Rotorua claim Little League cricket trophy

Rotorua's Karsen Dyball bowls during a Little League match against Whakatane at Smallbone Park. Photo / Ben Fraser

Rotorua have beaten Whakatane in an invitational Year 8 and 9 cricket match to claim the Little League trophy.

The trophy was first played for during a four-team Twenty20 tournament at Rotorua International Stadium in September, which Whakatane went through unbeaten to take the trophy home. They put the it up for grabs for the first time on Sunday and Rotorua took it with a convincing win.

In a warm-up game Whakatane posted 129 runs and Rotorua fell just short with 126. However, the local side well and truly turned it around in the second game, the decider.

Whakatane batted first and scored 100 runs off their 20 overs, for the loss of seven wickets. Ethan Forbes top scored with a quick-fire 18 runs off eight balls. Opener Ryan Schwass scored 16. Joel Sutton and Cohen Stewart were the best of the Rotorua bowlers, Joel took two wickets for seven runs and Cohen took two for five, as well as being involved in two run-outs.

Rotorua made short work of the total, chasing it down in 13.3 overs for the loss of just one wicket. Opener Viren Patel ensured his side were in a strong position with an impressive 57 runs off 39 balls, including eight fours and a six, before retiring. The other opener Matthew Veitch also retired, on 20 runs off 21 balls.

Rotorua coach Crispian Stewart said the weekend's games were organised to give the junior players some game time during a period where there was not a lot of cricket on and before school starts up.

"There's a bit of a gap, in the heart of cricket season there's no cricket for these kids so we try and give them a little bit. We have a close relationships with Whakatane junior cricket now, they've only got one team so they're starved for cricket as well. Any opportunity they get is quite neat.

"We bowled really well in the second game to keep them to 100, Joel Sutton took the two key wickets and Angus [Veitch] and Cohen kept it really tight. It was a good hit out," Stewart said.