The toss of a coin can mean so much in any game of cricket - but in this case the home side should possibly have known better.
Jurgens Demolition Whanganui captain Greg Smith did the hard work in winning the toss ahead of the Furlong Cup match against Manawatū on a green-looking Victoria Park wicket at the weekend, in what was the first two-day representative match at the ground in more than 2 years.
Less than 30 minutes later, with their entire top order skittled and back in the pavilion, the Whanganui leadership group - with the benefit of hindsight - might have questioned the decision to back their top order and bat first
Whanganui simply pulled the wrong rein. They had backed their in-form top order to see off the cool seamer-friendly Saturday morning conditions in the hope of putting on a big total when the pitch flattened out later in the day.
Manawatū bowler Jack Gleeson. Photo / Mike Gill, Kiwi TV Ltd.
But it backfired. Horribly. The home side were 21-6 before anyone knew what was happening with Manawatū’s leading wicket-taker Jack Gleeson (5-27) and fellow opening bowler Thomas Kirk (3-32) running riot.
The Whanganui tail did wag with returning players Shaun O’Leary and Oscar Mabin (28) getting set before Hadleigh O’Leary (57 not out) played a fine innings in his 60-run 10th wicket stand with brother Connor.
But the damage had been done and a score of 148 was never going to be enough.
Manawatū built steady partnerships to take first innings advantage and finish the day in a commanding position at 307-6, with Jaiden Meyer (46), skipper Arana Noema-Barnett (53), Whetu Na Nagara (51) and Hanu Rana (41) among the runs - the latter pair putting on an 89-run stand for the seventh wicket.
The Whanganui bowlers made a better start the next day though, with the last four Manawatū wickets adding just 28 more runs.
In their second innings, Whanganui posted 327 - their biggest total so far this season - with the top order of Nick Harding (33) and Ben Smith (34) and Tom Dempster (38) all getting a start, before in-form Manawatū seamer Jack Harris (3-57) and slower bowlers Noema-Barnett (2-77) and Rana (2-48) saw Whanganui slump to 160-8.
Enter Oscar Mabin, who produced a herculean performance for what must rank as one of the most extraordinary innings seen at Victoria Park that elicited a deserving ovation from spectators and opposition players alike.
Oscar Mabin produced an innings of rare quality. Photo / Mike Gill, Kiwi TV Ltd.
Mabin produced a breathless 146 off just 70 deliveries. Multiple balls were lost in the trees. Egos were dented as he seemed to pre-empt the length and swing of every ball. His innings of rare power and timing included 16 boundaries and 10 towering sixes.
Batsmen at the other end just had to stay in the eye of the Mabin tornado. Hadleigh O’Leary sharing in a 112-run partnership scoring 14, while Connor O’Leary was part of a 55-run stand in which he contributed just 6 runs.
Manawatū bowler Thomas Kuggeleijn (2-18) ended the fairytale, although Mabin had given Whanganui hope of salvaging a draw with Manawatū needing 141 for an outright win with just 20 overs left.
Manawatū got there in a canter. Ethan Campbell (42 from 25) got away to a flyer, with Jerome Robinson (63 not out from 34) making sure of it. The winning total was reached in just the 13th over, despite the best efforts of Hadleigh O’Leary (2-24).
Manawatū batsman Ethan Campbell.Photo / Mike Gill. Kiwi TV Ltd.
Whanganui coach Warren Marr defended the decision to bat first.
“I still think it was the right decision to bat first on that wicket - we just had to get through the first hour and if we did that, we would have got a big score, but they were too good for us and we weren’t good enough,” he said.
“An entertaining [Sunday], I don’t think I’ve seen such clean hitting for such a long period of time with Oscar. He did so well, and if he’d gone for another 20 minutes, who knows?”
“The day went to us today, overall, but we were so far behind on the first day, that we were never going to get a result out of this game. That was the disappointing thing for me as coach, and disappointing for the players as well.”
Their skipper Smith also defended the toss decision.
“The toss was a hotly debated one before [the start], we weren’t 100 per cent sure of what we wanted to do, based on that we knew the first hour was going to be tough.
“Realistically, looking at the way our lower order batted on that first day, if we’d been 2-3 down after that first hour, then we’re suddenly massively in the game.
“Frustrating, because there was some real good moments ... it was brutish from Oscar Mabin, but that is one of the cleanest striking of the ball I’ve seen, and well-deserved Honours Board performance.
The scoreboard told the story though. There was no denying the fact that it was an entertaining match with almost 1000 runs scored in two days, and 33 wickets taken.
Bowling: J Gleeson 8-1-25-0; T Kirk 11-2-32-0; J Harris 15-5-57-3; J Fleck 10-5-47-1; A Noema-Barnett 17-4-77-4; H Rana 8-0-48-2; E Campbell 2-1-9-0; T Kuggeleijn 3.2-0-18-2.
