Nobody could ever accuse Greytown of reaching the national finals the easy way. Firstly, they had to dispose of highly regarded Hawke's Bay champions Cornwall in a knockout game played on their home turf at Greytown. Even after achieving that feat, who would have expected them to dispose of the Taranaki and Manawatu champions in the space of two days at the Central Districts playoffs at Fitzherbert Park?
"I guess most people looked at the draw and were tipping a Hawke's Bay and Manawatu final, but that didn't bother us. We backed ourselves to measure up to anyone and we got there. It was a terrific effort," Rance said.
New Plymouth Old Boys skipper Riley McGregor was quoted as saying Rance was pretty much the difference in Saturday's encounter, which saw NPOB make 244 and Greytown overhauling them with four wickets to spare.
"He's a quality cricketer," McGregor said of Rance. "He bowled beautifully with the ball, did a lot up-front early and was pretty quick. At the death he bowled six of the last 12 overs and we could barely get a bat on them." It was by no means all plain sailing for Greytown though, with NPOB reaching 190 for the loss of just the one wicket and looking likely to rack up a score of 300-plus. And it took an 80-run sixth wicket partnership by Rance and skipper Gordon Reisima (39 not out) to steer Greytown to victory after Steve Coleman (43) and Robbie Speers (36) had produced handy knocks as well.
That victory took Greytown into the CD final against Freyberg on Sunday and it was the latter who batted first, reaching 194 after stumbling from 23-1 to 42-4 and 79-6. Once again it was the fiery Rance who spearheaded the Greytown attack, conceding just 17 runs from his 10 overs and claiming two wickets in the process.
Coleman with 2-34 from 10 overs also returned pleasing figures but the fact Mr Extras was second top score with 41, including 24 wides, had to be a disappointment.
Greytown lost their first wicket at three and, after a 34-run partnership between Jackson Kibblewhite and Liam Burling steadied the ship to a degree, they struggled through to 95-6 before Steve Coleman and Gordon Reisima came together in a match-winning partnership worth 103 runs. Coleman's 75 not out was made from 94 balls and included seven fours and one six, while Reisima continued from where he had left off in the previous game, reaching 51 from 49 balls and striking eight fours.
Short scoreboard:
Freyberg 194 (McNaught 3, Fulton 11, Murray 1, Morris 2, Cleaver 22, Pricemore 64 not out, Baggs 0, West 19, Harwood 22, Aktar 9, Trow 0, extras 41; fall of wickets 23, 23, 25, 42, 67, 79, 120, 148, 192, 194; Rance 10-3-17-2, G Reisima 7-1-25-1, Foster 5-0-35-2, James 3.5-0-29-1, M Reisima 1-0-42-1, Coleman 10-3-34-2) lost to Turkey Red Greytown 198-6 (Ross 2, Kibblewhite 12, Burling 19, Coleman 75 not out, Speers 11, Lyttle 0, Rance 8, G Reisima 51 not out, extras 20; fall of wickets, 3, 37, 55, 82, 82, 95; Aktar 4-0-25-1, Harwood 10-1-36-2, Fulton 4.5-0-33-0, Overton 10-2-37-2, Trow 5-0-21-1, Pricemore 4-0-28-0, Murray 2-0-18-0) by four wickets.