We did bloody well!
That’s the assessment from coach Mark Childs as Post Office Hotel Wairarapa made their first Chapple Cup final at the Central Districts one-day [50-over] tournament in Palmerston North over the weekend.
Wairarapa started the three days on Friday with a 34-run defeat of Nelson, the highlight of which was a maiden century [109] for Jake Jonas, who also posted scores of 31 against Whanganui and 69 in the final against Hawke’s Bay.
“He’s been a model of consistency with everything he does with bat and ball,” said Mark Childs, “and he’s brilliant in the field, so that would probably be the individual highlight.”
In Saturday’s semifinal, Wairarapa thrashed Whanganui by 152 runs after posting a score of 247, with the bowling and fielding effort, especially in restricting experienced Central Stag Ben Smith, impressing the coach.
“The way we put away Whanganui on day two, just the bowling and the catching. Ben Smith got tied up at one end and only got one off 19 balls. Ethan [Childs] was bowling upwind to him and had it on a dime, and Mark Steventon took this amazing catch to get him, diving mid-air one-handed and lefthanded.”
Sunday’s final was a different story, and although Mark Childs was confident after Wairarapa posted 282–6, with Jonas’s 69 and Seth Rance’s 54 not out off 23 balls the highlights, he knew they had to take early wickets to have a chance. However, he didn’t count on the blockbusting effort of opener Logan Ryniker-Doull, who smashed 137 off 71 balls as Hawke’s Bay cruised to victory in 31 overs.
“He’s a young fella, about 20, and a lefthander, and he was just hitting with the wind. Seth was bowling downwind, and he was still crunching him into the breeze, and the bowlers who were bowling into the wind and in the arc, if you bowled any sort of length, he was just hitting everything.
“We did put him down twice – two hard chances – but to beat Hawke’s Bay, you have to take everything, but we didn’t do that.
“We didn’t bowl badly; it’s just that they’re at a different level. That batting lineup and their depth of cricketers is probably the best in the country at that level.”
Mark Childs was incredibly proud of the team and what they achieved in making the final for the first time in the 30-plus-year history of the tournament in the current format.
He also had special praise for one of the old soldiers, former Black Cap Rance, who carried a painful injury throughout the three days but still troubled most batters and picked up some crucial scalps.
“Seth was a real trooper. He had a bad elbow, but he just gritted his teeth for his team and the region and went really well.”
Mark Childs was rapt with the number of supporters, saying there were about 40–45 who had travelled to Fitzherbert Park to cheer on the team.
The Chapple Cup runners-up finish capped off a successful season to go with a third equal placing in the Furlong Cup – the Hawke Cup zone three elimination series.
