The Hawke's Bay men's cricket team has reinforced its domination of provincial cricket ahead of its Hawke Cup defences with an away Furlong Cup series win by an innings and 172 runs over Wanganui at the weekend.
Hit by two games abandoned because of rain, Pay Excellence Hawke's Bay won all three of its completed games by an innings, the opposition's six innings amassing a combined total of just 538, the highest score being 127 by Wairarapa.
Having had one more completed game, and claiming a first-innings win over Taranaki at the weekend, Manawatu pipped Hawke's Bay by two points to win the Furlong Cup, and will be the challenger in Hawke's Bay's first 2022 defence of national minor associations prize the Hawke's Cup at Nelson Park, Napier, on January 28-30.
The Furlong Cup match between the two last month in Napier was abandoned with Manawatu 129-2 after Hawke's Bay were all out for 218.
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Advertise with NZME.Playing the last game of the series at Victoria Park, Whanganui, the home eleven batted first on Saturday and were dismissed for 83. Hawke's Bay replied, batting into the second day, with 358-5dec, and then skittled Wanganui for 103 in its second innings, well short of the 275 needed to make the Bay bat again.
Major highlights were Brad Schmulian's 182 from 182 balls for Hawke's Bay, and veteran Bay skipper Angus Schaw spinning his way to a match haul of 11 wickets for just 41 runs – 6-17 off 12.1 overs in the first innings and 5-24 off 11.2 overs in the second.
Schaw's haul included one clean bowled, four lbw decisions in each innings, and one victim caught and bowled, and each-innings dismissals of four of his victims.
Perhaps as memorable for the home team was the performance of 47-year-old, 1997-2001 New Zealand Black Caps all-rounder Andrew Penn, with figures of 4-85, as he trundled in for 18 overs of his 2022-era right-arm medium quicks.
It included Hawke's Bay's top scorers - Schmulian, opener Jonathan Whitley (78) and No.5 bat Dominic Thompson (71 from 71 balls), and the four wickets were Penn's first for Wanganui since 1995.
But it was a less productive result with the bat – Penn opening each innings and being dismissed each time without score.
Hawke's Bay's domination was highlighted by Wanganui coach Warren Marr.
"It was men against boys – that's a good side," he said. "We're not used to facing that quality of attack at club level, and you can't manufacture it. It's a hiding. We'll just take it on the chin. Everyone struggles against them."
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Wanganui 1st Innings
A Penn lbw b B Stoyanoff 0
N Harding ct W Clark b Kyle Gardiner 15
H O'Leary lbw b A Schaw 14
S O'Leary lbw b A Schaw 22
J McIlraith ct A Schaw b Bradley Schmulian 4
C Hobbs ct Dion Joll b A Schaw 2
C Sharrock lbw b A Schaw 16
A Dinwiddie lbw b Kyle Gardiner 3
J Clark lbw b A Schaw 0
F Kinnerley b A Schaw 1
J Beale not out 0
Extras: 6
Total: 83 (48.1 overs)
Bowling: B Stoyanoff 7 overs, 5 maidens, 9 runs, 1 wicket; T Watson 5-2-9-0; K Gardiner 11-3-26-2; W Clark 5-1-10-0; A Schaw 12.1-7-17-6; B Schmulian 8-3-8-1.
Hawke's Bay 1st Innings
J Whitley lbw b A Penn 78
W Clark lbw b Connor O'Leary 2
B Schmulian ct C Sharrock b A Penn 182
A Schaw b A Penn 11
D Thompson ct J Beale b A Penn 71
D Joll not out 5
Extras: 9
Total: 358-5 dec (77.1 overs)
Bowling: C O'Leary 20-0-97-1; J Beale 6-2-16-0; F Kinnerley 7-0-23-0; S O'Leary 7-0-39-0; H O'Leary 9-0-34- 0; A Dinwiddie 4-0-28-0; A Penn 18.1-2-85-4; Joel Clark 6-0-32-0.
Wanganui 2nd Innings
N Harding ct W Clark b T Watson 32
A Penn ct K Weeks b T Watson 0
H O'Leary lbw b K Gardiner 15
S O'Leary lbw b A Schaw 6
J McIlraith ct J Whitley b B Schmulian 2
C Hobbs lbw b A Schaw 0
C Sharrock ct & b A Schaw 11
A Dinwiddie ct D Thompson b A Schaw 4
J Clark lbw b A Schaw 7
F Kinnerley ct D Joll b B Schmulian 15
J Beale not out 4
Extras: 7
Total: 103 (33.2 overs)
Bowling: B Stoyanoff 4-0-27-0; A Schaw 11.2-3-24-5; T Watson 5-2-10-2; K Gardiner 5-0-17-1; B Schmulian 8-2-19-2.
Result: Hawke's Bay win by an innings and 172 runs.
