Des Kruger had an imperious weekend with the bat, averaging 96.5 over two games. Photo supplied.It’s taken a little longer than they would have liked, but the Tech Stags’ foray into the South Canterbury cricketing scene is finally under way, after their first success on the weekend.

Three frustrating efforts to open the campaign were put behind the talented side on Saturday when they put together a polished performance to win by seven wickets, spearheaded by a 162-run opening stand in their successful run chase against the Timaru Cricket Club.

The Stags found themselves on the losing side of the coin toss and were asked to bowl – an outcome they wouldn’t have been too displeased with when they had their hosts in trouble at 33-4 after 11 overs.

A 140-run sixth wicket partnership saved the Timaru innings though, and they managed to put up a respectable 229 all out in the final over of the innings to set the Stags a difficult target.

Tom Meyrick paved the way for the Stags with the ball, claiming 3-38 off his 10 overs while Matt Tait (2-36) and Richard Print (2-34) also made valuable contributions with the ball in hand.

After a few frustrating innings with the bat in their opening games of the season, the Stags set about turning things around as they chased their first win of the season, and they couldn’t have asked for a better start.

In-form opening bat Jason Morrison was joined at the top of the innings by the experienced Des Kruger, and the duo compiled an outstanding 162-run partnership to put their side right in the box seat.

Morrison fell in the 19th over for 83 – an innings which featured 13 fours and one six from just 63 balls faced.

Kruger was in a similarly dominating mood, and he guided his side right through to the 26th over before he was trapped lbw on 99.

By that time the match was won, needing just 10 for victory, and Bevan Richan and Will McKee scored the required runs to get their side over the line.

The victory lifted the Stags to fourth on the points table for the season, and now gives them a platform on which to build from.

They get a chance to go another step forward this weekend when they take on Star at Ashbury.

The two sides are yet to meet for the season, and Star registered a similarly dominant victory over Timaru earlier in the season, so Tech will see it as another good opportunity to get a further win on the board.

While they struggled through the opening weeks of the competition, a number of Stags players are producing results that have them highly ranked.

Morrison has scored 182 runs in four innings at an average of 45.5 to have him the fifth best batsman in the competition while Kruger – helped by Saturday’s effort – is seventh with 177 runs from four innings at an average of 42.5.

On the bowling front, Richard Print features in the top 10 bowlers in the competition with his three matches seeing him take six wickets at an average of 22.1.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 3 November 2020