Brock Price claimed 3-64 for Red Star. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
CRICKET
CHRIS COGDALE
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Burger King Red Star and Wairarapa Mitsubishi Greytown hold the top two places after two of the three rounds in the Bidwill Cup championship.
A late change was forced on Red Star after their star pace bowler Stefan Hook got a late call-up to make his first-class debut for the Central Stags in their Plunket Shield match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve.
In Hook’s absence, captain Peter Sigvertsen stepped up and took the top order wickets of opener Aaron Bidlake and Robbie Speers to have Lansdowne 39 for the loss of three wickets at the Queen Elizabeth Park Oval.
When opener Hugo Wakeling was lbw to spinner Ojas Patel for 53 [72 balls, nine fours] with Lansdowne at 89-5, a low score looked on the cards.
However, a hard-hit 88 [72 balls, 16 fours] to number seven batsman Sanjay Patel, with support from Choi Jackson [37] and Regan Fricker [32no], had Lansdowne through to 246 in the 47th over.
That gave Red Star 53 overs to chase down the target and gain an important outright victory.
Rathkeale student Jake Jonas batted through the innings to finish on 69 not out [122 balls, seven fours] and had good support from Jeremy Anderson [38, 48 balls, six fours, one six], Brock Price [65, 49 balls, 10 fours, two sixes] and Cole Freeman [56no, 62 balls, nine fours].
Jonas and Freeman added 88 runs to secure the victory with four overs to spare and virtually guarantee their place in the two-day final to be played on March 14-15.
Meanwhile, in the other match at the weekend, medium pacer Jono Friend was the star for Greytown as they restricted Marist to 187 at Greytown.
Friend picked up three of Marist’s top order batsmen, including the dangerous Jared van Deventer for 37, to finish with 3-16 off 10 overs.
Greytown were rarely tested by the Marist bowling attack and strolled to victory in 34.4 overs.
Hayden Ray with 47 [66 balls, seven fours] and Caleb Burling with 33 [44 balls, six fours] set the platform for Greytown with an opening partnership of 81 in 13 overs.
Red Star play Greytown in the final round on Saturday, with the winner to progress to the final, while Lansdowne must beat Marist to keep alive their prospects.
BRIEF SCORES
Lansdowne 246 [Sanjay Patel 88, Hugo Wakeling 53, Choi Jackson 37 Regan Fricker 32no; Peter Sigvertsen 4-46, Brock Price 3-64] lost outright to Red Star [Jake Jonas 69no, Brock Price 65, Cole Freeman 56no, Jeremy Anderson 38] by six wickets.
Marist 187 [Jared van Deventer 37, Nathan Kapene 35; Jono Friend 3-16] lost outright to Greytown 189-2 [Ricky Dey 52no, Hayden Ray 47, Caleb Burling 33, Roshan Sugathan 31no] by eight wickets.
POINTS
Red Star 17, Greytown 13, Lansdowne 12, Marist 5.
