Cricket: Coles leads Grange to Masterton win

CAMMY COLES hit 90 off 46 balls and held on to a superb catch as Grange sealed their place in the Murgitroyd Masterton Trophy Twenty20 cricket final with a 51-run win over Marchmont.

Batting first at Raeburn Place, the hosts lost Iain Worth for 16 to Matt Loeffen early on but Coles and midweek captain Gregor Maiden settled in for a 79-run partnership.

Maiden then went for 33 before Coles and Simon Smith kept the run rate up.

By the time Coles was out it was 186-3 before Smith finished on 33 not out in Grange's impressive total of 203-3.

East League Division Two side Marchmont started their reply well with opening pair Will Collier and Aaron Sardesai putting on 63 for the first wicket.

They both fell soon after to Brian Kaczynski, however, and, by the time the halfway point was reached, they were 73-3.

To have any hope of winning Kiwi Matt Loeffen, who has scored over 800 runs this season in all forms of cricket, needed a big score.

However, just as he got going, he was caught on the boundary by Coles for 28 and Marchmont ended up on 152-8.

Grange now play Carlton in the final on Friday, 16 July at Grange Loan.