Fight for first innings win
Manawatu¯ wanted an outright victory against Wairarapa at Fitzherbert Park at the weekend, but had to work hard for a first innings win.
Hawke’s Bay lead the Furlong Cup standings and Manawatu¯ , who are undefeated but haven’t had an outright win, are second.
Wairarapa won the toss and batted first on a good batting deck, posting 275, then had Manawatu¯ struggling at 37-3 and 166-6. But lower-order resistance earned Manawatu¯ first innings points, going on to 308-8 declared.
Wairarapa were 58-1 in their second innings on Sunday when they called it a day.
Manawatu¯ player-coach Dave Meiring, who pulled out on the eve of the match with an Achilles tendon injury, was pleased with the result after a couple of weeks off.
‘‘It never felt like we were completely out of it,’’ he said. ‘‘I would have liked to have done it a bit easier.
‘‘The batters probably didn’t quite put the runs on the board they would have liked to. Bev [Small] batted really well, Floyd [na Nagara] batted well and Tim [Richards] faced over 100 balls. It was a real team effort in the end, but I would have liked to have done it a little more stress-free.’’
He said they were a bit rusty and didn’t exploit the bowling conditions as well as they could have.
Meiring would have liked to finish Wairarapa off after they were 130-6.
But a 92-run partnership between Daniel Ingham (57) and Ethan Childs (37), and another 53-run partnership between Robbie Spears (23 not out) and Gordon Reisima (30) gave Wairarapa a competitive total.
Paceman Ray Toole, back after an eight-week layoff with a knee injury, was the pick of the Manawatu¯ bowlers, taking 4-50.
Central Districts paceman Bevan Small, who was on limited bowling loads, bowled with pace and accuracy and took 2-26, while fellow seam bowler Carlos Jensen took 2-65.
In Manawatu¯ ’s innings, early wickets had them at 45-3 at stumps on day one. Wairarapa’s total looked a long way off at one point, but the middle and lower order dug in.
Arana Noema-barnett and Logan Mchardy started the revival and got them to 118-4 when Noema-barnett was out for 53.
Wairarapa sensed they had a chance after Mchardy was out for 53 and na Nagara was dismissed for 22, with the score at 166-6.
But Small’s positive batting – he scored 66 from 77 balls – got Manawatu¯ across the line, as he put on 73 runs for the seventh wicket with Richards, who made 37 not out.
Navin Patel scored a handy 33 at No 9 before Manawatu¯ declared.
In other matches, Taranaki (187 and 117) lost outright to Hawke’s Bay (190-8 declared and 116-1) by nine wickets and Horowhenua Ka¯ piti (299) won on first innings against Whanganui (195 and 214-7). Manawatu¯ ’s next match is against Horowhenua Ka¯ piti in Levin in a fortnight.