Above (photo by Dave Lintott) and below (photo by Carey Clements) Karori celebrating with the Pearce Cup in the dressing room and on the field immediately after the final
For a scanned copy of the scorecard of the match click here
The celebrating after the match was brief by necessity, but the elation in the camp afterwards at having won its first Wellington major club title of the modern intercity era was loud and clear.
With the Wilkinson Pearce Cup safely stowed in the overhead locker, Wellington’s newly crowned Premier grade champions Karori were winging their way to Auckland on Monday night - just under three hours after beating defending champions Eastern Suburbs by 109 runs in the Wilkinson Pearce Cup final.
“The Pearce Cup is coming with us to to Auckland tonight, but we’ll bring it back safely,” said a delighted Karori captain Simon Baker after the match.
Karori are defending the National Club Championship title at Cornwall Park in Auckland over the next week, and as holders of Wellington’s Pearce Cup title as well as the Wellington Twenty20 and One-Day 50 over titles there’s every reason for optimism.
“We’ll go up there and give it a good crack, and you never know, we could be returning at the end of that tournament with more silverware than just the Pearce Cup”, said a beaming Karori coach Glenn Pocknall. “This win over Easts has given the boys a lot of confidence and if we can retain our national One-Day title as well it will be fantastic for not only our club but Wellington senior cricket too.”
Their first game is on Tuesday against New Plymouth Old Boys Marist and is the first of five round-robin matches and then a final over consecutive days. “That’ll be nine straight days of cricket for us,” said Pocknall, “but hopefully we can continue our winning momentum from this weekend and we’ll see what happens.”
Karori had their noses ahead from start to finish in the three-day final at the Hawkins Basin Reserve. Eastern Suburbs skipper Lance Dry had won the toss on Saturday morning and sent Karori into bat - a decision that backfired when Karori were still batting at the start of the second day, eventually making 381.
Needing to win outright to retain the title for a remarkable 10th consecutive season, Easts fought hard in reply to make 306, a deficit of 75 in the first innings.
Karori then posted 254, leaving Easts requiring 330 to win on Monday afternoon. They fell short and Karori off-spinner Jarred Sewell had tail-ender Nathan Cameron caught on the long-on boundary with just a handful of overs of the match to spare.
Karori captain Baker said it was great to win the match outright and a huge relief to finally bowl them out twice: “It was fitting that we won outright as opposed to having just drawn the match. I was worried about forecast rain this afternoon that never arrived as it would’ve left things unanswered. Easts are a team that you can never rule out. Even with them needing 10 and 12 an over towards the end it was always in the back of our minds that they could still pull something out of the hat – so it was good to finish the game.”
Baker heaped praise on his team for fighting hard over the three days and congratulated several individuals for top performances, such as Hamish Templeton who scored 176 not out in the first innings, Marc Ellison who had a match double of 87 and 40, Chris Spring who made 95 in the second innings and off-spinner Jarred Sewell for his great bowling in both innings.
Sewell toiled into the wind for a total of 51.4 overs in the match and finished with 4 for 79 in the second innings and 6 for 133 in the first innings, and was thrilled afterwards.
“It’s amazing to be part of this win. It’s been six years in the making for me and to bowl well and achieve such a great win on the Basin Reserve is pretty special,” said Sewell.
“Easts were always going to put up a tough fight and to get over the line in the end was fantastic,” he added. “Personally I’m rapt with taking 10 wickets. I had to work hard for it and I didn’t think it was going to come, and I also missed out getting seven in the first inning, which would have got my name up on the honours board at Karori Park.”
Karori off-spinner Jarred Sewell celebrates one of his 10 wickets. Photo by Carey Clements
For Easts, opening bowler Nathan Cameron took 4 for 66 in the first innings, Sam McLauchlan hit 114 in the first innings, Niranjin Naguleswaran scored 55 in the first innings and Chamika Gajanayaka finished unbeaten on 71 in their second knock.
For Easts, the loss ends a dominant run of Pearce Cup title successes. They started their nine-year streak back in 2001/02 and won four finals before this one (with a fifth washed out).
Two of Karori's heroes - Hamish Templeton (left) and Jarred Sewell. Photo by Carey Clements.