The Dominion Post Premier and Senior Wellington club one-day finals day at Karori Park on Sunday were a huge success, with hot and sunny conditions bringing out throngs of supporters and making for a great atmosphere all afternoon.
On the field the cricket wasn’t quite so sizzling, with comfortable wins to Hutt District over Karori in the Premier final and Johnsonville over Wellington College in the Senior final.
State Wellington Firebirds players Chris Nevin and Graham Napier combined with bat and ball in Hutt’s six-wicket win over Karori, while a comprehensive bowling and fielding display led by left-arm spinner Sam Outtrim orchestrated Johnsonville’s empathic 109- run win over Wellington College.
A year after losing to Johnsonville in the Senior one-day final, Hutt won their first Premier one-day title and will represent Wellington in the National club finals in Auckland next Easter.
Nevin and Napier both scored half centuries as Hutt easily chased down their winning target to win the game in the 34th over, Nevin making 61 off 51 balls and Napier finishing unbeaten on 54. The two combined in a match winning third wicket partnership following the loss of two early wickets including Firebirds skipper Matthew Bell for two.
Napier smashed a six over midwicket to win the match, after earlier starring with the ball in taking 4 for 20 off nine overs. Losing the toss and being asked to bat, Karori’s innings never got going, with number five Simon Allen (29), sundries (24) and number nine Jared Sewell (20 not out) the three top scorers.
The win for Johnsonville is their second successive one-day final victory, retaining the well-cared for Senior winner’s cup for another season. Batting first, they made 194, largely thanks to a 67-run partnership in 63 minutes between captain and top scorer Powell (36) and Outtrim and a 44-run partnership for the tenth wicket which lifted their score well past 150. Tom Pere was the best of the Wellington College bowlers with 3 for 34.
With the hot sun beating down and needing a touch under four an over for an historic victory the stage was set for a classic run-chase, but unfortunately it never eventuated. Losing their top order cheaply, Wellington College were 3 for 35 early before Harry Boam and Tom Blundell set about staging a revival. Boam looked assured and Blundell smoked the first two balls he received for boundaries. But disaster struck with the score on 71 when Blundell was run out at the non-strikers end after a Boam straight drive caught the bowler Powell’s hand and deflected on to the stumps with Blundell out of his ground.
From there, the innings disintegrated. Tight bowling from Outtrim who returned 4 for 12 off 8.3 overs, saw them fall for 85 in the 30th over.
Meanwhile, Karori maintain the slenderest of leads in the race of the Pearce Cup at the end of the first round of Premier two-day cricket completed on Saturday. In a hotly developing 2008/09 club season, Karori lead by just 0.09 points to second placed Eastern Suburbs with one round to go before the competition adjourns for the Christmas and New Year break.
Kaori drew their match with Onslow, after Karori set Onslow 164 to win in the fourth innings and Onslow ended the match on 76 for 7. Onslow’s Scott Rasmussen (5 for 38) and Kaori’s Sunny Chan (5 for 21) both made batting difficult.
Easts beat Taita by eight wickets. Resuming their second innings still 137 runs behind making Easts bat again, Tatia moved from 23 for 2 to 176 all out with Steve Gellatly making 93. Easts opening bowler Richard Pyrah took 6 for 58 to finish with match figures of 13 for 91. Easts lost both openers for ducks, but Jeremy Dean and Scott Golder steered them to their small target of 28.
Naenae Old Boys enjoyed a convincing outright win over Hutt District the day before surrendering their one-day crown to them. Naenae ended their first innings 21 behind Hutt who scored 181 for 7 in their second innings with the top four all getting past thirty. Naenae needed 203 to win and achieved their target losing only four wickets. B-J Crook was unbeaten on 75 and had good assistance from Thomas Nukunuku with 54.
Upper Hutt had their best day of the season when they fought a rearguard action against North City. Starting the day they were 86 for 6 and reached 165. Daniel van der Hayden scored 61. Fraser Quarterman took 5 for 27. Following on Upper Hutt made 181 with Jahid Ahmed getting 53 not out. Norths needed 70 to win off seven overs but fell five runs short.
In senior two-day competition, Wellington College have replaced Johnsonville at the top of the table after a convincing 188-run win over North City B. Wellington College had conceded a 13 run lead on the first innings but scored 264 for 6, led by Tom Gibson (75) Harry Boam (73) and Chamika Gajanayaka (69) and then dismissed for just 63. Boam took 4 for 20 and Harry Wright 4 for 12.
Johnsonville drew their match with Wellington Collegians. Johnsonville had a first innings deficit of 89, but they scored 285-8 in their second innings with Luke Woodcock getting an unbeaten 87. Ian McIsaac and Clinton Butler took three wickets each. Set 196 to win, Collegians never threatened and were 121-7 at close.
University and Petone-Riverside drew, with Petone's Mark Hewson hitting 88 and Iain O'Brien making 36. Taita B beat Wainuiomata outright, with Andrew Sturt taking 5 for 50 and Anthony Crummy finishing unbeaten on 46.