Eastern Suburbs and Karori strike bowlers Richard Pyrah and Sunny Chan have each put their teams in dominant positions at the end of the first day’s play in round nine of the Dominion Post Premier competition on Saturday.
Largely thanks to this pair, the competition leaders Easts and Karori look are likely to complete victories over Hutt District and North City respectively this coming week and extend their advantage over the rest of the field ahead of the Christmas break.
English import Pyrah took 6 for 23 off 11.3 overs to leave Hutt in the mire and staring at an innings defeat and Chan captured 6 for 19 from 15 overs to put his side well on top of Norths.
Pyrah’s efforts overshadowed another superb bowling performance by Hutt’s Dave Twigg, whose 8 for 57 off 22.2 overs were the best bowling figures by anyone this season, but Phil Parker scored 31 and Jeremy Dean 50 to see Easts reach 163 in their first innings.
In reply Hutt were quickly in trouble, with Roger Fouhy taking the first wicket to fall with the score on one and then Pyrah five of the next six as the one-day champions minus their State Wellington Firebirds stars slumped to 38 for 6 and then all out for 56. Following on, Hutt were then 30 for 4 in their second innings and will resume on the second day needing 77 to make Easts bat again with six second innings wickets intact.
Pyrah’s Karori counterpart Chan helped bowl Norths out for 103, a total that could have much worse if not for a 58 run last wicket partnership dominated by number eleven Chris Shank’s valiant top score of 44. Like Pyrah, Chan took five of the first six wickets as Norths recovered from 28 for 7 to post a century.
Stephen Murdoch (87), Hugh Templeton (70) and Simon Allen (67 not out) boosted Karori to 273 for 6 before then declaring and having Norths 15 for 3 at stumps, a deficit of 155 with seven wickets in hand. In his innings, Murdoch became the first Premier or Senior batsman to pass 400 runs for the season.
Naenae Old Boys bowler Adam Williams took 5 for 19 against his old teammates to help put his side in the box seat against Upper Hutt. Upper Hutt made 112, and Naenae had then compiled 213 for 9 in reply by the close of play, Firebirds batsman BJ Crook making 83 and Upper Hutt’s Anthony Weir taking 5 for 69.
Stewart Rhodes starred for Onslow in their match against Taita, scoring 109 off 200 balls as Onslow reached 206 for 5 and then taking 3 for 3 off seven overs to leave Taita 78 for 6 at stumps.
The top two sides Wellington College and Johnsonville were playing each other in the Dominion Post Senior competition, a week after they met in the Senior one-day final won by Johnsonville.
Wellington College, fielding their second eleven with their top side in Palmerston North contesting the New Zealand Secondary Schools Gillette Cup, reached 154 all out with James Fletcher top scoring with 70. In reply Johnsonville ended the day on 130 for 6, setting up a close second day’s play this Saturday.
Wellington Collegians bowlers Julian Brown and Clinton Butler (who’s he?) combined to roll Wainuiomata for 87 in their match, Brown taking 5 for 48 and Butler 4 for 19. Stephen Fairbrother then led the way with 51 as Collegians answered with 168 in their first innings. Wainui were 29 for 4 at stumps (Brown 3 for 2) and still 52 in arrears.
Neil Wanden (118) and Colin Owens (51) did the bulk of the scoring in University’s 214 for 4 against Taita, with Taita 112 for 5 at the close of play.
Honours were even at the end of the first day between Petone-Riverside and the North City second eleven, Petone making 120 and Norths 136. Petone were 27 without loss in their second turn at bat at stumps.
In Women’s Twenty/20 action, State Wellington Blaze and New Zealand A opener Megan Wakefield scored 103 for Taita against Hutt District, her innings propelling Taita to 155 for 4, with Hutt restricted to 87 for 6 in reply.