Hawke’s Bay cricket: Record last-wicket stand of 140 propels Bay to win

Liam McCarthy displays some of the technique needed in breaking two long-standing Hawke's Bay Senior representative cricket records in a win over Whanganui at the weekend. Photo / Paul Taylor

Rookie Hawke’s Bay Senior cricket representative Liam McCarthy has blasted his way into the record books with breaking a 124-year-old record for the highest score for the Bay by a No.11 batsman.

Last-man-in in the weekend’s Furlong Cup match against Whanganui in Whanganui, McCarthy scored 60 not out in an unbroken last-wicket stand of 140 with No. 6 bat Dominic Thompson, itself breaking a Hawke’s Bay 10th-wicket partnership record that had stood for almost a century.

Amazingly it was the first time 21-year-old right-arm medium-pace bowler McCarthy has batted in his six games for Hawke’s Bay since 2021 and the first time the fourth-season Napier Tech club player has had to bat this season.

The previous record No. 11-bat score for Hawke’s Bay was 49 not out by Edwin Baker against Poverty Bay in January 1-2, 1900, and the previous record last-wicket partnership was 100, scored by Doug Pirie and Errol Mitchell against Wairoa on November 25-26, 1927.

The 112 not out scored by Thompson, his fifth century for Hawke’s Bay, put him in the unique position of holding both Hawke’s Bay’s 10th and ninth-wicket records. He scored 102 not out when he and South African Gillian Pretorius scored 227 in an unbroken ninth-wicket stand against Whanganui on February 13-14, 2016.

Having won the toss, making Whanganui bat first and dismissing the home side for 123 on Saturday, Hawke’s Bay was 237-9 soon after the Saturday-afternoon tea break when McCarthy joined Thompson after the dismissal of fellow bowler Liam Dudding, who had otherwise already made a mark by taking 6-20 off 11.4 overs in Whanganui’s first-innings demise.

McCarthy said it was initially a fight for survival, the first step was to meet captain Angus Schaw’s request to get Thompson the strike as much as possible and get the team through to 250 to claim a bonus point, and then his own drive to help Thompson reach a century, which eventually included two sixes and 11 fours.

But McCarthy also grew in stature, eventually hitting nine fours in an innings of 63 balls, going to the 7pm stumps at 337-9 with Schaw telling him to start dreaming of a century and that they’d bat-on on Saturday morning.

Partners in time - Hawke's Bay 10th-wicket cricket partnership record-breakers Liam McCarthy and Dominic Thompson.

But McCarthy said he knew that wasn’t practical, with the pitch flattening, and with the declaration made before the start of play on Sunday the focus turned to an outright win, ultimately achieved by an innings and 77 runs after Whanganui was dismissed for 177 in its second dig.

The batting possibilities weren’t completely a forlorn hope, McCarthy saying he once was “a batsman” - back in “Year 7″ when he scored a few compulsory-retirement 50s.

The record 10th-wicket partnership in New Zealand cricket history was 184 scored for Otago in a Plunket Shield match in 1932, the record for Central Districts is 133, scored in 1961, and the New Zealand test match record is the 151 scored by renowned batsman Brian Hastings and fast bowler Richard Collinge against Pakistan in Auckland in 1973.

The efforts, including four-wicket bags for Brad Schmullian and Brett Johnson on Sunday, were a big boost for Hawke’s Bay heading into the first defence of a new Hawke Cup area later this month, preceded by the last Furlong Cup match of the season this Saturday and Sunday against Wairarapa.

Coach Christie Van Dyk said McCarthy, also a Hawke’s Bay indoor cricket representative, looked “a bit rusty” as he embarked on the partnership, but was soon playing like someone who could have been “opening” batsman, or at least somewhere further up the order.

Hawke’s Bay suffered an innings defeat in an unsuccessful defence against Canterbury Country in Napier in November 2022 but it was reclaimed against the same side in Rangiora two months ago.