The four teams celebrate the final of the Stevenson & Taylor-sponsored Central Hawke’s Bay Cricket Club Country T20 Competition. Photo / Mark Boderick
The four teams celebrate the final of the Stevenson & Taylor-sponsored Central Hawke’s Bay Cricket Club Country T20 Competition. Photo / Mark Boderick
The cricketing gods smiled upon CHB on Sunday morning and said “today is your day”.
Unlike the past five months, the weather was warm, the air was still and the sky was blue.
Forest Gate Domain was looking a treat, thanks to the committed ground staff of Colin Schaw and the CHB Cricket Club.
The peaceful background of the Ongaonga Golf Club with its tall trees, immaculate fairways and cursing golfers, eased the nerves of players for finals day of the Stevenson & Taylor-sponsored Central Hawke’s Bay Cricket Club Country T20 Competition.
Up first was the battle for 3rd place, that saw current spooners Onga-Tiko Cricket Club take on last year’s champions Waipawa Area Cricket Association.
Sent into bat, Onga-Tiko wasted no time going at 10 per over for the first seven, losing only two wickets. One of the creators of this chaos - Tom “Irrigator” Holden nearly buckled one short of the retirement score, after being bombarded with sledges from close fielder Rick Tait.
This was used as the reason why the umpire “didn’t hear” the edge that went through to the keeper.
Once Holden had retired, Onga-Tiko’s middle and lower order kept the runs going right to the last ball, albeit at a far slower rate thanks to some tight bowling from Mark “The Butcher” Bean whipping the ball down with his trademark “carcass carving” bowling action.
Graham Fisher hitting a six for Wallingford. Photo / Mark Boderick
The WACA boys needed 152 runs to avoid the spoon and the opening pair Ali “G” Murdoch and Rick Tait started with intent, reaching 40 in four overs.
A rarely used tactic was then implemented by Onga-Tiko’s captain which saw him utilise the ability of the three Wilson brothers - Ed, Guy and George - to bowl rank full tosses.
This perplexed Waipawa’s top order, and saw wickets fall and the run rate stifle, from which it never really recovered.
A valiant batting display by newcomer Tyson “No Probs” Northover was cut short by crafty old-timer Duncan McKenzie playing mind games, with not only the batter, but also the umpire. By the 20th over Waipawa were still 16 runs short and were handed the wooden spoon for the winter.
Tension filled the air as the last Onga-Tiko player walked off, for the playing field was then transformed into a battlefield for rights to claim the holy grail of social T20 cricket.
Wallingford sent their openers out there with the message to survive the new ball and then score big.
Unfortunately they did neither as Peter “PK” Kane bowled deceptive deliveries that conventional batting strokes would not create runs.
What was needed was unconventional batters, so Joe “Dirt” Murphy was elevated up the batting order to partner the one known to most as Fish (Graham Fisher). With these two at the crease, the rules on how to bat were thrown out the window and with some wild swings, the boundaries started to flow.
The platform was then set for Sparky Schaw and Jimmy Hamilton to make crucial runs off the bowling from the always-consistent White family (Ed, Willie and Tom) to make the competitive total of 148 for seven wickets.
During the innings break, enquiries were made to competition officials about a purple drink that was getting run out to Sherwood players who had dropped catches during the first innings, as it was thought the liquid could have been performance-enhancing.
Lab results came back quickly, showing nothing illegal but the copious amount of sugar in the so-called “Goanna” drink was of a health concern.
Once the officials gave the all clear, Sherwood’s star of the first innings PK took to Wallingford’s new ball bowler Kurt “Dead Meat” Mackie with consecutive fours but Mackie did get vengeance by removing other opener and danger hitter Tom Tennant.
That brought out Sherwood’s latest signing Sam Pringle and true to his name, once he popped, he didn’t stop. The two formed an unbroken 50-run partnership and both retired still hungry for runs.
Wallingford looked to recent NZ over 50s representative James Mackie for ideas to stem the bleeding of runs and his answer was to “get some flight”.
Defying physics, Mackie managed to make it feel like minutes before the ball reached the other end of the pitch, which had batsman Dan Ormand so impatient he charged, missed and was stumped three metres out of his crease.
Gravity-defying balls were not enough though to pull back the damage that was done by the top order so by the 17th over only four runs were required that were picked up with ease by Rowan “Row your boat” Baker.
Speeches were held shortly after, with trophies handed out to players of the tournament and looking around you couldn’t picture a better scene for the end of what has been a terrific second year of this local grassroots competition.
Bringing the small communities together and encouraging players old and young to get on the cricket field has been the aim from CHB Cricket, and I feel that it has been fulfilled seeing the camaraderie and banter after the games not only with the players but the families and spectators that have come along too.
Winning Team - Sherwood
Overall most runs scored -Tom Holden (Onga-Tiko)
Overall most wickets taken - Peter Kane (Sherwood)
