CRICKET - Bledisloe break free of losing streak

Bledisloe finally got their monkey off their back with their first one-day victory in the premier cricket competition this season.
The win was a good team effort but once again having their two most consistent players firing on the same day helped the side to put pressure on Whangarei Boys' High School's first eleven.
Blake Richardson was dismissed just three runs short of a well deserved century while Andy Roberts scored a fast 48 before taking five wickets to seriously dent WBHS's chances in the chase.
Bledisloe took advantage of Jamie Lee's absence to plunder runs off the WBHS's bowlers. WBHS kept an attacking field for too long, failing to defend their boundaries and allowing the two experienced batsmen to hit over the top of the field and pepper the boundary.
Richardson was finally caught by Aaron Wilson, after misjudging a lofted drive off Harry Darkins, but the Bledisloe tail carried on and took the total to 250.
"Obviously I was disappointed not to get a ton, but it was still good to get a score today, especially after not getting too many runs over the last couple of weeks," Richardson said.
"It's been a while since we had a win in the one-day competition, I'm not sure whether we won last year either, so it was a good drive home tonight for us."
With Roberts tying down one end, one of Bledisloe's new players, Derek Miller, also chimed in with a good spell. He took three wickets to dismiss WBHS's top order cheaply.
WBHS's defeat helped put the gloss on Kamo's day.
Kamo defeated Onerahi-Central by five wickets in their match at Kensington Park and with WBHS's defeat they moved into fourth place on the table doing their chances of a semifinal spot no harm.
Ross Kneebone top scored in Onerahi's innings of 164 with Kamo's spin attack of Jamie Millar and Chris Page putting the brakes on Onerahi's run-scoring.
Gordon Drummond and Rhys Farrand got the Kamo chase off to a good start and the innings was brought home by Kamo debutant Mike Hodgson. Hodgson's arrival in the area from the Hutt Valley couldn't have come at a better time for Kamo, who have lost several players to the start of the university year.
The final premier grade match between competition leaders City and Maungakaramea proved to be a short one with wickets proving easier to come by than runs.
City captain Owain Hopkins won the toss and batted, but was left to rue his decision as his side were bundled out for 59.
Both sides fielded understrength teams with players absent in the Northland side but it was the ball's movement off the wicket that caused the problems.
Wickets continued to fall and Maungakaramea were lucky to only lose five wickets chasing down the total.