Poverty Bay were sharp from the first ball, in the field and with the bat. They absorbed pressure from a high-quality Mavericks crew and were worthy victors.
Parkes was pleased with the home team’s gritty showing at Harry Barker Reserve.
“What makes me proud is that we dug in to win a tough game against a young but talented Hawke’s Bay team,” said Parkes, who made a run-a-ball 56 not out.
Parkes won the toss and chose to bowl.
“We bowled to plans, and Jak Rowe (3-24 off eight overs) and Cody Andrews (3-37 off eight) gave us the start we wanted.”
Poverty Bay took early wickets, then Hawke’s Bay consolidated with a 71-run third-wicket partnership between first-drop James McGruer, 66, and No.4 Bailey McDonald, 32.
The Mavericks were dismissed for 199 in 38.2 overs, and the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation for play interrupted meant the visitors’ score went up by two runs to 201. The Bay needed 202 to win.
Rowe, who annihilated the Mathew Sinclair-coached Hawke’s Bay team here with 7-17 off seven overs in 2014 (the visitors all out for 57 and the hosts victorious by four wickets), was again pinpoint accurate.
The pace of Andrews gave the Mavericks batsmen a hurry-up, and leg-spinner Parminder Kulaar (1-18 off 3.2 overs) and medium-pacers Paul Stewart (1-28 off four) and Angus Orsler (1-32 off five) all proved dangerous.
Kulaar flighted the ball well and Parkes conceded only 32 runs off eight overs of tigerish off-spin.
The Bay set their fields in a deliberate manner over by over and then attacked the ball in the air and on the ground. The talent of McDonald and the scrappers in the middle-order for Hawke’s Bay was obvious — McDonald, in particular, hits the ball hard — but Poverty Bay’s opening batsmen set the gold standard.
Graham Sharp (65) and Nicholas Hendrie (56) gave the hosts a right-hand, left-hand pair of contrasting styles: the compact Sharp, who crunched his drives, and the tall, orthodox leftie whose placement was impressive. Hendrie threaded the needle brilliantly against the off-side field of off-spinner Brandon Roberts.
Their 96-run stand was broken 21.5 overs in, Seth Taylor (1-30 off five overs) yorking Hendrie with a ball that swung from middle and off-stump to hit middle.
Parkes, another left-hander, came out for Poverty Bay at No.3 and shared a 93-run partnership with Sharp before the latter fell, leg before wicket, to the towering Fendall’s inswinger to end the 37th over.
The score then was 189-2.
Poverty Bay wicketkeeper Scott Tallott — who had held two catches off Stewart and Andrews and stumped No.9 Taylor off the bowling of Kulaar — ran well with Parkes to see the Bay home for five not out from No.4. He clamped down on an inswinger just outside off-stump, the ball then skidding past Hawke’s Bay gloveman Harry Mowat for four. That over from the otherwise tight Liam Hall (0-37 off seven overs) cost 10 runs.
Parkes said: “The boys couldn’t be happier. We were excited to get everybody together for the first time this season and have a competitive team. To put up a strong performance like that and get a win was a bonus.”
Special mention must be made of Hawke’s Bay opening bowler Josh Alderton, who came within a hair’s breadth of having Sharp lbw, and later so-nearly caught behind by Mowat. Alderton took none for 29 off six overs but he is an excellent competitor who wears the Hawke’s Bay badge with passion.
Mavericks skipper Callum Hewetson had reason to be proud of a unit that contained up-and-comers such as Alderton’s foil, 16-year-old Tyler Annand.
“It was a great game,” Hewetson said.
“We made a reasonable start to be 30-2 after 10 overs in tough conditions, but then didn’t capitalise. Poverty Bay batted smart and offered few chances; with constant rotation of strike and the odd bad delivery, we couldn’t create enough pressure to force them to up the tempo and take risks.
“Both sides showed some great skills and I know a lot of our younger players can take a lot of learnings out of this; it’s always good to play away against different opposition and at good facilities.”
