Wairarapa successfully defended the Cave Cup at the inter-provincial limited-overs cricket tournament played in Napier over the weekend, thumping Marlborough by six wickets in Sunday's grand final.
Marlborough batted first and were always battling against an accurate Wairarapa attack. In fact, when four middle order wickets tumbled with the score at 48 a three-figure tally looked a long way off but a hard hitting 45 not out by No10 McLennan, including six fours, saw them through to 126, made in 35.1 overs.
Wairarapa used six bowlers in all with four of the medium pacers-Dean Van Deventer, Peter Borren, Ben Foster and Greg Todd- picking up two wickets apiece and spinner Matt Stringfellow one.
It was opener Jamie Holmes who dominated the Wairarapa batting effort. His very first scoring shot was a boundary and his unbeaten 65 was made in 127min off 101 balls and included nine fours and one six. Skipper Todd was with Holmes when the target was reached and he struck three fours in his 17, made from just 18 balls. To make the final Wairarapa had to defeat Wanganui and they were convincing winners there too, having 95 runs to spare after registering a healthy 289 themselves and then dismissing Wanganui for 194.
Todd top scored with 90 not out (eight fours and one six) while Peter Borren made 62 (seven fours) and Jamie Holmes 49 (six fours and one six). Todd and Borren also starred with the ball, Todd taking 3-35 and Borren 2-40 off 10 overs each.
