Gus Borren batting for Rathkeale College in the Umpires Cup semifinal against Greytown. He scored 24 in the winning total of 213. PHOTO/JADE CVETKOV
CRICKET
JAKE BELESKI
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The Rathkeale College First XI showed why they were the competition leaders heading into the playoffs with a thumping 147-run win over Greytown in Saturday’s 40-over Umpires Cup semifinal.
Rathkeale topped the table after the round-robin, winning three of their five matches, and making home advantage count as they cruised to a comfortable win.
Left arm spinner Quinn Childs was the star performer on the day, warming up for this week’s Central Districts Under-19 campaign, by top scoring with 53 in Rathkeale’s innings, and then taking 4-7 from six incredibly tight overs.
Childs has been a top performer for both Rathkeale and Wairarapa for some time and showed all his class in a dominant all-round display on Saturday.
Rathkeale won the toss at the start of the match and elected to bat first, compiling 213 all out in 39.1 overs.
Openers John McKenzie and Gus Borren put on 40 for the first wicket, before McKenzie was caught for 21 off 25 deliveries.
Borren was eventually dismissed for 24 off 29, while Ethan Childs added 28 off 30 at No 4.
Quinn Childs joined his brother at the crease at 65-3, and they took the score through to 114-4 before Ethan was stumped.
Quinn raced to 53 off just 45 deliveries, which included three boundaries and a six.
At 163-5 with 15 overs left Rathkeale would have set their sights on a bigger total, but regular wickets ensured they only reached 213.
Greytown’s bowlers toiled away to keep Rathkeale to a score that was not out of reach, with five different bowlers picking up wickets throughout the innings.
Rodney Craig was the best performer with 3-40 from his eight overs, while Byron Hegglin and Roshan Sugathan took two wickets apiece.
Rathkeale’s total proved to be more than enough, however, as Greytown crumbled to be all out for 66 in just 21.3 overs.
Remarkably, six batsmen scored ducks in the Greytown innings, and only the two openers managed to reach double figures.
Greytown were 41 without loss at one stage, but lost all 10 wickets for just 25 runs from that point.
Childs picked up two of his wickets from LBWs, and the other two were bowled.
Borren capped off a successful individual performance by taking 3-14 from his six overs, while George Tanner took 2-6 off 1.3 overs.
The second semifinal was held on Sunday at Queen Elizabeth Park, with Marist Old Boys and Red Star facing each other for the second time in seven days.
Last week, Marist won a thriller by two wickets, but on Sunday Red Star bowled them out for just 106.
In reply, Red Star reached the target in 19 overs without losing a wicket, to book their spot in the final with Rathkeale.
It will be the first clash between the two teams this season, after their scheduled round-robin match was abandoned.
The final will be held at Queen Elizabeth Park on Saturday [1pm].
Rathkeale 213 all out [Q Childs 53; R Craig 3-40] beat Greytown 66 all out [T Boyne 30; Q Childs 4-7] by 147 runs.
Marist OB 106 all out [K Dhiman 26; Troy Burling 5-20] lost to Red Star 110-0 [Tim Burling 74] by 10 wickets.
