Despite weeks of cancelled cricket matches at the hand of Auckland’s sombre summer and extensive flooding, the Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club (HPCC) was perpetually impressive on their return, storming to three dominant premier wins.
The HPCC premier men travelled to Te Atatu Park to take on Waitakere in their first two-day match of 2023, which was planned to be played on Saturday and Sunday.
Knowing that day two (Sunday) was likely to be rained off, the side was very keen to earn as many points as possible on day one.
After electing to bowl first, a slow, flat wicket made dismissing the Waitakere batting line-up a tall order.
HPCC’s legspinning duo of Harmeet Singh (4/71) and Kimesh Chetty (3/43) took some life out of the pitch and helped HPCC dismiss Waitakere for 213 after 75 overs.
This left just over 20 overs in the day for HPCC to chase the total, in an effort to get first innings points by the end of day one.
The HPCC batters went on the attack from ball one, destroying the Waitakere bowling line-up in the process.
Liam Winn (112* off 67 balls) led the mammoth chase, with 12 fours and 3 sixes, and scoring his second century of the 22/23 season.
Fellow opener Daniel Young (40 from 29 balls), youngster Lachie Stackpole (26 off 20 balls) and Andrew Morrison (25* off 12 balls) all played vital supporting roles.
HPCC chased the colossal total down with two overs remaining in the day and seven wickets to spare.
Rain on Sunday meant that day two of the match was abandoned and HPCC walked away with a first innings win and bonus points.
The premier men now return home to take on East Coast Bays at Lloyd Elsmore Park on Saturday in another two-day match.
The premier women had another perfect weekend, dominating in their final two round-robin matches of the Pearl Dawson T20 competition.
In their first match, they limited local rivals Papatoetoe to 88 runs owing to star bowlers Marama Downes (3-11), and Josie Penfold (3-16).
They chased this down with six wickets to spare, Skye Bowden top-scoring with 22 runs not out.
The women saved their best performance for last however, bowling first against Suburbs-New Lynn and skittling them for just 45 runs with dominant figures from Mansimran Kaur (4-8), Ayaan Lambat (2-4) and Holly Lightbourne (2-13).
HPCC made light work of this and chased down the total with eight overs to spare to top off a fantastic weekend.
The Llamas (premier women) have remained unbeaten throughout the round-robin stage of the competition to finish top of the table.
This means that they have qualified directly for the final on March 15 where they will play the winner of the 2nd/3rd play-off between Auckland University and Takapuna.
HPCC’s premier women have made the finals for each of the past four season, finishing second once and third three times, but are confident they will take out top spot this season with the return of all their White Ferns, Auckland Hearts and Northern Brave players giving them a full-strength side.
For now, the Llamas get back into one-day matches, and will face Auckland University on Saturday at Colin Maiden Park.
Premier Cricket Results
Premier Men Hedley Howarth Two-Day Competition | Round 4
North Shore 152 (S Keene 47 not out, R Mudford 42; H Johal 5-49) and 20/0 (S Hinds 14 not out) won first innings against Eden Roskill 143 (S Desai 49; T Chitongo 5-46).
Takapuna District 289/6 declared (Q Sunde 119, C Neal 43; W Somerville 3-63) drew with Parnell 83/1 (R Clinton 52 not out; S Singh 1-18) after rain abandoned day two.
Papatoetoe 322 (S Setia 163, R Ravikumar 49; U Patel 4-50) drew with Cornwall 105/0 (S Dixit 62 not out, A Edekar 38 not out) after rain abandoned day two.
Suburbs-New Lynn 234 (M Barry 66, T Payle 55; K Mackenzie 6-51) drew with Auckland University 74/3 (S Sharma 19; A Ashok 2-18) after rain abandoned day two.
Premier Men Tom Hellaby Two-Day Competition | Round 4
Waitakere 213 (S Variath 63; H Singh 4-71, K Chetty 3-43) lost first innings to Howick Pakuranga 221/3 (L Winn 112 not out, D Young 40; M Atkins 1-31).
Ellerslie 216 (P Narsimhan 51, S Venville 50; D Taylor 3-51) drew with Grafton 136/8 (J Houghton 40; P Narsimhan 5-38) after rain abandoned day two.
Birkenhead City 253 (B Barnard 101, A Jayampathi 60; U Ghani 4-45) drew with Kumeu 77/6 (R Jenner 21; P Fernando 2-17) after rain abandoned day two.
Premier Women – Pearl Dawson Trophy T20 Competition
Round 9: Papatoetoe 88/9 (Private 37 not out; M Downes 3-11, J Penfold 3-16) lost to Howick Pakuranga 90/4 (S Bowden 22 not out; K Anderson 2-9) by six wickets.
Round 10: Suburbs-New Lynn 45 (S Samadi 14; M Kaur 4-8, A Lambat 2-4) lost to Howick Pakuranga 47/2 (C Stevens 18 not out; D Chauhan 1-14) by eight wickets.
Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club Upcoming Fixtures
Round 5, Day 1 Tom Hellaby Two-Day Competition- Howick Pakuranga Premier Men VS East Coast Bays CC Premier Men at Lloyd Elsmore Park- Saturday February 18, 11am.
Round 7 Prichard Cup Limited Over Competition- Howick Pakuranga Premier Women VS Auckland University CC Premier Women at Colin Maiden Park- Saturday February 18, 11am.
