Cricket: Tight matches to end the Reserve Grade year

Westech Automotive Maungakaramea's Carl Tomich in action during their win over Kamo in the reserve grade 40 over competition. Photo/Tania Whyte

Close finishes were the order of the day as Whangarei Boys' High School Second XI, Onerahi Central and Westech Automotive Maungakaramea picked up reserve grade 40 over wins.

WBHS left it until the penultimate ball to grab a tense one wicket win over Duracrete Products City.

City batted first and while only two players made it into double figures, they made it count.

Jake Serotsky (79 not out) and Brad Lang (59) steered their side to 176 with a commanding 145 run partnership after Tim Osbaldiston (4 for 21) had taken two early wickets.

The City pair combined for 17 boundaries as WBHS couldn't find a way to break the partnership.

Oddly, all of Osbaldiston's wickets removed batsmen for ducks.

Ben Pepperell (2 for 45) was the only other wicket taker as City reached 176 for 6 in their 40 overs.

Reagan Radford (3 for 43) and Paul Cleary (2 for 12) made early breakthroughs before Sam Webb (21) and Craig Gurr (64) got WBHS into a good position.

However a rash of wickets had the side eight down with 48 runs to get.

But cooler heads prevailed as Cale Pooley (27 not out) steered his side home, getting his team the 12 runs needed in the final over.

Meanwhile Maungakaramea grabbed a 20 run win over Kamo Reserves.

No one starred for Maungakaramea with the bat, but a great team effort saw them get to 160 all out.

Richard Cates (4 for 40) and Logan Choat (2 for 10) were the pick of the Kamo bowlers.

Kamo looked solid in their chase with Josh Crawford and Stefan Hunt leading the way with matching 33s.

But it wasn't enough as the Maungakaramea attack, led by five wickets from Gurjant Singh (5 for 21), dismissed Kamo for 140, 20 runs short of the win.

At Bream Bay, Onerahi got some revenge for their T20 final loss with a 22 run win over Bream Bay.

Things were not looking good for Onerahi as Brendon Maihi (5 for 39) combined with John Cunningham (3 for 21) to have the visitors reeling at 91 for 9.

But Adam Sylva (66) combined with Geoff Bigwood (15 not out) combined for an 82-run 10th wicket stand to see Onerahi through to a very defendable 173.

Opening bowlers Axel Sheppard (1 for 14) and Callum Harnett (4 for 27) made scoring tough for Bream Bay's top order, reducing them to 35 for 5.

Cunningham was the mainstay for Bream Bay as his unbeaten 51 kept them in contention right until the last over.

But Onerahi's bowling attack kept it tight, leaving Bream Bay needing 29 runs from the final over, where Harnett kept it to just six runs to lead his side to the win.

In the final match, WRMK Lawyers Kerikeri grabbed a six-wicket win over Kamo High School.

Kamo batted first and reached 134 all out, with Nathan Parkes (36) leading the way.

Alashdeep Pundir (5 for 30) and Manik Fernando (3 for 1) picked up the majority of the wickets.

In reply, Kerikeri cantered home in the 28th over, reaching the target with six wickets in hand.

Raj Kumar (45), Luke Halligan (34) and Fernando (31 not out) starred with the bat as they made short work of their chase.

The competition now takes a three week break over the Christmas period, with the first round of 2017 on January 14.