Connor Brosnahan will be a key player for Team Head today. Photo supplied.The final day of round one in Mid Canterbury open grade tennis action today could potentially throw up more questions than answers, as the four sides jostle for positions on the overall standings.

The advantage clearly sits with Team Wilson, who are currently the only undefeated team of the competition after the opening two rounds – but they will need to be wary of the talent they’ll be up against when they tackle Yonex today at the Ashburton Trust Tennis Centre.

Yonex have the ability to field a very strong line-up on court if they wish with talented players like Rhys Cromie, Aidan Watt, Pete Kirwan and Bryn Looij all on the roster, and if they were to get a head of steam up early on, pegging them back in the later stages of the afternoon could prove a tough ask for Team Wilson.

Today’s other match-up sees Team Head hunting for their first win of the season when they come up against Team Babolat – who were beaten by the table-toppers last weekend in a good clash.

Babolat were particularly strong in their singles clashes, but will be looking for improvement in the doubles after winning just one of the three matches last weekend against Team Wilson.

Team Head will need the experience and talent of Connor Brosnahan and Riley Breen to step up and deliver for them this weekend if they are to get their season under way before a break next weekend for Canterbury Show Week.

Meanwhile, while local sides are battling it out in Ashburton, the Country Ashburton team in the Canterbury premier competition will be up at Wilding Park in Christchurch taking on Shirley.

Fresh off their first win of the season last weekend, the team will be looking to build on that further and really set a strong platform for them to launch from for the rest of the 2020 season.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 7 November 2020

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

Des Kruger was just shy of a century at the batting crease on two separate occasions at the weekend. Photo supplied.It is not often one player can claim scores in the 90s on consecutive days.

However that is exactly what transpired for Mid Canterbury and Stags batsman Des Kruger last weekend.

Promoted up the order to an opening position in place of the injured Will McKee, Kruger was integral to Technical’s successful second innings chase against Timaru on Saturday, before he was trapped in front while on 99.

He then backed it up the next day while on representative duty, by hitting an unbeaten 94 for Mid Canterbury in their Ron Biggar Trophy win over South Canterbury.

Reflecting on the dreaded score of 99 at club level, Kruger admitted there were no gripes around the decision which denied him a possible ton.

“I was trying to noodle it down to the leg side and I played the shot a bit early, knowing I was on 99 and looking to get the one,” he said.

“I played over the top of it and basically it hit me on the full on my front toe.

“It was pretty plumb.”

Kruger said there was a hint of incentive striding out to the crease the following day.

“There was a wee bit (of extra motivation).

“With the 99 I felt like I was in pretty good form and knew what I had to do the next day, to spend time at the crease and the runs would come,” he said. “I had a pretty lucky day really.”

The runs certainly did flow for Kruger across the weekend, with a total of 193 runs coming from the bat.

His Saturday stint also bumped his average up to 42.5 after four rounds of the South Canterbury senior competition.

Kruger, who normally bats at four, formed a formidable opening partnership with Jason Morrison on Saturday, as the pair put on 162 runs for the first wicket as Technical secured their first success of the season.

“It’s good fun batting with him,” he said.

“He’s quite an aggressive player and gets on with things, and we rotate the strike well together.”

Although missing out on well-deserved milestones on both days, Kruger said he was just happy to chip in.

“It’s a team sport.

“It would’ve been nice to get a 100, but getting 90-odd for both teams is up there.

“For Tech, we needed our first win and I was happy just to do my bit to get us through.

“And then for the reps, we won the toss and one of us in the top order needed to get a big score to set a target.

“I’m just happy to help the team out.”

By Adam Burns © The Ashburton Guardian - 6 November 2020