Eastern Suburbs and University are the 2008/09 Dominion Post Premier and Senior club cricket champions after outright wins over Karori and Johnsonville respectively in the finals played at the Petone Recreation Ground over the weekend.

Eastern Suburbs beat Karori by 2 wickets to capture an unprecedented eighth consecutive Premier Pearce Cup title, while University beat Johnsonville by 113 runs to win the Senior Hazlett Cup and earn promotion to the Premier grade next season.

Both were hard fought wins, with the outstanding individual performances of Easts’ Ricky Joseph and University’s Graham Murray proving key differences in each of the finals.

Opening bowler Joseph’s 5 wickets for 70 in Karori’s first innings and 7 for 42 in their second for match figures of 12 for 112 was the standout performance for Easts and Murray’s match haul of 5 for 45 and 5 for 69 with the ball and scores of 41 and 74 with the bat was the clear highlight in University’s upset win over Johnsonville.

In a low-scoring Dominion Post Premier final, Joseph’s second innings 7-wicket bag helped bundle Karori out for just 94 at their second turn at bat, after Karori had established a 24-run lead at the end of the first innings.

It left Easts needing just 119 to win when they went out to bat a second time midway through the second day’s play of the scheduled three-day final on Saturday afternoon.

But their run chase was not without tension and drama as Easts went to stumps on Saturday evening needing 15 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand and with Joseph and captain Lance Dry at the crease. Easts could also have been 8 wickets down overnight after Dry was dropped in the slips off the penultimate ball of the day’s play.

The first over on Sunday morning also proved eventful, Dry surviving a confident LBW shout and then scoring two boundaries to bring his team to within 7 runs of victory.

Joseph was then caught at slip off the bowling of Simon Baker, bringing Richard Gilhooly to the crease to join Dry. But Gilhooly defended stoutly and Dry cut a short ball for four for the winning runs soon after.

Previously on day one, Easts had won the toss and bowled Karori out for 154. However Karori pacemen Sunny Chan (4 for 29) and captain Baker (5 for 30) led a fightback that had at one stage reeling at 84 for 8 that included 56 by Jeremy Dean.

Easts recovered to be all out for 130, before Joseph set to work on cutting Karori’s second innings to shreds and setting up the tense run chase later that day and early on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Murray’s outstanding exploits with both bat and ball as well as a first innings century to Hamish Evans ensured an upset victory over Senior one-day champions and top qualifiers Johnsonville.

Needing to win outright to capture the title and earn promotion to the Premier ranks at the expense of Upper Hutt for the 2009/10 season, University recovered from a horror start to remain on the front foot throughout much of the final which wrapped up around mid-afternoon on Sunday.

Evans scored an excellent 116 and Murray 41 out of a total of 268 for University on the first day – rescuing University from early trouble at 20 for 4.

Johnsonville then went to stumps on day one at 54 for 1, but were bundled out for 130 early on Saturday. Murray’s 74 saw University make 186 in the second innings to set Johnsonville 325 to win.

Johnsonville’s run chase was in the balance at 160 for 5 with Scott Mudgway (77) and Gareth Powell (61) at the crease together, but their partnership was broken when Powell was caught behind and they slipped to 211 all out.

 

Short Scorecards:

Dominion Post Premier final: Eastern Suburbs (top qualifier) v Karori

Eastern Suburbs 130 (Jeremy Dean 56, Scott Golder 20, Sunny Chan 4 for 29, Simon Baker 5 for 30) and 122 for 8 (Josh McLaughlin 47, Lance Dry 15 not out, Lee Edwards 5 for 40, Baker 3 for 24) beat Karori154 (Simon Allen 47, Stephen Murdoch 30, Ricky Joseph 5 for 70, Dry 3 for 15) and 94 (Edwards 29, Joseph 7 for 42) by 2 wickets.

Eastern Suburbs wins the 2008/09 Pearce Cup.

 

Dominion Post Senior final: Johnsonville (top qualifier) v Victoria University

University 268 (Hamish Evans 116, Graham Murray 41, Sam Outtrim 3 for 73) and 186 (Simon Thomas 40 not out, Murray 74 not out, Outtrim 3 for 60) beat Johnsonville 130 (C Leach 32, Murray 5 for 45) and 211 (Scott Mudgway 77, Gareth Powell 61, Murray 5 for 69) by 113 runs

University win 2008/09 Hazlett Trophy and earn promotion to the Premier grade for next season.