Bowlers put Cornwall in command

It was day made for bowlers in the opening round of the Hedley Howarth Trophy two-day club cricket competition on Saturday.

In the white section, Cornwall won the toss and had opponents Suburbs New Lynn floundering at 3-4.

Suburbs New Lynn eventually limped to 108, with Jimmy Neesham’s 53 the only shining light.

In reply Craig Pryor, 53, and Matt Davies, 43no, put Cornwall in a commanding position in the match at Ken Maunder Park.

Meanwhile, in the blue section Eden Roskill batted twice in the same day against University Ellerslie at Colin Maiden Park.

Joe Castelino’s 40 provided the visitors with a solid start, steering them through to 50-1, before a middle order collapse ended the innings at 116.

University Ellerslie weren’t much better during their first innings, posting 156.

The match is well poised as they enter day two with Eden Roskill 23-1 in their second innings.

Grafton United also struggled with the bat in their match against Waitakere City at Victoria Park, reaching just 97 in their first innings.

Waitakere worked hard in reply, fighting their way to 167, despite Grafton player-coach Zahir Abrahim’s haul of 4-35.

The home side finished the day at 21-0.

Each match concludes on Saturday with matches starting at 11am.

Scoreboards:

Suburbs New Lynn 108 (Jimmy Neesham 53, Brent Findlay 3-26) trail Cornwall 143-3 (Craig Pryor 53, Matt Davies 43no).

Eden Roskill 116 (Joe Castelino 40, Thareeb Ali 6-18, Brendan Smallbone 3-25) and 23-1 trail University Ellerslie 156 (Steven Venville 81, John Dolan 3-43)

Grafton United 97 (Matt Cornes 4-34, Michael Jones 3-20) and 21-0 trail Waitakere City 167 (Keeley Todd 31, Zahir Abrahim 4-35, Jarred Cunningham 3-35).

- © Fairfax NZ News