Union and Glenavy posted comfortable wins in the opening round of Borton Cup cricket at the weekend, while Oamaru and Valley fought out a high-scoring thriller.

The new Combined Schools side, made up of players from St Kevin’s and Waitaki Boys’, played its inaugural game at St Kevin’s.

Union won the toss and made 302 for six from 50 overs, led by Alex Wilson’s unbeaten 101.

Liam Mavor (37), Archie Chatfield (34) Sean Conlan (27) and Blake James (23) also made handy runs.

Tai McLean (two for 65) and Oscar Collett (two for 50) each grabbed a brace of wickets for the students.

Combined Schools slumped to 19 for three and, after Hamish Fowler (43) fell at 71 for five, collapsed to 84 all out in the 28th over.

Conlan finished with the outstanding figures of five for one, and Mavor had two for 10 as Union won by 218 runs.

Albion chose to bat with the Marshall Smith Cup on the line against Glenavy but were dismissed for only 121 in 26 overs.

Ravi Lalia (23), Aneesh Bose (25) and Jacob Davies (23) were the main contributors, while Zach Graham took five for 34, Harry Murphy two for 20 and Flynn Sanford two for 16 for Glenavy.

Murphy then made light work of the chase, finishing on 77 not out as Glenavy won with five wickets in hand, his side finishing 123 for five in 26 overs.

Davies took three for 39 for Albion.

Oamaru won the toss and elected to bat against Valley.

Jamie Ferris led Oamaru with an aggressive 89 off 36 balls, and Stephan Grobler pushed the total past 300 with an unbeaten 102.

Quinn Wardle (40) and Sukhijinder Rana (31) also chipped in as Oamaru charged to 316 for eight in their 50 overs.

Jacob Fowler took three for 52 from his 10 overs.

Valley started briskly through Toby Growcott (60) and Hunter Growcott (26), and Luke Taylor’s 95 drove the chase.

With one wicket left, Fowler (30) hit a four to seal the win, Valley finishing on 318 for nine in the 46th over.

Asanka Perera took five for 56 for Oamaru and Ferris three for 67.