Greytown battle into play-offs

LEFT: Umpire Gavin Wootton gives a Cornwall batsman his marching orders, much to the delight of Ben Foster, Greytown bowler.PHOTOS/CHRIS KILFORD

Turkey Red Greytown are through to the Central District play-offs in the national inter-club limited-overs competition.

Greytown scored an exciting two-wicket win over Hawke's Bay champions Hastings Cornwall at Greytown on Sunday.

The southerners have yet to lose in any form of cricket on the local inter-club scene this season but they had to fight hard this time, the winning runs coming with just eight balls left.

Batting first, Cornwall lost their first wicket without a run on the board. Jacob Smith and Seb Langridge then put on 46 runs before Smith was out for 23.

Five runs later, Greytown claimed their third scalp and, when Cornwall slumped to 55-4, the home team were well on top.

Then came the highest partnership of the match, another 60 runs being added by Langridge and Hall before Langridge was out for 40. He faced 74 balls and struck two fours.

From there, the only real resistance to a persistent attack was provided by Jono Hall. He was unbeaten on 73 at the end of the 50th over, having faced 103 balls and hit seven fours, with the team total 206-8.

Medium pacer Ben Foster was the most successful of Greytown's six bowlers, finishing with 3-47 from eight overs. Paceman Seth Rance and spinner Steve Coleman also impressed. Rance conceded just 17 runs from 10 overs and took two wickets, while Coleman's 10 overs cost only 28 runs.

Greytown got their innings off well with Jason Kibblewhite (29) and skipper Tim Lucas (28) putting on 49 runs for the first wicket. At 122-4 and 161-5, however, there were question marks over the side's ability to finish things off, before they got home with eight balls and two wickets to spare. That was thanks in the main to Coleman, whose 66 came off 69 balls and included five fours.

Also vital was Rance's belligerent 24 off 15 balls, including the game's only six. Hall completed a fine all-round effort for Cornwall by taking 3-39 from his 7.4 overs.

Short scoreboard:

Hastings Cornwall 206-8 (Harvey 0, Jacob Smith 23, Langridge 40, Groot 3, J Smith 0, Hall 73 not out, Wiggins 19, Jackett 13, Brocklehurst 7, Crasborn 4, extras 24; fall of wickets, 0, 46, 51, 115, 158, 177, 193; Rance 10-3-17-2, Foster 8-1-47-3, Greenwood 8-0-40-0, Coleman 10-0-28-0, M Reisima 7-1-27-1, G Reisima 7-0-39-1) lost to Greytown 210-8 ( Kibblewhite 29, Lucas 28, Ross 2, Coleman 66, Speers 19, Lyttle 13, Rance 24, G Reisima 10, Greenwood 2 not out, Foster 11 not out, extras 6; fall of wickets, 49, 54, 83, 122, 161, 173, 195, 196; Crasborn 5-0-22-0, Groot 6-1-17-0, Wiggins 10-0-31-2, Hughes 6-1-17-0, Jackett 8-1-46-2, Hall 7.4-1-39-3, Jacob Smith 6-0-36-1).