to the final after a spectacular collapse from Kamo against Onerahi Central at Cobham Oval on a stormy Friday night.

Batting first, Onerahi amassed a competitive 148/8 off their 20 overs.

Opener Todd Beehre started the innings well with five 4s in his 31 off 20 balls but the score of the game belonged to Fletcher Coutts with 79 off 57 balls with six 4s and three 6s.

Coutts' swashbuckling innings was vital to give the bowlers something to defend as their next seven batsmen couldn't achieve a score over five as Kamo's Billy Alexander-Crawford claimed three wickets at the back end of Onerahi's innings.

Kamo came out to bat in wet conditions, which made it tough on Onerahi's bowlers to put the ball in the right areas.

This showed in Onerahi's second over with Sean Doel bowling five consecutive wides down the leg side to start his spell.

All was well for Kamo as they started their innings with openers Rhyce Brittain-Clark and David Armitt putting on 69 for the first wicket.

Armitt got to 56 off 40 balls before he was dismissed by opening bowler Sam Walker, caught by Beehre on the boundary with the score at 102/3 after 12 overs.

Walker ignited the Kamo collapse as, three balls later, he trapped Lakvir Singh in front having scored just nine. Three balls later, last week's hero Bruce Martin tried to send a full delivery from Kirk Henderson out of the park and instead had his stumps disturbed and he was sent packing for a golden duck.

Two more batsmen, one bowled and the other a victim of a poor run out, left Kamo at 122/8 with just two overs remaining.

The rain, which had threatened throughout the second innings, finally came down and the players were rushed off the field so the pitch could be covered.

Onerahi were deemed victors of the game but their overall run rate of +0.101 was not enough to overtake Kaipara and they finished third.

Premier cricket will resume next year on January 12 with round nine of the 50-over Lion Red Cup competition.