Greg Morgan danced down the pitch and swatted leg-spinner Jeet Raval's last ball of the match over the boundary to earn hosts Howick Pakuranga a dramatic two-wicket win in the final of the Auckland Twenty/20 championship at Lloyd Elsmore Park yesterday.
Chasing a modest 92 for victory afteroff-spinner Gareth Hayne and captain Kerry Walmsley had wreacked havoc in the Suburbs New Lynn innings, Howick Pakuranga, who earlier in the day had beaten defending champions Waitakere City by 50 runs to book a spot in the final, were cruising at 42/1 before the innings fell apart.
It was fitting that Morgan should hit the winning runs in the Cricket Express-sponsored championship as he had taken 4-13 (including a rare Twenty/20 hat-trick) in the morning's final round to rein Waitakere in as Keely Todd (65) had threatened to get City home.
The last day of the season-opening competition produced plenty of action and some big hitting. Rob Nicol smashed 10 sixes and seven fours in scoring 128 not out from 65 balls as Cornwall charged to 191/1 against Parnell who scored 184/8 in reply.
While Nicol's century got his team home, Konrad Kurta could not do the same for University/Ellerslie. He scored 108 not out (nine sixes and three fours) but that was not enough as University/Ellerslie failed to overhaul the 1282/2 scored by North Shore with Gene Andrews continuing his solid early-season form with an unbeaten 75.
