The 2024 Cookie Sadaraka Cup T20 domestic cricket season heads into its semi-final round this Saturday, with the unbeaten Arorangi Redbacks leading the men’s competition and the Arorangi Red Hotbabes leading the women’s.

The men’s defending champions Nikao Black Wolves are in second place with 21 points, tied with Tupapa Young Rookies, while Matavera is in third place with 18 points.

In the women’s competition, Turangi Young Guns, the defending champions, are in second place with 12 points followed by Nikao Honey Wolves and K11 Lady Orcas on nine points each.

According to the Cook Islands Cricket Association (CICA) president Grant Walker, the Muri men’s team withdrew from contention due to delays and player availability issues. Meanwhile, the Nikao White Wolves finished tied with Turangi on points, but were narrowly behind on net run rate (NRR) and will therefore focus their efforts on the 2025 season.

“The Muri women’s last place finish meant time to rebuild for the next go round.”

In the senior men’s competition, the final seeding came about from a dominant Arorangi performance with both their men and women making a historic undefeated campaign.

Walker said the second placed Nikao Black Wolves and third placed Tupapa Young Rookies both only lost twice and were separated on the table by the net run rate.

The newcomers to the tournament, Matavera, showed their class with a solid fourth-place finish, followed by the K11 Orcas in fifth place.

Walker said the final four teams of TKV, Muri, Turangi and Tupapa all found a couple of wins with NRR separating their final position on the table.

In the women’s competition, the unbeaten Arorangi dominated affairs with six wins, followed by the nemesis Turangi with four wins and two losses.

“Nikao’s Honey Wolves showed their development in a strong 3-3 record with an upset of home side Turangi a highlight. Just behind on NRR was the K11 Lady Orcas, while TKV and Tupapa each found two wins,” Walker said.

“The perennial power Muri finally succumbed to the loss of some starters and after an opening round win found no others and so began their youth movement as they look for another generation of Creeps to bring them back to finals in 2025 and beyond.”
Walker said the opening round of the men’s playoffs saw all four top seeds advance.

Arorangi held off a stubborn shorthanded Tupapa team and narrowly avoided a massive upset. Nikao handled Turangi to hold home ground for the semi-finals, while their opponent in that semi-final, the Tupapa Young Rookies, put up big runs against TKV side.

Matavera and K11 played a contentious and close-run match with high emotion, but Matavera found their way through to a semi-final date at Raemaru against a bunch of refocused Redbacks.

“CICA viewed the competition as another step in improving our domestic structure. Much was learned, a new club added, and some exciting cricket with more to come as we look forward to this Saturday’s semi-finals and the grand finals the following Saturday.”

Fixtures:

MEN: SF1 - Arorangi v Matavera at Raemaru 3pm. SF2 - Nikao Black Wolves v Tupapa YR at Nikao Field 3pm. 5th Place Game - K11 v TKV at Matavera 3pm. 6th Place Game Turangi v Tupapa at Turangi Oval 3pm.

WOMEN: SF1 Arorangi v TKV at Raemaru 12noon. SF2 Turangi v Nikao at Turangi 12noon. 5th Place Game K11 v Tupapa at Matavera Field 12noon.