Lake Taupo continue solid start to T20 competition, finishing the day in 3rd on the T20 ladder.

LTCC followed up last week's win over Cadets and abandoned match against the Mount, with another victory against Te Puke and a fighting loss against Greerton.Habib Malik won the toss at Gordon Spratt Reserve and elected to bat. Caleb Bate and Nafis Shaikh started excellently against Te Puke’s bowling attack putting on 53 for the first wicket. The pair complemented each others styles really well, Caleb often striking the ball over the 30 yard circle, while Shaikh manipulating the field. Following the departure of Shaikh and Archie Harrison early, Caleb became more explosive and was eventually dismissed for 54 off 47 balls (8 x4’s 1x6’s) with the score at 3- 90. Roger urban was quickly dismissed LBW to Iman Nahal for 5, which brought captain Habib Malik and Michael Mitchell to the crease. The two taupo old guard put together a 51 run partnership from 43 balls with Mitchell scoring 37 from 28 balls (2x4’s 1 x6’s) Habib finishing 15 not out. LTCC finished their innings with the score of 146 for 6, which was going to be a competitive target if Taupo could back up with another good fielding and bowling performance.Roger Urbahn immediately made an impact with the dismissal of Crossan for 1. Urbahn with great control struck again to take the wicket of Cam Riley for 7. Urbahn finished with figures of 4 -0-13-2. Ben Vyver struck three consecutive sixes to gain momentum for the Western Bay side, however he went for one too many and was bowled by Nafis Shaikh for 33. Despite being somewhat expensive, Shaikh claimed 3-42 off his 4 overs. With the score at 3 for 43, Habib Malik got into his work dismissing both Bay of Plenty representatives Josh Earl and Iman Nahal for 3 and 11 respectively. Malik finishing his four overs with two wickets for 13 runs. Taupo continued to take wickets through Archie Harrison (4 -0-2-23) and with the score at 9 – 89, Te Puke could have easily given up. Ben Roborgh had other plans, batting at 9 scoring 34 runs from just 13 balls, enabled a late charge for Te Puke. However, the final over from Nathaniel Higgins saw Roburgh run out, by a sharp bit of wicketkeeping from Raymond How. Te Puke completing their innings, allout 128. Another excellent win for the Lakeland side against numerous representative players, the match giving confidence to the LTCC players for the second game of the day.Facing Greerton CC in the second game saw Malik lose the toss and LTCC were sent into bat once again. Bate and Shaikh proved even more destructive and attacked the spin heavy bowling lineup. Some wonderful shots including six's over long off from Caleb and sweeps and reverse sweeps from Nafis. With partnership blossoming, Caleb was dismissed for 45 from just 32 balls (3 x 4’s 3x6’s). Greerton showed their experience slowing the runrate down, whilst claiming wickets of Harrison and Mitchell. Nafis brought up his first 50 for the club and showed his full array of shots in an innings of 64 from 46 balls (7x4’s 1x6’s). Some great striking at the end from Urban 16 (13) and Malik 16 (, helped Taupo reach a competitive total of 160 for 5 off their 20 overs.Greerton started well with Desai and MacCrury keeping up with the run rates of eight and over throughout the power play. Harrison made the breakthrough dismissing Desai for 16. And with an unfortunate injury to Blair McKenzie, (forcing him to retire hurt) Taupo may have been slight favourites.MacCrury batted with great purpose and intent, striking all Taupo bowlers to the boundary and over it. Spite 2 wickets from shaikh, including excellent catch on the boundary by Zach Forster, MacCrury saw his side home, with superb 95 not out. Luke Spargo ably supporting McCrory with 31 off just 14 balls. Greerton chased 160 down in 17 overs for the loss of just three wickets. A tough loss for LTCC, but the side remain 3rd in the ladder.This weekend see’s the start of the Baywide Cup on Saturday against Mount Maunganui and Sunday the 5th and 6th round in the T20 competition against Tauranga Boys College and Papamoa Cricket Club.