Isaac Bazley. Photo supplied.Mid Canterbury cricket’s mid-week T20 competition kicked off on Wednesday night, and last season’s defending champions, Methven started where they left off.

But while the defenders were good in their victory, it was one of two Allenton sides – Progressive Livestock – who perhaps sounded the biggest warning of all, positing an imposing 251 from their time in the middle.

Playing against Lauriston on the Flying Fox wicket, Allenton won the toss and duly elected to bat.

They lost Jordan Bird early, but it was all good from there on as they piled on the runs.

Isaac Bazley was in good nick, smashing his way to 73 off 42 balls, one of three batsmen in the innings to reach a half century.

Matt Tait reached 50 before being clean bowled by Alex Hooper, while Angus Jemmett found the middle of the bat, smashing eight sixes on his way to an unbeaten 63 off just 20 balls.

Lachie Jemmett was also in the runs, scoring 42 as Allenton posted 251.

Lauriston were always going to have a tough mountain to climb from there and it was really only the father-and-son effort of Rob (23) and Alex (29) Hooper that put up much resistance as Lauriston were rolled for 81 inside 11 overs.

Miller Newlands and Devon Flannery did all the damage taking three wickets each.

Methven took on the other Allenton side, The Phat Duck at the Methven Domain and although enduring a few hairy moments walked away with points following their seven run win.

Batting first they posted 162/7 from 20 overs, with Luc Rodwell leading the way with 51 while Matt Mason (31) and Max Bullivant (28) both put forward good totals.

In reply, Allenton did enough to keep themselves in the match and were still a big chance heading into the final over, needing just eight runs to win, but with only one wicket remaining.

And when Toby Redfern cleaned out Hasdeep Singh, it was match over.

Manpreet Singh was top-scorer for Allenton with 42 off 20 balls as they were rolled for 155.

Wednesday night’s third match was an all-Coldstream affair with Old Boys taking on the Stags in a nail-biter.

Old Boys won the toss and took the willow out into the middle to bat first, but wouldn’t have felt confident after their 20 overs with 145 runs on the board.

BJ Binnie returned to the Mid Canterbury scene and made an impact, knocking together 55 runs in a 42-ball innings to lead the scoring.

The total was just tricky enough for the Stags, but it looked even worse when Scott Stringer knocked over both opening batsmen in the first over of the innings.

But a steadying of the ship from Hamish McCulloch and Adam Williamson, who put together a 51-run partnership and then a 59-run partnership between McCulluch and Will Green put things right back on track as the Stags rolled to victory.

McCulloch ended with 54, Williamson added 32 and Green was 28 not out after seeing the innings out.

Next week the Stags head up to Methven for their round two clash while Lauriston will play host for the Coldstream Old Boys.

The round’s third match is an all Allenton affair at the Domain.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 6 November 2020