By Gary Caffell
One down, two to go.
That was the mood in the Greytown camp after their 26-run win over Lansdowne in the final of Wairarapa Cricket’s Umpires Cup limited-overs competition at Queen Elizabeth Park oval on Saturday.
The 2016-17 season sees Greytown celebrate their 150th anniversary over Waitangi weekend in February and skipper Gordon Reisima says the primary objective of the club’s premier squad is to mark that achievement by winning all three trophies at stake, the Umpire’s Cup, the Twenty20 trophy and the Bidwill Cup two-day series.
“We know it’s a big ask to win all three but it’s something we’ve talked about and want to have a decent crack at,” Reisima said.
“Getting the first one in the bag is good but hopefully it’s only a start.”
Reisima was “happy enough” when his team batted first and got through to 208, thanks in the main to a unbeaten 80 by team stalwart Robbie Speers, who was a mixture of patience and aggression, the latter a lot more so in the last five overs.
All told he faced 103 deliveries and struck seven fours and three sixes.
The other major contribution came from opener Jake Ross whose 39 came off 61 balls and included seven fours.
“It was a bit of a bonus to get over 200, there was a while there where it looked like 170 would be about where we would end up,” Reisima said.
“Robbie (Speers) really got things moving towards the finish, and we had a score we thought we could defend.”
Interestingly it wasn’t the more high profile bowlers like Stefan Hook-Sporry and Brock Price who did the most damage with the ball for Lansdowne but promising youngster Drew Macdonald and Hayden Barrett.
Macdonald finished with 3-29 from his 10 overs and Barrett 2-25, also from 10 overs.
Price and Hook-Sporry might not have much luck at the bowling crease but it was those two who caused some anxious moments for Greytown when Lansdowne set about their run chase.
At 70-5 they were well and truly on the ropes but Price and Hook-Sporry came together in a partnership which realised 99 runs and threatened to take the game away from the southerners.
Unfortunately for Lansdowne, however, they fell in quick succession.
Hook-Sporry at 169 (46 off 88 balls and four fours) and Price at 170 (62 off 109 balls and eight fours and one six) and Greytown were back in the box seat.
Just 12 runs later and the innings was wrapped up with still eight balls to be bowled.
For Reisima there were a “few nerves” when Price and Hook-Sporry were together although he deliberately held three overs back for Greytown strike bowler Daniel Ingham until the closing stages with the confidence he would either take wickets or restrict runs as Lansdowne neared their target.
As it happened Ingham did both, finishing with 5-23 off his 9.2 overs.
“The wicket was a bit slower paced than he (Ingham) would normally like but he ran in hard and got something extra out of it, he was outstanding,” Reisima said.
Short scoreboard:
GREYTOWN 208-8 (Morrison 15, Ross 39, Childs 1, Burling 2, Speers 80 not out, Reisima 16, Lyttle 5, Ingham 1, Burt 1, Aiken not out 15, extras 33; fall of wickets, 41, 44, 50, 77, 120, 130, 132, 146; Hook-Sporry 9-0-47-0, B.Price 10-1-50-1, D.Macdonald 10-0-29-3, Barrett 10-5-25-2, Patel 3-0-22-0, Bailey 8-0-29-1) beat LANSDOWNE 182 (J.Macdonald 0, Barrett 14, Dingle 8, B.Price 62, Te Whare 16, D.Price 4, Hook-Sporry 46, Patel 3, Dennes-Wilson 3 not out, D.Macdonald 0, Bailey 5, extras 21; fall of wickets, 9, 23, 30, 57, 70, 169, 170, 174, 174, 182; Ingham 9.2-5-23-5, Burt 10-1-30-1, Speers 8-1-43-0, James 6-0-29-1, Reisima 9-1-27-2, Aiken 6-0-21-0) by 26 runs.
