Karori Wildcats 248/6, A Hampshire 102 (45), A Couper 38 (11)
J’ville Run Chargers 216/6, P Fernando 3/23, R Nando 1/16.
With the toss won and the Cats batting, Bill and Ben boldly began our innings with several sweet shots. Their partnership reached 20 in the 3rd over before Ben was caught for 10 (9). This brought in Alex, holding Evan’s aggressive bat. His first three balls were bludgeoned for 6-4-4, and didn’t stop there. Will was the next to go, judged LBW the 6th over, with the Cats on 55. He made a valuable 23 (19).
If JVille thought that would stop our ‘run charge’, they were wrong. Andrew (AC) de Couper entered the fray. With two 6’s and four 4’s he blitzed all comers to all corners. The Ian Galloway cage couldn’t hold him back. Alex continued to play a combination of sublime strokes and brutish bunts and reached his 50 off 21 balls. That’s when he and Couper picked up the tempo. They took the Cats to 111 in the 9th.
Couper’s departure for 38 (11), at a strike rate of 345, brought Tommy Westside to the crease. A crease he used well. By stepping across to off stump, and flicking it, he peppered the fine leg boundary like he was on Masterchef. At 194 after 15 overs the Wildcats had a big score it their sights. A few overs later Alex was in the 80’s. Tom’s innings of 38 (19) was followed by a short stay by R Nando and the welcome return of Tim G, who made 17* (10).
In the final over Alex received the hastily-counted news that he was on 86. With two boundaries off the first four balls, he needed 4 runs from the final 2 of the innings. He and Tim raced through for 2 runs. Then Alex struck it to deep backward point, set off for two runs, and in their only piece of good fielding J’ville got the runout. Initially disappointed, Alex’s feat was confirmed when recounts confirmed that he’d not only got to his milestone, but exceeded it by 2.
J’ville’s innings didn’t start well, with Nando clipping the base of leg stump with second ball, and their number three edging to Couper from Nando in the third over. However, Jville consolidated and got their innings back on track to reach 68 by the end of the 8th over.
Their captain Sauron searched far and wide for the runs of power. Jville lost wickets at fairly regular intervals, with Couper, Glen, and R Nando doing the damage. Unfortunately, the fourth dismissal brought Jeremy ‘Whiteman’ Batslapper to the middle. This guy put on 73 unbeaten runs to give Jville’s innings some respectability. He hit the ball as much as he hit himself. He helped them get to 150 at the end of the 15th. In the end Jville fell 32 runs short, with Alex bowling a couple of tight overs at the end to cap off his day.