Stefan Hook scored a valuable 34no in Red Star’s total of 205-8. PHOTOS/JADE CVETKOV
CRICKET
CHRIS COGDALE
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Burger King Red Star humiliated Whanganui Collegiate by 244 runs and maintained their lead at the top of the table, while United’s last two batsmen held their nerve in a tense one-wicket victory over Weraroa in Saturday’s Coastal Challenge games.
The Red Star batsmen were all aggression from the start against some wayward Collegiate opening bowling, with openers Robbie Anderson [25] and Nathan Elliott [10] taking 26 runs off the first two overs.
It was the third wicket partnership between Jeremy Anderson and Brock Price that really set up the innings though. The pair added 135 runs in 21 overs, and both were brutal on anything short or wide on the placid Queen Elizabeth Park Oval pitch.
Price, in his last game before departing for Australia, finished with 73 off 67 balls, including seven fours and four sixes, while Jeremy Anderson was more circumspect in his 58, which came off 73 balls and included four fours and one six.
At one stage, it looked as if Red Star would post a score in excess of 350, but once Price and Jeremy Anderson departed the scoring rate slowed, although solid contributions in the middle and lower order, led by Paddy Gluck [31], and Stefan Hook [34no] took the total through to a formidable 305-8.
The young Collegiate side had no answer to the pace and guile of the Red Star bowling line-up and were all out in the 25th over for 61. No batsman reached double figures, with the top score being wides with 17.
Meanwhile, United overcame a lower order batting collapse to win their first match of the competition by one wicket in a tense match with Weraroa at Greytown.
Chasing Weraroa’s total 201-9, United were on target for a comfortable victory at 161-3, but a collapse of six wickets for 37 runs, including losing their seventh, eighth and ninth wickets for three runs, meant it was down to the last pair of Regan Fricker and Gurdev Singh to bring up the winning runs.
The pair showed good composure and worked the ball around for singles, with Singh bringing up the winning run in the 45th over.
Earlier captain Jaco Vorster had set up United’s run chase with a typically aggressive 55 off 43 balls including seven fours and two sixes.
However, United could have been chasing a lot less than the 201-9, but for a lower order resurgence from the Weraroa batsmen, who recovered from 102-7 to post a respectable total.
Number four batsman Carl Trask led the way with a patient 80 [12 balls, 10 fours, two sixes] for the Levin-based club.
The win was United’s first of the combined Wairarapa, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Whanganui competition, and brings them into semifinal contention.
Red Star and United will clash in the local derby in the next round on November 28.
BRIEF SCORES
Burger King Red Star 305-8 [Brock Price 73, Jeremy Anderson 58, Stefan Hook 34no, Paddy Gluck 31; Josh Allpress 3-52] beat Whanganui Collegiate 61 [Peter Sigvertsen 2-18, Hook 2-8, Price 2-8, Jacob Osborne 2-11, Roshan Sugathan 2-8] by 244 runs.
Weraroa 201-9 [Carl Trask 80; Gurdev Singh 4-34, Quinn Childs 4-28] lost to United 202-9 [Jaco Vorster 55; Adam Simonsen 3-48] by one wicket.
PROVISIONAL POINTS
Burger King Red Star 15; Paraparaumu 11; Levin Old Boys 10; Whanganui Collegiate 9; Whanganui Marist 8; United 6; Weraroa, Whanganui United, and Kapiti Old Boys 2.
