Taita travelled to Linden Park on Saturday to take on North City. Originally, the game was scheduled to take place at Fraser Park. However, the council deemed it was wise to undertake ground Sam Rapira's a week into the season rather than fixing problematic areas (down-spots) over the winter. This meant our number one ground was not fit for use. Other than Blomfield, no one minded though as it meant we weren't required to do cover chores.
Taita elected to bowl and sent Norths in with immediate reward. Strut, fresh from a hunting trip in the Southern Alps, sniffed out more game removing their opening batter in his first over. Blomfield then rubbed salt into the wound, spicing things up even further, by removing the seasoned Pepperall to reduce Norths to 2 for 20.
A partnership of over 100 for the third wicket between the inform Michael Pollard and Neraj 'fishing' Chawla then had Norths well placed at 130 for 2 after 30 overs. Fortunately for Taita, rookie Cole O'Connorarea combined with Dom Post favourite Henry Walsh to remove Pollard for 80.
A Taita-like collapse then occurred with Norths falling over for 194. Strut took 3 wickets, while there were also contributions from Houghton, Sullivan and Cliff. The Vet also deserves a mention for 3 stumpings.
The opening batters set about their work well with Le Gros particularly harsh on anything short and wide. The two Sams rattled up 94 in 16 before Le Gros was out stumped off Anthony Stuart Veitch for 63. Cue, the Taita twitch. Tunnicliffe, Dean and Crowley were all out in quick succession before Walsh took charge getting Taita home with 70 not out off 42 balls.
It was a solid performance all round and pleasing to get the bonus point as the table is very tight with only 3 one day games to go before the competition splits. Click here for the scorecard
Written by Mark Houghton
Taita More Mega than Upper Hutt, big is not always good.
The Premier Reserves turned up to Barton Oval on a typically overcast drizzly Saturday in Upper Hutt (waaaay different to the previous weeks scorcher). However, there was no delay as the toss was done and Taita put into bat.
Ben Rammell and Taylor Wenlock got Taita off to a great start with Rammell getting to 62 before giving catching practice to cover. After a couple of quick wickets the teams two old heads, Zackery Cliff Curtis and Jay-zen Doyle steadied the ship with a 93 run partnership, before Jay-zen departed for a better than a run a ball 51.
Curtis continued on his innings with help from the rest of the batting order to give Taita a very competitive score of 262-7 from their allotted 50 overs. Curtis was left unbeaten on 97*, running out of balls at the end to bring up three figures.
The bowling display matched the batting with the opening attack of Caramel Smith and Kevin McComb putting Upper Hutt under pressure early. With 3 wickets going to Smith in his opening spell, Upper Hutt were all but out of the contest. A wicket a piece to McComb and Pat Houghton, 2 for Shaun Gillespie plus a run out saw Upper Hutt 9 down before Smith finished off the tail to leave Upper Hutt all out for 104 and finished with well deserved figures of 4-15 off 9.1 overs.
The day finished off in the Upper Hutt clubrooms, including a great yarn with Upper Hutts wicket keeper / stream science teacher, Peter Hicks. Click here for the scorecard
Written by Patrick Smith
In other results:
Grade 1 237/5 beat Collegians 236/AO. Dr Rahul Jayakur 139*, Phil Crothers 4-48.
Grade 3 175/8 beat University 174/AO. Hayden Moore 42 , Mark Haste 51, Sam Ross 3-38, James Ross 3-31.
Womens 8 104-4 beat Petone 103-5. Margy Bliss 33, Lisa Jones 1-11
Taita Kamos 137-5 lost to Upper Hutt Bestie. Michael Green 54 & 2-16, Daniel Reddish 30
Taita Fireblades 172-6 beat Taita Screwdrivers 149-6.