A roundup of premier club cricket games played in Dunedin at the weekend.
Albion 174/2 beat Green Island 173/5 by eight wickets
Former Auckland and New Zealand under-19 wicketkeeper-batter Quinn Sunde revelled in the conditions at Sunnyvale to lead Albion to a dramatic last-ball win in the latest round of the Dunedin premier T20 competition on Saturday.
Sunde has 11 first-class appearances for Auckland and was playing in the Plunket Shield as recently as a year ago.
He joined two solid partnerships to guide Albion to victory, chasing Green Island’s total of 173.
Sunde and Joshua Olliver put on 47 for the first wicket, and Sunde and Matt Bacon added an unbeaten 91 for the third.
But while Sunde deservedly got plaudits for his 76 not out off 53 balls (five fours, two sixes), the hero for Albion in the dying stages was Bacon, whose 41 not out off 27 balls tells only half the story.
Albion needed 18 off the final over, bowled by Daniel Lawrence, so Green Island appeared to hold the advantage.
After Sunde nudged a single, Bacon took over. He belted 4, 6, 2 and 4 to tie the scores, and he got the winning run off the final ball.
Earlier, Green Island had batted their 20 overs and made a competitive tally thanks to Mayank Malhotra (47 off 29), Jake Gibson (42 not out off 22) and Brad Kneebone (36 off 38).
Both Pat Arnold and Lahiru Vimukthi grabbed two wickets for Albion.
North East Valley 82/3 beat CDK 80/8 by seven wickets
North East Valley captain Hunter Kindley produced an excellent all-round performance to help his side breeze past an under-manned CDK side at Logan park.
Kindley struck an unbeaten 32 off 25 balls to guide the Swans to a seven-wicket win in the 12th over.
Will Hamilton chipped in with 25 off 22.
CDK had a rough day out as they lost a player to illness shortly before the game, leaving them with 10 men, while Josh Bates had to retire on 11 when he dislocated his shoulder.
The Hounds could not build on a decent start provided by Jamal Todd (20 off 17 balls) and Mason Gain (19), while Kindley proved hard to get away and finished with three for eight from his four overs.
Taieri 172/6 beat University-Grange 103 by 69 runs
Ruben Clinton maintained his good form with a rollicking innings that set Taieri on the path to victory at Brooklands.
Clinton bashed 69 off 35 balls, hitting seven fours and four sixes in the glorious Mosgiel sunshine to power Taieri to 172 for six from their 20 overs.
Five other batters reached double figures, while Samuel Petrie led the University-Grange bowlers with three for 25 from four overs.
Morgan Duffy (23 off 19) and Joseph Devereux-Kilpatrick (28 off 31) made promising starts for the Spartans but the rest of the order could not contribute much, and they were rolled for 103 in the 19th over.
Taieri youngster Caleb Walker took three for five from his three overs, and Avinash Shastri claimed three for 24.
Green Island 85 without loss beat Taieri 84/9
The Swamprats completely dominated the Battle of the Saddle as the sides played a catch-up game later on Saturday.
Chasing just 85 for victory, Green Island got there in the eighth over with both Kneebone (47 off 25) and Malhotra (22 off 19) batting through.
Blair Soper (four for 15), Malhotra (three for five) and Hamish Wilson (two for 14) earlier tore through the Taieri order, only Marno Potgieter (32 not out) showing much resistance.
