ACA Report

This was the only match of the round that involved two teams that couldn’t get to the semi-finals.

Papatoetoe won the toss and elected to bat at home, and the first half of their batting line-up performed well. Josh Plummer and Harshal Vyas made an excellent start, rocketing along at eight an over for the first five overs. Plummer built two solid partnerships, with Vyas and with Logan Clark, before he was dismissed for 70 by Jodhvir Dhillon. Clark then continued with Dilpreet Singh for a run-a-ball 76. At 244/4 after 40 overs, Papatoetoe were looking good for 300.

Then Varun Khanna and Alan Burton struck for Ellerslie. Burton took three wickets in his next three overs. Khanna removed two batsmen in his final three, as well as effecting a run-out, and Papatoetoe lost their last six wickets for just 33 runs.

Ellerslie’s batting didn’t get off to nearly the start that Papatoetoe’s had. Inside four overs they were two wickets down, and desperately searching for a couple of big partnerships. Burton and Aditya Edekar batted conservatively and might have been able to pull together a total, if they had not both been dismissed by Lakshay Bhardway before Ellerslie reached 100.

Josh Allan scored as many boundaries as the rest of his team combined in reaching the top-score of 26, but Plummer dismissed him, then wrapped up the tail before the 40th over. Papatoetoe finished victors by more than 100 runs.

Papatoetoe 277 (L Clark 76, J Plummer 71; A Burton 5-39, V Khanna 3-58) defeated Ellerslie 146 (J Allan 41; J Plummer 4-28, L Bhardway 3-31) by 131 runs.

Match 1 vs Takapuna

The Premier Women were short on runs against a tough Takapuna bowling attack in their first T20 match on Saturday. Papatoetoe's top six struggled to get starts with none making double digits as Takapuna's Naveena Hira skittled through the top order taking 4-13 off her four overs. However, a gutsy tail clawed the team through to 67/9 off their 20 overs with Tetiare Mataora top-scoring with an unbeaten 18 runs off 21 balls.

With a very low total to defend, Papatoetoe's openers, Feala Vaelua and Lagi Telea were on the hunt for some early wickets but unfortunately, they weren't able to break the opening partnership until first change bowlers, Taofi Lafai and Tetiare Mataora came into the attack. Lafai took the wicket of Izabella Grace caught in the seventh over while Mataora dismissed Arlene Kelly in a similar fashion in the eighth over with Takapuna on 31-2. However, Papatoetoe were unable to take any further wickets as Anlo Van Deventer (20*) and Roz McNeill (16*) ensured their team cruised to victory in the 15th over.

Papatoetoe 67/9 (T Mataora 18*; N Hira 4-13, C Mains 2-10) lost to Takapuna 68/2 (A van Deventer 20*; T Mataora 1-11) by 8 wickets

Match 2 vs Howick Pakuranga

Papatoetoe's bad luck with the toss continued into the second T20 being thrown in to bat once again. Despite a hiccup early on which saw Papatoetoe opener, Toni Baldwin run out in the third over, Papatoetoe's top order were able to regroup and build a couple of partnerships including a 53-run partnership between Regina Lilii (43) and Feala Vaelua (30) to help set a respectable total of 111/5.  

In the field, Papatoetoe's opening bowlers were unable to take an early wicket with Howick's openers, Skye Bowden (23) and Lucy Western (20) putting on 43 before Bowden was dismissed caught in the seventh over, followed clowsely by Western trapped in front in the eighth over. This then sparked a mini-collapse at the hands of Lagi Telea with three wickets falling for only seven runs and Howick on 59/5. Unfortunately for Papatoetoe, Rewa Arora (25*) and Holly Topp (23*) managed to salvage Howick's innings by putting on a crucial unbeaten 55-run partnership to see their team through to victory in the 20th over. 

Papatoetoe 111/5 (R Lilii 43, F Vaelua 30; AP Parr 2-16) lost to Howick Pakuranga 114/5 (R Arora 25*, H Topp 23*; L Telea 3-9, R Lilii 2-22) by 5 wickets.

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