Marist lock up two-day crown

Dave Meiring would have batted all week if it meant Marist won the two-day title.

But he only had to do it for an afternoon, scoring a flawless 120 from 118 balls to help Marist lock up their first two-day crown in seven years.

The club two-day final at Fitzherbert Park ended in a draw on Sunday, but Marist scored 246 in the first innings to United’s 122 to give Marist first-innings points and the title.

Marist were 208-5 at tea on Sunday afternoon when they called things off and Marist had a lead of 332 runs, well beyond what United could get in a session.

‘‘The hundred of mine is obviously pretty nice,’’ Marist captain Meiring said. ‘‘I’ve played for Marist for six, seven years where we’ve been losing so many finals.

‘‘Just to get the result is what we wanted and better than is any individual effort.’’

Meiring and spinner Nic Carter are the only survivors of the Marist team that last won the twodays in the 2009-10 season, which was when the title was decided by who was top after the round-robin, rather than a final, but since then they’ve lost three one-day finals and had one rained off.

The winning of the game for Marist came after they had scored 246, then reduced United to 61-5 by stumps on Saturday, which had United chasing the game.

United captain Logan Mchardy put their batting effort down to poor shot selection.

‘‘They just bowled good lines and we just played some pretty bad shots,’’ he said.

Marist won the toss and chose to bat first on a good batting wicket with a bit in it for the bowlers.

Early on Saturday, the mediumpace United attack had Marist in some early trouble at 34-3 in 9.1 overs.

Mitch Renwick led the recovery with 55, but United fought back again to have Marist at 140-8, before Floyd Na Nagara scored a magnificent 49 from 117 balls and held the tail together.

He put on 64 runs with Carter, who scored 39, and then 39 runs with Matt Wells (14 not out), before Na Nagara was the last man out.

Nathan Hill snared 4-44, Mason Hughes captured 3-39 and spinner Hayden Hill 2-62.

United then batted for 27 overs before stumps and were in strife at 61-5.

Opening bowler Connor Morriss struck with three wickets in the afternoon, including getting Ma’ara Ave, who was out for 28.

Mchardy did his best to bat with the tail on Sunday morning, but he ran out of partners and was left stranded on 35 not out.

Morriss was the best of the Marist bowlers, taking 4-35 from 17 overs, while spinner Arana Noema-barnett and seamers Matt Wells and Jack Gleeson took two wickets apiece.

United scored 122, giving Marist a first-innings lead of 124.

Marist batted a second time and Nathan Hill struck again, as he bowled 17 overs on the trot and gave United some hope by taking 4-79, giving him 42 wickets for the season.

But once Meiring and Na Nagara (43 not out) linked up, they didn’t offer United anything.