Eastern Suburbs El Cheapo Cars and Petone-Riverside were crowned Wilkinson Pearce Cup and Hazlett trophy Wellington club cricket One-Day champions on Sunday, winning resounding victories in their respective finals.
Eastern Suburbs El Cheapo cars celebrating their Wilkinson Pearce Cup One-Day title win
Eastern Suburbs returned to the winner’s circle with an emphatic 7-wicket victory over defending champions HRV Karori in the Pearce Cup final at the Hawkins Basin Reserve, while Petone-Riverside made no race of achieving their 5-wicket victory over Wainuiomata in the Hazlett Trophy final at the Petone Recreation Ground.
A clinical bowling performance by Easts and a well-executed run chase paved the way for their victory over Karori and they will now represent Wellington in the National One-Day Club Championships in Auckland at Easter.
Above: Ricky Joseph sends one down for Easts
Below: Hamish Templeton flicks one through the on side for Karori
After losing the toss and bowling first, Easts were on top early, reducing Karori to 12 for 2. Karori fought back, but a flurry of wickets had them in the mire at 97 for 6 in the 30th over. Captain Simon Baker dug in and made a rearguard 45 not out off 77 balls and with support from the lower order lifted Karori’s score to 184 for 8.
For Easts, young guns Jamie Gibson (10 overs, 1 for 26) and Sean O’Connor (10 overs for 20) both kept the scoring rate down, Ricky Joseph took 3 for 37, Michael Burns 2 for 55 and captain Lance Dry 2 for 40.
In reply, Josh Brodie carried his bat through the innings, ending on 64 not out. Scott Golder and Sam Mclauchlan were the other main contributors with 49 and 44 not out as Easts reached their target in the 40th over.
Above: The two captains. Karori's Simon Baker batting and Easts' Lance Dry bowling
Easts skipper Lance Dry was thrilled with his team’s win.
“It’s good to be able to win these games. When you get to a final you want to win so it’s great to get over the line, and it’s nice to beat these guys too.”
Dry thought that Karori’s total was about 100 runs too short on a good batting wicket, and he praised his young bowlers for restricting them.
“The way we bowled set up the game. We stuck to our plans and squeezed and strangled them.
“I thought the young spinner Sean O’Connor bowled really well. He keeps it tight and he doesn’t bowl any bad balls, which keeps the pressure on the opposing batsmen. Jamie Gibson also did a great job.”
To view the scorecard of the Wilkinson Cup One-Day Pearce Final click here
Above: the Pearce Cup final's top scorer Josh Brodie batting.
The Wilkinson Hazlett Trophy final was more one-sided, with Petone-Riverside wrapping up their victory over Wainuiomata by mid afternoon.
A day after beating Wainuiomata outright as part of the Hazlett Trophy two-day competition, Petone bowled Wainuiomata out for just 102. Wellington Firebird Iain O’Brien took 2 for 9 of 5 overs, Kelvin Snell 3 for 22 and spinner Mark Hewson took 2 for 14.
In reply, Petone reached their target in the 19th over, with Hewson anchoring the chase with a splendid 46.
To view the scorecard of the Wilkinson Hazlett Trophy One-Day final click here