Wildcats 136/7, T Goodhind 35 (35), Danny 31 (28)
One Tonne Dream 106/6, Sukhin Rai 2-14 (4), W Herbert 1-14 (3)
Hoping for a repeat of last round’s game, the Dream won the toss and sent the Cats into bat. Karori #5 was playing low and slow.
Tim and Tom opened and made a steady start. When Tom departed in over 3, Tim started playing the anchor role. Will, then Alex, kept the score ticking over with Tim. Alex (21 off 17) smacked a few big sixes and by 10th over we were on 70.
Rude rude Danny Rood came in a 5 and kept up the scoring rate. When Tim was caught behind Will’s ring-in Kurt(ley Ambrose) came to the crease. Kurt used his guns to dispatch a couple of boundaries. Fairless and Nicholls scored our last runs to take us to 136. It seemed defendable but probably 20 runs light.
The Cats needed to bowl well and they did. Fairless and Nando put the pressure on early, and Michael struck in the fourth over with Sukhin juggling a catch at short-third man. Nando bowled 3 overs for 8 but was unrewarded. Tom Buchan bowled a tight four over spell with 1-17. Dan worked hard into the wind for 2 overs. OTD’s long-haired Fabio hit a few boundaries but succumbed to a bouncer from Danny, which was snaffled by Dan at short fine-leg.
With 8 overs to go the OTD had plenty of wickets in hand and needed 66 runs. Will and Sukhin were then introduced into the attack and kept the screws tight. In the last few overs Sukhin got 2 quick bowleds and Will got their #3 caught at mid-on. In the end the OTD ran out of steam and finished up 30 runs short.
While it wasn’t a thriller, the Wildcats held their nerve to close out a solid win.