Taylor Bettelheim led Havelock North to the top qualification spot for this weekend's one-day semifinals. Photo / HBCA
- This article is provided courtesy of Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association
It will be interesting to see how Havelock North’s Taylor Bettelheim goes on Anderson Park.
Top-qualifiers Havelock North will host Central Hawke’s Bay in Saturday’s semifinal, with Cornwall at home to Napier Technical Old Boys in the other.
Nelson Park was on the table as a venue for Havelock North’s clash with CHB, which probably would’ve suited Bettelheim down to the ground.
The prolific opening batter made 105, as Havelock North beat Napier Old Boys’ Marist by eight wickets on Nelson Park No.1 in the final match of the round-robin season.
By Bettelheim’s count, that’s now seven centuries he’s scored at Nelson Park for Havelock North, Wairarapa or Central Districts A in recent seasons.
“They’re good wickets and you can cash in. I enjoy batting here and would love to play here more,” Bettelheim said after Havelock made 212/2 to beat Napier Old Boys’ Marist by eight wickets.
It was anticipated rugby’s needs would make Anderson Park unavailable this Saturday and the semifinal would be transferred to Nelson Park.
Instead, the ground’s free and Havelock North has opted to play at home.
Bettelheim’s a player with great touch. He’s very strong behind square on the off side, which makes him a lot of runs on Nelson Park where the ball comes on and the outfield’s fast. The bulk of his 105 against Marist was scored between cover and third man, but he might need to play a bit straighter this Saturday.
“You have to play slightly within yourself because of the pitch and the outfield and the longer you bat the more reward you get,’’ Bettelheim said of batting on Anderson Park.
“It’s more of a graft than being able to go out there and hit from ball one. It’s definitely tougher and it takes more batsmanship to score out there.”
Havelock will meet a CHB side buoyed by a rare win over Tech. CHB stalwart Angus Schaw said he’d only had “half a dozen” wins over Tech during his long career, with Saturday’s one on Nelson Park No.3 especially satisfying.
CHB had to win to secure a semifinal berth and, thanks to 102 from Schaw and a composed 75 not out from captain Dominic Thompson, chased down Tech’s total of 239 with five wickets to spare.
Schaw batted beautifully with everything, bar the pull shot that brought up his hundred, coming out of the middle of the bat. He played some sumptuous shots square of the wicket on the offside, and down the ground, as well as a memorable pull shot into the pavilion off Tech fast bowler Todd Watson.
“You’ve got to cash in on those days,” Schaw said of capitalising on his crisp strokeplay.
“I’ve felt good for a long time, but I just haven’t been playing. It’s weird. It’s been hard to get momentum, because cricket’s such a confidence game.”
Schaw’s confidence was tested in the field, as Tech openers Christian Leopard (85) and Harrison Woolley (44) posted a century stand in quick time.
“I thought we were going to be chasing 350 and that’s game over,” said Schaw.
“We dropped Christian early and, again, I thought ‘that’s not good’ because we’ve seen him take teams apart. I reckon 280 was par, so to bring them back to 240 was really good.”
Left-arm finger spinner Guy Jaspers took 5-34, before Schaw and Thompson ensured CHB would play their second lot of finals cricket for the summer.
“Our club’s only small and we pretty much always make the semis and I can’t remember the last time we didn’t, so to miss out this year would’ve been pretty disappointing,” Schaw said.
That’s how Taradale was feeling, after fulfilling their end of Saturday’s bargain. They had to go to Cornwall Park and beat the home side, while hoping Tech might account for CHB.
Taradale made 262, thanks to 89 from Sachin Jayawardena and Charlie Hunt’s 74, then bowled the hosts out for 226. It was their second win over Cornwall in the last month, but not enough to qualify them for the finals.
“We realised at about the 34-over mark that, no matter what, it wasn’t going to be enough to [make the semis] and we maybe drifted for five to 10 overs, so it was nice to come back and finish it off and get a really good win to end the season,” Taradale captain Luke Kenworthy said.
“I thought we were in with a chance, with Tech playing at home. It wasn’t to be ... when we look back on it at prizegiving next week, there’ll be a tinge of disappointment that we didn’t play any finals cricket this season.”
But, having had a good look at the teams that will, Kenworthy will be interested in the finals outcomes.
“Havelock are the form team, so you’d probably put them as favourites,” said Kenworthy.
“Cornwall had a good win last week, which stopped their rot a bit, but now they’ve lost today. Tech have lost two in a row and CHB come into fourth place, which means it’s the two form teams - Havelock and CHB - playing each other.
“I think it’s probably hard to look past Havelock at the moment but, if Tech reach the final, it’s anyone’s game. They’re probably favourites regardless of whatever game they’re playing.”
Napier Technical Old Boys 239 (Christian Leopard 85, Harrison Woolley 44, Baylee Foote 32; Guy Jaspers 5-34, Thomas Zohrab 3-58) lost to Central Hawke’s Bay 243/5 (Angus Schaw 102, Dominic Thompson 75 not out, Charlie Robson 28 not out; Bayley Latter 2-38, Todd Watson 2-41) by five wickets
Taradale 262 (Sachin Jayawardena 89, Charlie Hunt 74, Callum Hewetson 40; Liam Hall 3-49, James Church 2-22, Jed Greville 2-49, Josh Fairbrother 2-55) beat Cornwall 226 (Bayley Wiggins 52, Josh Fairbrother 36, Matt Mullany 33, Thomas Hall 25, Logan Ryniker-Doull 24; Josh Young 5-48, Sachin Jayawardena 2-37) by 36 runs
Napier Old Boys’ Marist 206 (Ethan Madden 81 not out, Jacob Murdoch 46, Pritpal Singh 40; Aidan Golding 6-47, Peter Connell 2-14) lost to Havelock North 212/2 (Taylor Bettelheim 105, Wilf Bartlett 54 not out, Sam Cassidy 21 not out) by eight wickets
Final 50-over points: Havelock North 56, Cornwall 47, NTOB 46, CHB 46, Taradale 38, NOBM 21
Semifinal draw: Havelock North v Central Hawke’s Bay at Anderson Park, Cornwall v Napier Technical Old Boys at Cornwall Park. Winners to meet at Nelson Park on March 29