Saturday was a day of milestones for three Central Hinds players in their Hallyburton Johnstone Shield clash with the Canterbury Magicians.
New Zealand under-19 international Emma McLeod had a debut to remember, scoring her maiden List A half-century, Ocean Bartlett had career best bowling figures, and Melissa Hansen claimed her 50th List A wicket in the Hinds’ 21-run loss at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
McLeod went into bat with the score at 98-4 and the Hinds chasing the Magicians’ formidable total of 279-8.
The 16-year-old displayed maturity beyond her years in setting a record fifth wicket partnership for the Hinds of 141 with captain Jess Watkin [92]. Her ability to find the gaps and quick running was obvious. McLeod found the boundary only once in her score of 53, which came off 71 balls.
Leg-spinner Bartlett finished with the best figures of her brief List A career, taking four wickets for 60 runs off 10 overs, including the prized scalp of former White Fern Amy Satterthwaite for 14.
Hansen took her 50th List A wicket when she bowled opener Abby Gerken for 22.
The trio were back in action again yesterday in the second game of the doubleheader.
CHAPPLE CUP
A remarkable 60 not out off 22 balls to Nathan Elliott was the highlight for Post Office Hotel Wairarapa in their charge into the Cave Cup final at the Chapple Cup tournament in Levin over the weekend.
The tournament was changed to a T20 format played over two days after the disruption caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, which resulted in the withdrawal of defending champions Hawke’s Bay.
The weekend started predictably for Wairarapa with an eight-wicket loss to Manawatu. Wairarapa managed only 92, which Manawatu reached in the ninth over.
It was Saturday’s second game against Horowhenua-Kapiti that provided the drama. Opener Bailey Te Tomo rode his luck, being dropped several times, and batted throughout the innings to finish 118 not out as the home side left Wairarapa a challenging 181-6 to chase down.
The odds were clearly in Horowhenua-Kapiti’s favour when wicketkeeper Elliott strode to the wicket with Wairarapa 6-88 and the calculation of 93 off seven overs.
Elliott wasted no time taking to the bowling and, along with Jeremy Anderson, set about chasing down the 182 needed, but the challenge still looked insurmountable with 64 required off four overs Wairarapa still needed 15 off the final over and then three off the final ball with Robbie Speers to face after he came on at the dismissal of Anderson earlier in the over. The veteran made sure of victory, sending the ball sailing over the boundary for six.
Elliott brought up his half century off just 17 balls and added 85 with Anderson [29].
In yesterday morning’s final pool game, left arm spinner Quinn Childs had Marlborough on the back foot from the start, taking the first three wickets to fall with only four runs on the board.
The final total was never enough, and Wairarapa chased down the total for the loss of five wickets with five balls to spare to set up a Cave Cup final against Taranaki yesterday afternoon.
BRIEF SCORES
Wairarapa 92 [Robbie Anderson 39; Ray Toole 2-27, Jack Harris 3-16, Tim Richards 3-12] lost to Manawatu 93-2 [Arana Noema-Barnett 42, Trent McGrath 25no] by eight wickets.
Horowhenua-Kapiti 181-6 [Bailey Te Tomo 118no; Parmveer Kharoud 2-27, Bayley Latter 2-28] lost to Wairarapa 185-7 [Robbie Anderson 29, Gus Borren 38, Jeremy Anderson 29, Nathan Elliott 60no; Zack Benton 2-32, Prabodha Liyanage 2-17] by three wickets.
Marlborough 117-7 [Matthew Stretch 37, Luke Pannell 34no; Quinn Childs 3-14, Samuel Payne 2-15] lost to Wairarapa 122-5 [Latter 41 Jake Jonas 28; Nick Weaver 3-10] by five wickets.
