Cederman leads Motueka resurgence

An unbeaten century by Duncan Cederman highlighted Motueka's surge to the top of the points table and confirmation of their place in the Nelson one-day cricket final.

Motueka will meet previous competition leaders, Car Company Stoke-Nayland, in the final on April 3, despite Stoke-Nayland suffering a convincing five-wicket loss to Taylors Contracting Wanderers at Brightwater on Saturday. The only other team with a remote chance of reaching the final, Wakatu, were also beaten, losing by 33 runs to Waimea College at Saxton Oval.

Motueka completed a commanding seven-wicket win over Sprig and Fern WTTU at Jubilee Park, with Cederman dominating Motueka's reply as they chased down their 211-run target.

Motueka eventually reached 213 for 3 with four overs remaining to leave Cederman unbeaten on 104.

Cederman produced an emphatic finish, hammering 20 runs off leading wicket-taker Jon Routhan's final over, including a six to end the match. It also dramatically altered Routhan's previously impressive figures, inflating them from 23 for 1 after eight to 44 for 1 off his nine.

Cederman had been joined by Bryan Krammer at 92 for 3, with Krammer playing a fine supporting role to be unbeaten on 35 at the finish. Cederman's innings included 17 fours and two sixes, both off the game's final over.

Captain Aaron Mallinson had earlier topscored with 60 runs (nine fours) as WTTU reached 210 for 9 off their 50 overs. He had put on 52 runs with Shane Holmes (12) in their opening partnership and a further 58 with Routhan (29) for the second. But apart from a further 48-run fourth wicket partnership between Ricky Edwards (30) and Cade Armstrong (33), WTTU failed to push on for the significant total needed to test an experienced Motueka batting lineup.

Brendan Hodgson finished 24 not out as the other main contributor. Liam Baird (2 for 37), Mark Gardiner (2 for 27), Craig Hampton (3 for 50) and Cederman (1 for 30) shared the spoils, with Baird and Hampton each taking wickets off consecutive deliveries.

Wanderers required only 39 overs to chase down their 230-run target at Brightwater, with half centuries by Chris Bartholomeusz and Matt Allsopp providing the finishing touches to a convincing Wanderers performance.

Ryan Edwards had earlier anchored Stoke-Nayland's innings, producing a top score of 88 and partnering Ben Alder (36) in a 124-run second wicket stand to suggest some early promise. Duane Valentine had gone in the first over, chipping Hayden Ingham to square leg for 4, leaving Edwards and Alder to begin the consolidation process.

They worked hard against a demanding Wanderers attack that maintained the run rate at a manageable level. Mitchell Drummond (24) and Ben Gully (32) offered support, but when Edwards went at 184 for 6 in the 41st over, having hit 11 fours and a six, Stoke-Nayland's hopes of reaching a commanding total appeared remote.

Damian Smith sparked Stoke-Nayland's middle-order slump, taking four wickets off 16 deliveries in a decisive spell, including the wicket of Edwards, to finish with an impressive 4 for 28 off seven overs. The innings ended at 229 for 7, leaving Wanderers a relatively straight forward asking rate of 4.6 runs per over for victory.

Nathan Todd made two early incisions as Wanderers slumped to 12 for 2 before a 98-run third wicket stand between Bartholomeusz and Ollie O'Connor (45) put the home team's innings back on course. Bartholomeusz constantly found the boundary to topscore with 72 runs, hitting 16 fours, and adding a further 60 runs with Kyle Paki Paki (33) for the fourth wicket.

Bartholomeusz finally went at 170 for four in the 28th over with Wanderers still 60 runs short of their target. But Matt Allsopp confidently helped see the victory through, remaining unbeaten on 51 after dominating an unbroken 58-run sixth wicket stand with Hamish Malcolm (5 not out). Allsopp's innings included eight fours and six.

Any faint hope Wakatu entertained before the match of reaching the final were ended by a superb Waimea College bowling performance at Saxton Oval.

Not even a five-wicket bag by Wakatu allrounder Shane Laurence (5 for 49) could deny Waimea a deserved victory, the students successfully defending their 190-run total to comfortably beat Wakatu by 33 runs after Wakatu capitulated in the 47th over. They were finally dismissed for 157, with only a 56-run second wicket partnership between Nick Fagan (42) and Matt Macquet (22) and a late rally by Wakatu's tail offering any resistance.

A dramatic middle-order collapse saw Wakatu slump from 56 for 2 to 97 for 8 as College's bowlers assumed control. The innings took an ominous turn in just the first over when Aaron Dron lost his offstump to Marty King for a second ball duck.

Any suggestion of a revival by Fagan and Macquet ultimately proved unfounded as Wakatu's innings quickly began to unravel. Not even a 36-run ninth-wicket stand between Andrew Binnie (31) and Mason Robinson (19 no) threatened any genuine recovery as College eventually wrapped up the win.

Seamer Connor Neynens (3 for 34) and left-arm spinner Dan Wightman (2 for 20) were impressive bowling into a strong southerly, while Marty King (2 for 18) and Tom Beaumont (2 for 11) created genuine problems downwind.

Beaumont was forced out of the attack with a back injury midway though his eighth over, leaving Tom Bloomberg (1 for 46) to assume a heavier workload.

Tom Cross had earlier dominated Waimea College's innings, scoring 62 runs and joining opener Tom Ingham (39) in a 71-run fourth-wicket stand to at least ensure their bowlers had some sort of total to defend. Laurence featured with his five-wicket bag, while Mark Allsopp took 3 for 22 of 10 economical overs.

Motueka now lead the competition on 26 points with one round remaining.

Stoke-Nayland are on 24, Wakatu 16, Wanderers 16, Waimea College 14 and WTTU 12.

- © Fairfax NZ News