City book place in one day final with big win over Kamo

City put on a dominant display against Kamo in the fifth round of the Lion Red premier one day competition to claim the second final's berth facing top qualifiers Kaipara Flats on December 5.
Batting first in Saturday's one-day match at Kensington, City forged a formidable total of 296-5, with the top and middle order all contributing.
City openers Rory Darkins (75) and Bert Horner (63) put together a solid partnership of 124, before Aaron McIntosh and Eden Crawford eventually claimed their respective wickets.
Ian Page (41), Chris Page (45), Harry Darkins (18) all chipped in, along with No4 batsman Richard Atkins on 32 not out.
Richie MacPherson and Curtis Cherrington took the other two wickets for Kamo, while Chris Page was run out.
Some smart fielding and efficient bowling by City completed their win, restricting restricted Kamo to 153 in 33 overs in their reply.
Rory Darkins again led by example, taking three catches in the field as well as grabbing two wickets for 59 in his 10 overs bowled. Harry Darkins had the best figures with the ball, taking three wickets for just four runs, while Chris Page snatched 3-16.
Kamo's top and middle order batsmen Rhys Farrand (22), Dean Williams (38) and Nathan Luke (31) all got starts but City's bowling attack was too strong and the lower order fell quickly.
Top qualifiers Kaipara Flats, who remain unbeaten in the Lion Red one day competition, had an early finish following a lacklustre batting performance by Donavans Tradezone Onerahi Central.
Up first Onerahi were dismissed for a meagre 37 runs in 15.2 overs, by only two Kaipara bowlers - Tauseef Satti (5-12) and Matthew Taylor (5-25).
Kaipara soon chased down the target, reaching 39 in 14.4 overs, with eight wickets remaining.
Kaipara's Brett Hood said the poor batting performance from Onerahi was a bit surprising as the pitch was not easy, but nor was it a shocker either.
"If we had batted first we would have expected to get a 160-170 par score on the pitch - but we had an early day," he said.
In the other match of the round, Whangarei Boys High School had a convincing 107 run win over Maungakaramea at Maungakaramea.
After winning the toss, the hosts sent the schoolboys into bat and they went onto make 192/5, with Ben Smith (49 not out) the top scorer. Henry Cooper was looking good with the bat on 43 when Paul Wilson claimed his wicket, which he then backed up by dismissing Boy's high skipper Ben Hyde for 16 runs.
The schoolboys followed their solid batting effort with a strong bowling performance and they dismissed Maungakaramea batting up for 85 in 31.3 overs.
Alex Seymour was in form with the ball, taking 3-14, as was Herman who got Maungakaramea's opening batsman Dean Child for a duck and No2 Mark Southee out for two runs. Wilson and tailender Matthew Thornton were the only batsmen to reach double figures for Maungakaramea, hitting 24 and 13 respectively.
Kaipara Flats and City will play the final of the Lion Red One Day competition on December 5. If the match is rained out, Kaipara will win the competition as they are the top qualifiers.
Round two of the Mark Cromie Holden Premier Competition gets under way next Saturday, with Maungakaramea playing Kamo, Boys High taking on Onerahi and City facing Kaipara Flats.