An impressive bowling display from Central reserves has seen them take home the local bragging rights in a thrilling local derby cricket season opener.
Central, who batted first, secured their first win in the Rotorua/ Taupo senior reserve grade after bowling out rivals Chance Cars Geyser City reserves for 151 runs at Boord Park on Saturday.
With 20 overs to go the game looked to be very much in Geyser City's hands with the team needing only 18 runs to win with six wickets remaining.
But over the next four overs, led by the bowling attack of Ben Fraser and Ejaz Kahlid, Central stormed to victory taking six wickets for 16 runs, with Fraser taking the vital final one.
Central captain Paul Wyllie said he was delighted with the result and highlighted the performances of the team's leading bowlers.
"What a way to win a match - we built momentum in attack and Ben was really on form for us," he said.
"Geyser were given a chance because our batting wasn't quite where I wanted it to be - we started confidently but then quite a few easy wickets fell and it would have been good to have an extra 30 or so runs on the board.
"At one stage it did look like they had the game in the bag but we always had belief and kept going."
Geyser City captain Chris Nairn was "bitterly disappointed" with the way his side "crumbled at the wicket".
"We are very disappointed. We were certainly in the driving seat and it was our game to lose," he said.
"But credit to Central, they put in a good bowling performance with excellent line and length. They put the pressure on and we collapsed.
"From this game we want to use it as a very important reminder. You haven't won until you get the runs. This is about each individual's mental approach when they get on the crease. You don't rely on others coming after you."
Nairn said a positive for his side was the performance of Geyser's O'Donaghue brothers with Eamon hitting 73 runs and younger sibling Gordon taking four wickets.
It was a double defeat for Geyser City Cricket club with the first XI falling to their third defeat of the WBOPCA Western Bay of Plenty reserve grade.
At Boord Park on Saturday Mount Maunganui set them a target of 241 runs to chase and they were bowled out for 123 runs.
Geyser City cricket chairman Mike Holmes said it was a "bitter pill to swallow" for his club who were celebrating their 25-year anniversary.
"Mount Maunganui were a good team and they set us a difficult target to chase," he said.
"It was unfortunate as we bowled very competitively for 30 overs - restricting them to 100 runs but then they really threw the bat at it.
"It was a great occasion for us and it's just sad we couldn't celebrate in real style."
Results:
Rotorua/ Taupo senior reserve grade:
Chance Cars Geyser City Reserves 151/10 (E O'Donoghue 67, J Coutts 26, B Fraser 4/25, E Khalid 3/31) lost to Central CC, Central Reserves 152/10 ( A Bennett 60, R Neves 29, G O'Donoghue 4/37, C Nairn 2/28)
Taupo Schools 1st XI 104 (L Love-Parata 23, H Palvaast, C Perera 2/1, M Dahl 2/12) lost to Taupo Old Boys 1 219 ( S McGreavy 33, C Jackson 30, J Love-Parata 4/47, J Fredrickson 2/26)
GM Painters Lake Taupo CC 223/4 lost to BOP Indians CC 224/7
Eastern Pirates 258 (Cayde Thomson 77 Alan Porter 63, Dale Wihapi 38, Johnny Wiringi 32) beat Taupo Old Boys second team: 58 all out. Mark Smale 3/16.
WBOPCA Western Bay of Plenty reserve grade:
Mount Maunganui 241/6 (Jason Luke 100no, Hayden Mitchell 3/42) defeated Geyser City 128 (Clinton Butler 3/27)
Aquinas College 133 (Fergus Lellman 40, Sean Crotty 4/16, Paddy Davenport 3/27) lost to Greerton 134/8 (Danny Pokai 37, Louis Robinson 4/21, Finn Dempsey 3/43)
Katikati 160/9 (Matt Warren 35, Jim van der Vorm 3/35) defeated Cadets 119 (Campbell Wilson 32, Matt Earl 4/18)
Te Puke 189 (Gareth Wallace 90, Johnny Coulter 36, Nick Field 4/45) lost to Lake Taupo 190/8 (Roger Urbahn 49, Abhinav Batti 39)
R&A Sangha 144 (GS Mahal 60, LS Bhatti 30, Dominic Crombie 6/32) lost to Tauranga Boys' College 148/8 (Kinnon Nelson 40, Dominic Crombie 36)
Sikh Sports 145 (Sunny Singh 42) lost to Whakatane United 146/2 (Rhys Keighley 73)
Points Table (Provisional): Lake Taupo CC 80, Greerton 70, Mount Maunganui 60, R&A Sangha 57, Whakatane United 50, Te Puke 48, Tauranga Boys' College 47, Katikati 40, Sikh Sports 37, Aquinas College 32, Cadets 24, Geyser City 21.