Robbie Anderson scored 22 in Coasties innings of 111-7. PHOTO/FILE
CRICKET
CHRIS COGDALE
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Jack Wakeling starred with bat and ball for Lone Star Coasties in their upset 22-run victory in the Wairarapa Cricket T20 Community Shield final on Saturday.
Jackson Street Bar Lansdowne went into the final with an unbeaten record in the competition and would have been confident of completing a perfect championship when they restricted Coasties to 111-7 off their 20 overs.
Scoring was always difficult on the Queen Elizabeth Park Oval pitch, which offered plenty of assistance to the bowlers.
That was evident from the start with the Coasties openers Robbie Anderson and George Tatham struggling to put bat to ball.
Anderson, with the score at 40-2, almost half the overs had gone, and a three-figure total looked a forlorn hope.
Wakeling, though, changed the game with a watchful 34 not out from 31 balls, including only one four, which in the context of the game, proved to be the match-winning innings.
Coasties were in a position to post a total approaching 120 entering the final over, but four wickets, including a hat-trick to Jaco Vorster, gave Lansdowne a lower-than-expected target to chase down.
However, batting proved just as difficult for Lansdowne, and they struggled to make headway against the steady Coasties bowlers.
Wakeling picked up two early wickets in his first spell and then came back to pick up the last two wickets to secure a resounding victory.
Wairarapa Mitsubishi Greytown won the second tier Plumbing World Trophy by default from Featherston.
BRIEF SCORES
Lone Star Coasties 111-7 [Jack Wakeling 34no, Robbie Anderson 22; Jaco Vorster 5-16] beat Jackson Street Bar Lansdowne 89 [Jack Wakeling 4-17, Hugo Wakeling 2-11, Sam Johnston 2-14] by 22 runs.
