The Kings needed help from elsewhere, but did what they had to do with a comprehensive seven-wicket win over the Clutha Comets in Kaitangata.
Clutha won the toss and, as usual, opted to bat. They were dismissed for 99 runs after just 22 overs of effort.
Connor Smith was the pick of the Kings bowlers with four poles for 28 off 7.4 overs. Archie Smith also excelled, taking three for 16 off four overs.
In reply, it took Kaitangata 24 overs to chase the total down in a canter.
Clutha dismissed dangerous opening batter Allan Thomson early but a 61-run partnership between Orry Young (18) and William Casey (45 not out) denied Clutha any chance of an upset.
The Owaka Bandits will host a 40-over semifinal next weekend.
The Bandits have beaten the Valley Stingers by 47 runs in their match in Owaka. This result also ended the Stingers’ chances of making the semifinals this season.
Owaka was asked to bat and recorded 219 for eight from their 40 overs. The loss of opener Jeremy Gray in the third over of the innings was softened slightly by a fantastic second-wicket partnership between Gordon Edwards and Jethro Melville.
The two batters added 93 runs for the second wicket before Melville was caught off the bowling of Jack Barraclough for 65. Edwards and skipper Quentin Gare formed another meaningful partnership of 62 runs before Gare was dismissed for 31.
Edwards continued to bat well with the middle order and was finally dismissed for 62.
In reply, Valley was bowled out in the final over of their innings for 172.
Opening batter Alex Campbell was the star of the innings. Campbell batted over 30 overs and was the glue in the side as wickets fell around him. Campbell’s 59 runs was by far his side’s best.
The Waihola Swans have finished their round-robin campaign by locking up another two trophies. They also dismissed the chances of having to play away in the semifinals after their six-wicket win over local rivals the Milton King Crabs at the Crab Grounds in Milton.
Milton were asked to bat and recorded 231 for the loss of seven wickets from their 40 overs.
The home side started well and raced through to 54 for the loss of two.
A strong third-wicket partnership of 90 runs between Dylan Greer and Bradley Frost gave Milton a boost through the middle stages. Milton could not add any meaningful runs towards the end of the innings and perhaps felt they left a few runs out there at the death.
In response, the early wickets of Marc Kohey (1), and Rowan Craw (19) with just 22 runs on the board will have given Milton supreme confidence.
Step up Swans skipper Dylan Bungard. Bungard and Toby Greene steadied the ship for the third wicket, putting on 60 runs.
The partnership of the innings came when Bungard was joined by Shannon Young.
The two Swans veterans batted well together and controlled the remainder of the innings. Waihola still had plenty of work to do with 10 overs remaining, but the cool heads of Bungard and Young got them ever so close to the target before Young was caught off the bowling of Jacob Jenkins for 57, his first-half-century of the season.
Bungard was the star once again, however, as he notched up his third century of the season and saw his side home with two overs to spare with a fantastic knock of 111 not out.
Milton’s bowlers toiled away, but they bowled 20 more extras than Waihola which proved to be a telling factor in the end. Dan Samson finished with two for 37 off eight nicely bowled overs for the home side.
— Francis Parker
