NCA Round 5 – Finals places up for Grabs

With the Nelson Pine Griffins team away in Blenheim playing a vital Hawke Cup fixture, club cricket reverts back to the local NCA competition on Saturday. This is the final round of the 110 over competition and although Stoke Nayland has the bye they appear to have secured one finals berth.  ACOB and WTTU are vying for the remaining spot.

A convincing win with bonus points against Wakatu could allow ACOB the luxury of becoming top qualifier.  They make the short journey to Victory Square to face a revitalised Wakatu who last week celebrated their first win of the season.  They have relied heavily on Devon Seurrier who this Saturday will be missing in action with the Nelson representative team.  Ryan Hooper, Mason Robinson, Brad Smith and Daniel Hooper all stepped up last week however and they will be relied on again to repeat the dose this week.  ACOB will be depleted with five away in Blenheim but they have displayed good depth and will be asked to do so again this week.  Ben Gully is due while James Graham has been in hot touch of late. Josh Simpson will be smarting from his non-selection in the Griffins so look for a big outing from him.

WTTU will need to bounce back from a disappointing display last Saturday as they host Nelson College at Jubilee Park.  Although College will be without big quick Jarrod McKay, they displayed good ticker in a close loss to the juggernaut Stoke Nayland last week.  Some of their inexperienced boys are becoming more acclimatized to the requirements of senior cricket and it will be especially interesting to see how young Luke Kilworth backs up.  In contrast, WTTU were somewhat meek in their last outing though in Joey O’Connor, Tom Ingham, Matt Gargiulo, and Tom Cross they have plenty of batting firepower.  In bowling, they will be miss opener Sam Baxendine but will be happy to retain the services of Josh Newport.

Both games begin at 11:30 am on Saturday.

NELSON, NEW ZEALAND January 12: Cricket Stoke Nayland v Nelson College at Ngawatu on January 12 2019, Nelson, New Zealand (Photos by Barry Whitnall/Shuttersport Limited)