Brad Fleming

The Unior Senior team started the season in style at King George Park yesterday with a 7 wicket win over Waitaki Boys.

After Union won the toss and elected to field Waitaki Boys struggled to gain some momentum early on as Union looked to make scoring difficult thanks to some tight bowling early in the innings. At the halfway point of 25 overs, only 55 runs were on the board, but they still had wickets in hand to start pushing the run rate. Their middle order started to push for runs and despite being all out in the 50th over, they had reached 193 a total that looked competitive in an early season game. Player coach Jaden Dowling top scored with 35no off 21 balls, while Alex Wilson (27), Hunter Wardle (26) and Liam Mavor made useful contributions. For Union Brad Fleming took 5/32 of his 9.5 overs, his fourth five wicket bag in senior cricket for Union, while Garry Singh took 2-26 and Glynn Cameron took 2-29, his first game back after missing the entirety of last season due to injury.

Thomas Shields looked to go hard early, but was soon dismissed after scoring 10, as Union lost its first wicket in only its second over. This bought in veteran Duncan Drew to the crease with captain Jeremiah Shields. Like his twin Thomas, Jeremiah was aggressive early hitting the ball to the boundary, bringing up his 50 in only 38 balls as his team made a great start. Drew and Shields would then look to considerate as they kept the score ticking over and put the game effectively out of reach for the schoolboys as they combined for a 149 run second wicket partnership. Drew would be dismissed by Liam Mavor, 1 short of a well-deserved half century, but Shields would continue to bring up his third century for the club and his first in four seasons of 134 balls. His job done, Shields would be dismissed not long after for 106, Garry Singh(15no) and Blake James (1no) would then bring the side home with 9 overs to spare. Union extending its Borton Cup winning streak at KGP to 11, with its last loss at home being the Borton Cup semi against Waitaki Boys in March 2019.

Club cricket takes a break next week with North Otago hosting the Otago Women's U19 tournament, the following week Seniors will look to continue the fantastic start against Valley at Weston.

Player Pages:
Glynn Cameron | Duncan Drew | Brad Fleming | Blake James | Jeremiah Shields | Thomas Shields | Gary Singh |

Waitaki BHS 193 ( J. Dowling 35no, Liam Mavor 27, A. Wilson 27, H. Wardle 26, T. Anderson 16, A. Ruddenklau 14, Lochie Mavor 13, B. Fleming 5-32, G. Singh 2-26, G. Cameron 2-29 )
Union 198-3 ( J. Shields 106, D. Drew 49, B. James 15no, Liam Mavor 2-42 )
Union won by 7 wickets
Full scorecard for the match