By PETER THORLEY BERT Horner was at his belligerent best yesterday as he guided City to a seven-wicket win over Greerton in the Northern Districts club championships.
Horner was unbeaten on 124 after opening the innings, as City chased down 208 to win in 36 overs to progress to the semifinals
of the competition.
The Northland batsman's first five scoring shots were boundaries and Horner never let the pace drop after that. City manager Martin Kimber said it was a fantastic display of batting.
"It was a great effort, he was at his best out there, the only problem now is having to spend five hours on the bus with him on the way home," Kimber laughed.
Horner scored 17 fours and three sixes in his innings, helped by the lightning fast outfield at Pemberton Park. He shared a partnership of 132 with Jamie Matthews for the second wicket, of which Matthews scored 40.
City got off to a good start in the first innings after losing the toss. Most of the bowlers found a good line and length on the batter friendly pitch and were able to put the brakes on Greerton's progress.
There were three run outs, which served as good reward for some great City fielding.
Kimber said the only glitch in the day was a bowling miscalculation that meant they had to throw the ball to Kurt Wilson for an over late in the innings.
Wilson claimed a wicket in his first over and then bowled out the innings to finish with the best figures of 2/10 off three overs.
Darron Goodwin (1/17/10) and Andy Pratt (2/29/9) were the other bowlers to get wickets in a good bowling effort.
