Greg Smith's cool 54 not out carried United to a five wicket win and the Long Format title against Marist at Cullinane College on Saturday.
Greg Smith's cool 54 not out carried United to a five wicket win and the Long Format title against Marist at Cullinane College on Saturday.
Property Brokers United sealed up their first title of the season but it was an anticlimactic end to what has been an underwhelming five weekends for the Bullocks Cricket Wanganui Long Format on Saturday.
Back at the artificial wicket on the Cullinane College field, which more resembled a rugby ground with it's growing grass, United picked up a five wicket win over Marist in another short game where only 218 runs were scored in total.
It meant United with three wins and a loss finished just ahead of Wanganui Collegiate 1st XI, who were defaulted to by Matt Burke Engineering Marton Saracens.
Marton defaulted two games while getting a default win themselves over St Johns Tech, which meant after they defeated United by three wickets in the first round on February 17, they were not sighted on the field again.
United were not initially sure on Saturday that if they passed Marist's meagre 108 all out whether they would have to continue batting to secure more bonus points, but it turned out an outright win was adequate.
There was plenty of muttering on from both sides about fee-paying club cricketers have to play the red ball game on a rugby ground.
On Saturday, Marist's top order of Michael O'Leary (16), Chris Stewart (18) and Mark Fraser (20) all got starts, with Stewart again looking to survive the long game as he faced 61 balls.
However, after medium pacers Ritesh Verma and Harpreet Binning separated the key partnerships, spinner Robbie Power (6-32) got going from the far end, changing up his pace and trapping several batsmen with variation as they hit a good shot one ball, then be caught out not long after.
Martin Pennefather (2-8) was able to do the same with his offspinners at the other end. Only John McIlraith and Nick Harding, both with 18, reached double figures, as Harding in his last cricket match before Premier rugby kicks off would hoist one boundary and a six before he swung out at Power and wicketkeeper Matthew Boswell had the bails off to end the innings.
Earlier, Power and Boswell got Thomas Redpath out the same way, while Zak O'Keeffe, Craig Thorpe, Max Smith and Hadleigh Reid all fell to fairly straight forward catches – Reid's coming straight after pulling Pennefather for an impressive boundary.
It was Power's first-ever six wicket bag.
With Marist out before lunch, United had a delicate period of about nine overs to navigate from the red ball on the green maize wicket, with Harding opening the bowling with an eager Redpath, trying to emulate his previous week's six-for against Tech.
Boswell fell early as he hit Redpath virtually straight up with Fraser jogging over with the wicketkeeper gloves to take it, while Stephen Holloway dove to survive a run-out chance but gave a nick to Fraser off Harding not long after.
Marist's Mark Fraser appeals but United's Stephen Holloway has made his ground.
Greg Smith was keeping the ball down and exercising his pull shot well, although he lost fellow Englishman Freddie Wilson to a catch off Harding to leave the match evenly poised at 30-3.
Harding (3-41) would get Brendon Walker off a catch by Stewart, but by then both Walker and Josh Goleby (17) had just focused on supporting the confident Smith, who carried his bat to finish unbeaten on 54.
Power (10 not out) came out to join Smith at 72-5 and they were secure enough to put on 38 runs in just over six overs.
Having stumbled in the Coastal Challenge Cup final against Paraparaumu on February 12, United will now look to complete their season's consolation by adding a second title to the Long Format win with the Premier 1 Twenty20 final this Saturday.
However, given Saracens is the scheduled opponent and has not played Premier cricket for over a month, it remains to be seen if they will front.
Tech are scheduled to face Marist in the playoff for third.
Scoreboard
Marist 108 (M Fraser 20, N Harding 18, J McIlraith 18; R Power 6-32, M Pennefather 2-8) lost to United 110-5 (G Smith 54no, J Goleby 17; N Harding 3-41) by five wickets.
Wanganui Collegiate 1st XI bt Marton Saracens by default.
