Te Tomo all class as Bears fight back for great victory
Last-ball triumph spurs jubilation in first win over ‘big brother’ in 109 years
The balcony at the Donnelly Park cricket pavilion was in danger of collapse as Horowhenua-Kāpiti Bears pulled out a rare outright victory over big brother Manawatū at the weekend.
There were jubilant scenes from his teammates upstairs when HK Bears batsman Jamie Pinfold hoisted one past bowler Ray Toole for a boundary late in the day, having needed three runs from the final ball to win.
The celebration was justified. Put into perpective, the last time HK Bears had beaten Manawatū outright in a two-day match was 1912, and the unlikely victory was a great advertisement for never giving up.
The Bears had conceded first innings points earlier that morning, but never once dropped their lip and made Manawatū work hard for every run and every wicket.
Manawatū had won the toss and batted first on the first day, obviously conscious of controlling the tempo of the game in search of an outright victory in order to give themselves a chance to haul in Hawke’s Bay at the top of the Furlong Cup leaderboard.
It was looking good for the visitors as they declared at 319/6 that afternoon, although they were made to work hard by the Bears six-strong seam attack, as it took them 87 overs to get there.
HK Bears lost wickets at regular intervals with opener Ajay Kashyap (34) and captain Matthew Good (26) the best of the top order, until Te Tomo (51) and Pinfold (56) came to the crease.
Both batsmen occupied the crease for a long period of time, frustrating the visitors who were after quick wickets. There was a decent wag in the tail that saw them manage to reach 245 early on Sunday morning.
The Manawatū second innings was electric as they made their intentions clear, scoring 96 in 11 overs at a rate of 8.73 runs an over.
Manawatū knocked on the door of the Bears’ changing room at the tea break to signal they were declaring at 96/3, believing they just might bowl HK Bears out in 37 remaining overs after setting an overall target of 171 to win.
It was a tough call for Manawatū , as they hadn’t wanted to set the Bears an unrealistic chase and have them shut up shop, but still wanted to dangle a carrot and give their opposition a glimmer of hope.
In the end, it just meant Manawatū were able to snatch defeat from the jaws of a draw.
It all made for an exciting and climatic evening of cricket. H K Bears openers Kashyap and Dion Sanson both got starts with 23, Andrew Simpson reached 40, while Mathew Good looked dangerous when he banged a quickfire 18 off 22.
But it was going to need a special innings if the Bears were to get over the line.
Cue promising young left-handed batsman Bailey Te Tomo. A feature of the match was two sublime but vastly different innings from Te Tomo in the middle order for HK Bears.
The 21-yearold scored 51 off 111 balls in the first innings when patience was required. When the required run rate crept to almost nine an over in the second innings, he showed controlled aggression in scoring a sublime 53 off just 38 balls.
Supported first by Simpson who did superbly in holding down his end, and later Pinfold at the other end, Te Tomo scored quickly but with controlled aggression, and with a wide range of attacking strokes.
He kept his side in with a faint sniff.
The permutations changed from runs-an-over to runs-per-ball as Te Tomo kept finding boundaries. Needing 24 off the final 16 balls, it came down to 10 runs required from the last over.
With three runs needed from the last ball, Pinfold found the middle of the bat after having faced just six balls prior.
HK Bears coach Chad Law was full of praise the manner in which the team was playing their cricket. Whenever momentum wasn’t going their way they continued to hang tough and work hard.
Both the Te Tomo innings also
drew praise from Law.
“He’s a quality player and showed an understanding of tempo and what was required. He played two completely different innings,” he said.
“He’s still a young player, but he’s working it out. He kept it simple and showed a lot of maturity.”
HK Bears took six seamers into the match and each was rotated often to keep them fresh, while Dion Sanson showed he was a option with some useful overs of spin when required.
Meanwhile, HK Bears were having their best season in a long time. They were an improving young side that were proving they could be a thorn in the side and topple any team from the bigger associations.
With points from their final match of the season — a home game against Whanganui on February 14 and 15 — they look poised to card their best Furlong Cup result in years.
The win was also a great welcome to the Bears for batsman Andrew Simpson, who was new to the province having moved down from Auckland.