Cricket: Loss for Hawke's Bay in cup prelude

The last Hawke Cup defence in February when Bay of Plenty were155-5 at Nelson Park, Napier, before rain set in and washed out what were to have been the second and third days. Photo / NZME

Hawke's Bay cricket selector and coach Christie van Dyk is again playing the waiting game before naming his 12 for a three-day defence of minor associations prize, the Hawke Cup, starting at Nelson Park, Napier, on Friday.

The match, against Canterbury Country, clashes with the third Central Districts Stags Plunket Shield match of the season, starting in Nelson on Saturday.

Plunket Shield leaders the Stags are expected to field at least four Hawke's Bay players for the game against Northern Districts, leaving van Dyk unable to confirm his team until Thursday at the earliest.

But Hawke's Bay and Canterbury Country are expected to be evenly matched, the Bay having had a 15-run first innings loss to Manawatū last weekend in the first round of the Furlong Cup competition.

The challenge, postponed since March, will be the first game of the season for Canterbury Country.

Batting first when the Furlong Cup game started at Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North, on Saturday, Manawatū were all out for 249 off 97.2 overs, to which Hawke's Bay responded with 234 all out on Sunday.

Both sides got off to good starts, the Manawatū No 3 and No 4 also getting past 20 before Hawke's Bay right-arm leg spinner Kyle Gardiner started to wrap up the innings with 5-64 off 20.2 overs.

Jonathan Whitley and Jack Boyle shared an opening partnership of 101 before Whitley was run out for 57, before Manawatū opening bowler Jack Harris took charge, taking 5-60 off 19 overs.

There was some resistance with an 85-minute knock of 48 from Brett Johnson, batting at No 7 for the Bay.

This weekend's match is effectively the third defence of the 2021-2022 season. It was originally scheduled to be played on February 25-27, but had to be postponed because of the Covid-19 crisis.

The most recent, against Bay of Plenty last February was rained out after the challengers had reached 155-5 by late afternoon on the first day.

MetService is forecasting mainly fine weather throughout, with temperatures up to 25deg on Friday, but there is a prospect of some showers on Saturday afternoon, about the time the opening acts start booming into life at the Six60 concert just a few hundred metres away at McLean Park.

Hawke's Bay last played Canterbury Country in 2009, batting second to score 457 and winning by an innings and 100 runs.

Their latest cup reign started on February 26-28, 2021, with victory by an innings and 52 runs over holders North Otago in Oamaru.

They beat Hamilton by eight wickets in the first defence in Napier four weeks later, packing the cup into the cabinet for the 2021 winter and bringing it out for a first-innings victory over Manawatū on January 28-30 this year.

The next match, the abandoned Bay of Plenty challenge, was the fourth time in four matches in the new era that the opposition batted first.

It was soon afterwards that New Zealand Cricket postponed the remaining challenges until the new season, and if Hawke's Bay survives at the weekend they will defend the Cup again, on November 18-20, hoping to retain the trophy through Christmas into a new campaign starting at the end of January.

Result of the Furlong Cup match on Saturday and Sunday: Manawatū 249 (Curtis Heaphy 83, Mason Hughes 51, Mitch Renwick 34, Maara Ave 26; Kyle Gardiner 5-64, Liam Dudding 2-35, Jayden Lennox 2-35) Hawke's Bay 234 (Jonathan Whitley 57, Jack Boyle 48, Brett Johnson 48, William Clark 25; Jack Harris 5-60, Tim Richards 2-56, Arana Noema-Bartlett 2-39. Manawatū won by 15 runs on the first innings.

In other Furlong Cup first-round matches, Taranaki had a 128-run first-innings win over Horowhenua-Kapiti and Wairarapa had a 208-run first-innings win over Whanganui.