"I'm not using any of that as excuses because we were completely outplayed.
"We're still a pretty young side going into something like the experience Bay of Plenty have so they certainly showed us how to play cricket."
The wicket had flattened out and, while the challengers' tweakers had punched their cards in for a tidy shift, the old allergy of dropping catches had returned with a vengeance.
"It's something that has been plaguing us throughout the season. We just didn't take those catches at crucial times so there's probably a bit of a lack of experience there."
Hawke's Bay, on the foundation of Dudding's six wickets after winning the toss on Friday, restricted the hosts to 170 but, in their first innings, the visitors were skittled for 103.
English import Alex Lees, who went cheaply in BOP's first innings, and Sean Davey carved up 141 runs each in their second appearance to help set a don't-argue target of 538.
In reply, Hawke's Bay limped to 120-7 for a stalemate, which means the cup stays in the holders' hands.
Schaw thought Davey batted extremely well at No 7 but felt No 3 Lees was in a league of his own.
"I can't believe he's not playing cricket at a higher level for ND [Northern Districts] so, yes, that just amazes me."
Schaw was proud of his troops this summer, after winning the cup last season from North Otago but losing it to BOP in their first defence.
The biggest thing for him over the two days was the Bay Oval wicket.
"It really surprised me, for an international ground, to what it was like with the couch [grass] and how up and down it was, doing things all the way through so it was quite bizarre, really.
"It [grass] was quite chunky. I've never seen it before. It's like something on the beach - well, I suppose it is found on the beach, isn't it?"
The grass has the characteristic of having a natural interlocking weave, which provides strength while staying soft and spongy underfoot.
He was still getting his head around the spate of injuries.
"There's something wrong with him on his side but I don't think it's a side strain so we'll just get him seen to anyway," said Schaw of Heretaunga Building Society Cornwall seamer Dudding.
He revealed unavailable wicketkeeper Scott Schaw had turned up yesterday to help in the field after receiving an SOS from his coach and father not long after finishing his game for Ruahine Motors Central Hawke's Bay at Ongaonga.
Schaw said BOP thoroughly deserved to keep the silverware after their bowlers bent their backs to hit the ball hard on the deck and forged partnerships all the way down the batting order, mindful how imperative it was to keep on batting.
He felt Liam Rukuwai, a Big Barrel Napier Technical Old Boys cricketer, bowled exceptionally well and consistently.
"Ben Stoyanoff finally found his stretch."
Schaw said batting wise BOP bowlers had technically exposed his men in terms of occupying the crease and shot selection.
He had refrained from bringing up the issue before the challenge for fear of it coming through as sour grapes but the coach said his team's build up was shoddy compared with the holders.
"We weren't able to get out on grass the whole week because of rain."
On the other hand, the ND regional sides had played two rounds of matches against each side as opposed to one for CD counterparts in the Furlong Cup qualifiers.
"They have been continuously playing rep cricket for eight weeks and haven't played club cricket," he said but couldn't see that happening in the CD catchment area.
Schaw said the facilities ND had were "incredible and fantastic".
He was still unsure about the injuries to batsman Senarathne.
"I would think Indika needs to rest his knee for the rest of the season," the senior Schaw said of the NTOB import from Sri Lanka.
"Craig was just coming to support us so he ended up fielding in a session for us, which was helpful," he said of Findlay, who took two catches.
Schaw said he was unsure about his involvement with the Bay representative men.
"I'm led to believe Hawke's Bay cricket board are bringing in a high-performance coach to run all cricket under him."
He said the association had informed him of that halfway through the season.
Schaw also wanted to see a few changes before committing to another stint.
"Probably working a little bit more with the clubs to try to lift their standards a bit more because I think it's really poor at the moment.
"It's all good having an indoor centre to train but there's nothing like getting outside to do it." Schaw said, reiterating "it's a dream up here [in the ND region]".
