Takapuna hosted Howick Pakuranga Cricket Club (HPCC) at Onewa Domain on Saturday, with the visitors batting first in the Auckland Premier Cricket match in the Jeff Crowe Cup on Saturday.
Bill Walsh (81) looked comfortable from ball one for Howick Pak getting the away side off to a solid start.
Some excellent fielding from Takapuna including two run outs, restricted Howick’s scoring in the middle overs.
Walsh fell with the score at 198/7, Howick Pakuranga needed the tail to wag in order to post a competitive total.
Matt McEwan (22) and Danru Ferns (40) proved up to the task putting on 63-runs in the last five overs to end the first innings 261/7.
Guy Harley and Dan ter Braak put on 57 for the first wicket to put Takapuna in the driver’s seat.
Jaime Brown and Adam Jones halted Takapuna’s charge picking up three wickets between them to leave the match evenly poised at 91/3 after 25 overs.
Will O’Donnell (93) was the anchor for Takapuna scoring at over a run-a-ball to keep his side on track despite wickets falling regularly at the other end.
O’Donnell fell with Takapuna needing 36 off 21 balls, Elliott ‘Powerhouse’ Herd doing what he does best for Taka scoring 34 valuable runs to see his side home with only two balls to spare.
Howick Pakuranga 261/7 (B Walsh 81, C Neal 34, D Ferns 40) lost to Takapuna 264/7 (GH Harley 38, WD O’Donnell 93, DPJ James 39, EH Herd 34)
