Temuka start with big win over Timaru
Temuka took the honours against Timaru after new captain Ritchie Preston led the way with an unbeaten fifty and team mate Rory Lorimer with a scintillating 60 off only 29 balls and bereft of any slogs helped them to 196-6, easily the highest score by any team in the opening round.
At Ashbury the Timaru v Temuka game was shifted onto the artificial, but this didn’t stop the ball swinging or seaming and a lot of injudicious cut shots were played and missed as the ball came back in regularly. Temuka batted first and an opening stand of 34 got things under way. Simon Attridge and Preston added a further 37 and a couple of small partnerships ensued before Rory Lorimer joined Preston at the crease and proceeded to take the Timaru attack apart in an innings which included 3 sixes. When he was out a further 94 runs had been added to the total and with Preston taking 40 overs to bring up his half century, the impact of Lorimer’s innings is evident. Temuka finished with 196-6 and Timaru had a long battle ahead.
Unfortunately for Timaru they struggled to lay a platform and were in deep trouble at 22-4 before Jacob Birch with 47 and Grant Brookland 27 helped bring some respectability to the scoreboard. The loss of their wickets soon showed up a long tail as the last 5 wickets fell for only 14 runs, with Chris Opie taking 3 wickets in his first over after unexpectedly being thrown the ball. Dillon Lees took 3 wickets earlier when he knocked the top off, while Kevin Teahen was his usual tidy self taking 1-7 from 6 overs and Temuka were the victors by 81 runs.
Temuka W Stone c Leonard b Butler 9 R Opie b Butler 17 S Attridge c Smallridge b Stevenson 19 R Preston not out 50 A Cunningham lbw b Leonard 3 K Teahen c Piddock b Dick 7 R Lorimer c Dick b Leonard 60 S Goodeve not out 1 Extras (1b, 4lb, 24w, 1nb) 30 Total (for 6 wkts) 196 Fall: 34, 36, 73, 84, 97, 191. Bowling: H Leonard 9-1-31-2, H Butler 9-1-40-2, G Bishop 9-1-47-0, J Stevenson 9-1-21-1, J Smallridge 7-0-37-0, J Dick 2-0-15-1. Timaru G Piddock c Attridge b Lees 5 G Hull c C Opie b Teahen 0 H Butler b Lees 5 G Brookland c Stone b Goodeve 27 H Leonard c Attridge b Lees 3 J Birch c Teahen b C Opie 47 J Dick run out (McNicol) 1 C Parmenter b C Opie 1 J Smallridge not out 4 J Stevenson c Teahen b C Opie 0 G Bishop b Preston 5 Extras (3lb, 13w, 1nb) 17 Total (for 10 wkts) 115 Fall: 1, 9, 17, 22, 79, 101, 104, 104, 104, 115. Bowling: K Teahen 6-3-7-1, D Lees 9-3-25-3, N McNicol 6-0-25-1, S Goodeve 6-0-25-1, R Preston 5.5-0-23-1, C Opie 2-0-7-3. Result: Win to Temuka by 81 runs.