Taranaki win Cup thriller

Hosts Taranaki powered their way to an outright win over Wairarapa in their Hawke Cup qualifying men's cricket match last weekend.
Taranaki needed to score 149 runs in their second innings for maximum points and, remarkably, reached their target in just 15 overs.
The three Wairarapa bowlers used were on the end of a string of boundaries with no fewer than eight sixes being smashed as Taranaki went on the rampage.
It was an exhilarating finish to a match which saw the teams fairly evenly poised after the first innings.
Wairarapa batted first and reached 226 with no fewer than seven of their batsmen getting into double figures. Ngatai Walker was the top scorer with 57 and John Peters made 30.
Taranaki declared their first innings closed at 276-9 , a total which seemed very unlikely when they were 178-8. However, their numbers nine and 10 batsmen put on 79 runs for the ninth wicket, both getting into the 40's.
Paceman Hayden Spierling put down 20 overs for Wairarapa and finished with 5-103.
Wairarapa's second innings began well with openers Sam Curtis and Henry Cameron putting on 71 runs for the first wicket but they failed to capitalise and were all out for 198.
Cameron hit six fours and two six in his 45 while Ngatai Walker was rather more circumspect in making 35 not out. Curtis got to 30 with his first three scoring shots all being boundaries and he struck four fours and one six in total.
With time running out a draw looked the most logical result but the Taranaki batsman had other ideas and they plundered the Wairarapa attack to gain outright points.Short scoreboard:-
Wairarapa 226 (Curtis 26, Cameron 21, Peters 30, Hopkins 0, Stone 0, Walker 57, Rist 27, Roberts 27 not out, Rance 0, Spierling 18, Wylie 0, extras 20; Cruickshank 15-4-23-3, Parr 17-2-48-0, Walker 10-2- 38-1, Watkins 17.3-6-48-4, Good 11-1-31-1, Ingram 8-2-24-1) and 198 (Curtis 30, Cameron 45, Peters 8, Hopkins 18, Stone 32, Walker 35 no out, Rist 3, Roberts 5, Rance 8, Spierling 1, Wylie 0, extras 13; Cruickshank 11-3-48-1, Parr 9.4-1-29-3, Walker 7-1-26-1, Watkins 16-4-27-5, Good 10-1-33-0, Ingram 8-2-26-0) lost to Taranaki 276-9 dec ( Ingram 57, Johnston 25, Stewart 35, Weston 0, Habib 16, Fleming 3, Watkins 18, Walker 8, Rowson 43, Good 48 not out, Cruickshank 3 not out, extras 16; Wylie 21-2-90-1, Spierling 20-2-103-5, Rance 18-5-47-1, Clinton-Baker 3-0-17-1, Stone 4-1-7-1, Walker 2-1-8-0) and 154-5 (Ingram 13, Johnston 12, Habib 34, Watkins 29, Weston 23, Walker 31 not out, Rowson 0 not out, extras 12; Spierling 7-0-72-2, Wylie 4-0-52, 1, Rance 4-0-20-1).
Meanwhile in Wairarapa club competition, Marist Old Boys continued their unbeaten run with a two- wicket victory over Greytown.
Greytown put into bat scored 129 all out with C-Stuart scoring 21 and M. Stringfellow 20 not out.
Wicket takers for Marist Old Boys Ben Taylor 5-33 & Marcus Howie 3-14.
Marist Old Boys scored 131-8 with Corey Anderson top scoring with AO.
C. Stuart was the top wicket taker for Greytown claiming 4-25.