First up was returning all-rounder Nick Harding (50 from 68), who lofted five deliveries over the fence and gave Whanganui the opening partnership stand they had craved at 61-1.
Then came Carter Hobbs (85 from 164) and Shaun O’Leary (74 from 121) with the decisive 148-run partnership — both of them getting comfortably over the ball and then deftly flicking or cutting the bad deliveries away to the fence.
Each man raised his half-century within a couple of overs of the other to cement Whanganui’s position.
Taranaki did hit back just before the tea break with O’Leary losing his stumps to Grant Commerfield, who then took the catch to dismiss Carter off bowler Jarrod Ritson (3-52) for 243-5.
But that brought out the veteran Mark Fraser (60 from 68), who for once could consolidate an innings rather than having to salvage it, and he rapidly found all the gaps with clean stroke-play, after getting off the mark in humorous fashion with a slight miss-hit going to the fence to end his run of bad scores in Marton representative games.
Fraser hit 10 boundaries, and skipper Chris Sharrock (22 from 14) joined him with a licence to swing, hitting three sixes in a row, as they looked to quickly reach 350 and declare with a handful of awkward overs left for Taranaki’s openers to face.
Ritson and Liam Muggeridge (2-84) collected both before that, and then Taranaki batsmen Bailey Wisnewski (81) and Dean Robinson (59) successfully navigated the 12 overs remaining until 6.30pm to have Taranaki 36-0.
The pair kept accumulating steadily throughout the morning session for a 137-run stand that was making 344 seem straightforward — even when Fraser Kinnerley had dominant partner Wisnewski caught by Joel Clark, Robinson just carried on anchoring for Oli Burbidge (25).
While Whanganui had hope before the lunchbreak, with James Woodford (2-23) and the recalled Connor O’Leary (5-82) breaking up the partnership at 192-3, Sam Fastier (74) went on the attack either side of the break, leading his team rapidly into the 260s.
But in the 80th over, Whanganui took the new ball for their last roll of the dice, and after Ross Kinnerley secured the breakthrough with Fastier falling to another Clark catch, Connor O’Leary stepped forward.
From 284-6, the wickets began falling while runs were still being secured — Jarred Cunningham, Jordan Gard and Vatsal Gajjar all reaching double figures — as O’Leary snatched a catch off his own bowling and induced two snicks into Sharrock’s gloves to leave the visitors 328-9 but still within sight of victory.
But the Whanganui paceman would not be denied — breaking Commerford’s stumps to set off unrestrained joy on the pitch and bring a tear to the eye of Marr.
“Probably one of the best two days of cricket I’ve been involved in with Whanganui.
“After the [Taranaki] opening stand and what happened after lunch, the boys’ heads went down.
“But we said to the guys, ‘340 is a lot to chase, just keep believing, keep believing’.
“The new ball was the difference, no doubt.
“It changed, and we gave the ball to Connor — ‘you’re the opening bowler, take the ball’.
“He came back with a point to prove and as a coach that’s exactly what we want.”
Whanganui’s 343-8 was the first time they had exceeded 300 since January 2021, when they raised 318-7 at Pukekura Park to chase down Taranaki’s first innings lead.
It was also Whanganui’s highest total since the phenomenal 399-3 at Tasman Tanning (Victoria) Park in January 2020, also against Taranaki.
But key to both those totals had been the professional Ben Smith — 162 not out and an association record 240 not out respectively — yet on Saturday the batsmen proved with the right temperament they can deliver without him
“I’ve been saying it for two years — got to score runs in the first innings to give yourselves a chance,” said Marr.
Similar to last season’s Chapple Cup success, reaching the final, now the young players of the side have finally tasted victory in the long-game format.
“And they were contributors with the bat. It was a team effort, very proud of them,” said Marr.
Premier 2
The Cricket Whanganui Premier 2 grade continued with round six of the Twenty20 competition on Saturday, as Wanganui Vet Services Marist 2nd XI secured an impressive 34-run win over Property Brokers United P2.
Whanganui High School had a strong day with wins in two short games against Wicket Warriors Whanganui and Wanganui Old Boys-Tech.
The Whanganui Renegades got a little bit of payback on last season’s champions Matt Burke Engineering Marton Saracens, playing at Rangitīkei College and securing a last-over victory by three wickets.
