Arorangi women squeeze into top of the table

It was a hard fought cricket battle at Raemaru Park at the weekend in a top of the table clash between Arorangi and Takuvaine.

Batting first Takuvaine were restricted to just 70 runs helped in part by great bowling from national cricketer Marg Dean (3 wickets).

It was a slippery run chase for Arorangi who lost wickets regularly until Kat Ma steadied the ship with 27 runs.

New Edgewater Resort and Spa western conference side Nikao took to the field like seasoned professionals employing some big ‘Wale style’ hitting against their Tupapa sisters; however, Tupapa were too good for the new Nikao team who narrowly lost by 20 runs (93–73).

Out East Avana drew a sigh of relief collecting their first points of The Edgewater Resort and Spa women’s season beating opposition Turangi by 23 runs. The win comes too late for Avana who cannot secure enough points in their remaining match to go top of the table.

Muri smashed their way to a third consecutive win with another standout performance from opening batting combination Makiroa Mato (68 runs) and Matina Pittman (62). 193 runs was always too much for the new young gun Te Ava-Rau side however Margaret Tuaputa’s team can take plenty of positives out of the match with their performances gaining strength each week under coaches Pavai Taramai and Arthur Emile.

Eastern Conference Points: 1st Place Muri (with 12 points), 2nd Matavera (8), 3rd Avana (4), 4th Te Ava-Rau (0) and 5th Turangi (0). Western Conference: 1st Arorangi (12), 2nd Takuvaine (4), 3rd Tupapa (4) and 4th Nikao (0).