The big names stood up for Kaipara Flats as they won the first trophy of the Northland Cricket season with a 21-run victory over City Cricket Club in the final of the Twenty20 competition.
The Kaipara side, boasting Northern District players such as Brad Wilson and James Marshall, remained unbeaten through
the five rounds of pool play to reach the yesterday's final.
Their impressive batting line-up saw them race through to 199-5 in the final - held at their home ground yesterday - with Wilson top-scoring with 72. Wilson and all-rounder Tas Satti, who contributed a half-century, started with a good partnership before the City bowlers fought back to slow the scoring and stop them reaching 200.
City, who were the other form team throughout the competition, refused to give in during the chase. Led by a big-hitting 64 by Chris Page, City were still in with a chance, albeit a slim one, with three overs remaining but in the end they couldn't find the boundary rope often enough and finished on 179/6.
There were three rounds of pool play held over the weekend, with two rounds of competition on Saturday and a further round preceding the final yesterday.
Kaipara beat Kamo, Whangarei Boys High School and Onerahi Central to reach the final.
City beat the students thanks to a great knock of 91 by Ian Page, before taking care of Maungakaramea by 61 runs, with Richard Atkins leading the way with 72 runs before the seam bowler took four wickets at the top of the order.
The match of the final round yesterday morning featured WBHS and Maungakaramea, with the two teams tied after 40 overs with a bowl off required to separate the two teams.
Tom Herman and David Armitt knocked over the stumps for High School, while only Jason Morgan could match them for Maungakaramea, giving the students something to cheer them going into the Lion Red Premier One-Day competition, which starts this Saturday.
