Renwick leads way with century

Mitch Renwick hasn’t wasted much time in his return to Manawatū , scoring a century to help set up their first-innings win over Horowhenua Kā piti in the Furlong Cup.

Manawatū won their two-day match against Horowhenua Kā piti at Levin’s Donnelly Park at the weekend on first innings.

Despite both days starting about 1pm due to wet conditions, Horowhenua Kā piti batted first and were bowled out for 140. Manawatū scored 304-6 declared, then had Horowhenua Kāpiti 149-6 in their second innings at the close of play as they chased an outright win. It was Renwick’s first ton for Manawatū since the 2017-18 summer – he has been at Otago for the past four years but returned as Manawatū playercoach this season – and sixth for Manawatū overall.

‘‘It was nice to contribute to a good team performance,’’ the No 4 batsman said. ‘‘We were just building partnerships to try and break them down.

‘‘They bowled really well up top and we knew we had to get into bowlers four, five and six, which we did and were able to up the run rate.’’

Renwick, who faced 165 balls and hit 12 fours, was in reasonably early, but put on a 116-run partnership for the third wicket with No 3 Ma’ara Ave, who made 52, then added 111 runs with the next man in, Arana NoemaBarnett, who scored 59.

Renwick was pleased they were able to earn first-innings points, as well as a number of bonus points, considering the rain had robbed them of so much time.

He was full of praise for his bowlers, who spent a lot of time bowling with a wet ball on Saturday, but they dismissed Horowhenua Kāpiti for a low total.

Paceman Brad Fulton was the pick of the seam bowlers, grabbing two wickets in each innings.

Horowhenua Kā piti’s bowlers made life difficult too, and Manawatū were 85-2 at stumps after day one before going on to a good score on day two.

They declared on day two and gave themselves 50 overs to bowl Horowhenua Kā piti out, but they ran out of time as the Horowhenua Kā piti batsmen dug in. Spinner Noema-Barnett also bowled well and took 4-17 in Horowhenua Kāpiti’s first innings.

Manawatū next play Whanganui in Whanganui on December 3 and 4.