Cricket: Geyser, Wanderers lead way

Geyser City and Taupo Wanderers share top billing after two rounds of the Rotorua senior reserve 40-over series.

Both teams sit on 12 points after winning their matches against Bay of Plenty Indians and Central at Ray Boord Park.

The match between the Wanderers and Central went down to the wire. Batting first, Wanderers set a modest target of 150 all out.

The Taupo side's top order struggled to get any partnerships going. P. Thornton got a start but he was bowled by Chanse Perham, who picked up 3/19 in six overs.

It took Taupo's middle order to resurrect their innings, with Carl Robb 33 and Sage Davey 31 sharing a 74-run partnership for the sixth wicket before it was brought to an end when Davey was deceived by the bowling of John Collier, who managed to take a catch off his own bowling. Collier ended with figures of 2/24.

However, Taupo failed to capitalise on the momentum built by the two batsmen. This was most likely caused by the bowling of Sam Gordon, who picked up three wickets in his three overs for only eight runs.

Despite the low total, Central struggled with their innings. For the second week in a row the side folded meekly, with only John Downs 47 and Shayde Perham 23 making any noticeable contributions. Despite this Central had the chance to sneak a win but ended up falling four runs short, bowled out for 147.

Davey was the pick of the Taupo bowlers with 4/32, Evan Erstich also contributing with 3/25 as well as C. Corbett chipping in with two wickets to finish off the innings.

In the other match of the round, Geyser picked up their second win thanks to some great batting from Josh Lee, who was the best of the Geyser batters with 83.

Lee was helped by Richard Campbell 38, Dave Muir 38 and Graham Kirk 21 and the side reached the sizeable sum of 251 before they were bowled out with just one ball remaining in their innings.

The wickets were shared amongst the Indian bowlers with B. Das 3/39, V. Chhangan 3/39 and S. Bis 2/55.

Unfortunately for the Indians, they were never really in the run chase, with V. Chhangan (45) top-scoring for the side. The Indians were put under too much pressure from Geyser's bowling attack led by Matt Collier (6/33), following up his five-wicket bag against Central last week. He was helped out by team mate Chris Nairn who picked up 2/22.

Next weekend's round will see the two leaders going head-to-head with Central and the Indians looking for their first wins of the series.