Cricket: Vanner, Rathnayaka star in Lakelands round

Geyser JPC batsman Kane Vanner, right, hit 74 not out at Smallbone Park on Saturday. Photo / Stephen Parker

Standout performances from Rotorua Lions player Ruwan Rathnayaka and Geyser's Kane Vanner highlighted the return of Lakelands cricket for 2019.

Rathnayaka's figures of six wickets for 27 runs drove his team to third-equal on the table with a 103-run win over Taupō Old Boys 2 at Kaimanawa Reserve.

Glynn Maulder took four wickets for Taupō as the Lions racked up 188 thanks to 49 from R Janakantha.

Vanner stroked 74 not out off 87 balls in his team's loss to Bay of Plenty Indians at Smallbone Park. The Indian side chased down the target of 144 with three wickets to spare with Avinda Galhena top scoring with 44.

Arguably the match of the round was played out at Owen Delany Park where Lake Taupō triumphed over Central in the last over of the match.

With Central needing four runs off the last over and one wicket in hand, Lake Taupo's Ray How was the hero bowling the last Central batsman out and sealing a one-run win.

Earlier Abhi 'Rambo' Gupta slammed 63 to set up the target of 196.

Rotorua Lions player Ruwan Rathnayaka took 6/27 against Taupō Old Boys 2. Photo / Supplied

In other matches Geyser WHHS Old Boys cemented their top of the table position with a nine-wicket win over South Waikato at Ray Boord Park. Hayden Mitchell took 5/19 with the batsmen making short work of the chase.

Shaquille Graham was the standout with a brisk 43 including three sixes and five boundaries and Eamon O'Donoghue chipping in with 29 not out.

Taupō Old Boys 1 defeated Strikers 11 by 19 runs.

The table is fairly tight at the top with 10 points separating Geyser WHHS, BOP Indians, Rotorua Lions and Geyser JPC.

The competition continues this weekend.

Lakeland Reserve 40 Over Competition results:
Round 4:
- Strikers 11 164/10, (S Bist 39, S Dufty 4/25) lost to Taupō Old Boys 1 183/9 (D Overton 52, C Jackson 38 A Arora 3/23, R Bhatia 3/42)
- Taupō Old Boys 2 85/10 (S Singh 28, R Rathnayaka 6/27) lost to Rotorua Lions 188/10 (R Janakantha 49, G Jayasundara 4, G Maulder 4/21, S Singh 3/48))
- South Waikato Senior Men's 108/10 (V Manglani 51*, H Mitchell 5/19, J O'Donoghue 2/12) lost to Geyser WHHS 112/1 (S Graham 43, E O'Donoghue 29*)
- Geyser JPC 144/10 (K Vanner 74*, K Benipal 2/11, N Kumar 2/14) lost to BOP Indians 145/7 (A Galhena 44, S Chandra 27*, Manish Kumar 2/25, P Singh 2/28)
- Central CC 195/10 (B Fraser 32*, R How 3/41) lost to GM Painters LTCC 196/10 (A Gupta 63, R How 37, B Fraser 3/23)

Lakeland Reserve 40 Over Competition Table:
Geyser WHHS - 70
BOP Indians - 69
Rotorua Lions - 60
Geyser JPC - 60
Lake Taupō - 55
Central CC - 51
Taupō Old Boys 1 - 47
South Waikato Senior Men's - 43
Strikers 11 - 34
Taupō Old Boys 2 - 23