Cricket: National indoor cricket hopes for Hawke’s Bay after Central North island win

The score says it all as the Hawke's Bay Turkeys men's team mark a Central North Island indoor cricket championship win in three years.

The Hawke’s Bay men’s Premier indoor cricket team is looking forward to their national championships this weekend after winning the Central North Island title for a third time in a row.

Team manager Paul McCarthy says it was a relatively new squad that was “always going to be tested”, but with several players unavailable at times during the season, the “Turkeys” were able to field one of their strongest squads for the finals in Upper Hutt two weeks ago.

After finishing in third position after a series of mini-tournaments over the last three to four months, the challenge was to win three games in the showdown for the title in Upper Hutt.

They opened with an 87-59 win over Upper Hutt, with good contributions from New Zealand squad members Dion Joll and Braden Gardner.

Next up were Palmerston North, a team that the Turkeys had not beaten this season, but were able to limit to 40 runs. Hawke’s Bay followed with 101, after Charlie Pawson and Toby Findlay opened the chase with a game-defining partnership of 45.

The Turkeys’ coaches stuck with the same winning formula for the last game against Lower Hutt, the team setting the challenge batting first with 118, Findlay, Pawson, and captain and former New Zealand Under-19 outdoor cricket representative Todd Watson, and eventual tournament MVP award winner Todd Watson being big contributors with the bat, before the bowlers closed the game out in dismissing Lower Hutt for 94.

McCarthy said the team steadily improved during the season, with newer players Josh Young, Charlie Geange, Tyler Annand, Andrew Rawnsley, Ollie Beale, and Connor Rhodes complemented by the experience of Watson, Findlay, Pawson, Ben Jackett, Joll, Gardner, and Bronson Meehan.

The 14-team national tournament in Auckland is on September 15-17, with Hawke’s Bay one of five teams from the Central North Island.

Hawke’s Bay has not previously won the national tournament, Hawke’s Bay Cricket CEO Craig Findlay said.