Indoor cricket: Turkeys gobble up opposition in national title rout

If the score's on the board it must be correct ... the Hawke's Bay Turkeys after winning the national Premier men's indoor cricket title on Sunday.

The Turkeys have come home to roost big time after hammering all comers for Hawke’s Bay’s first national Premier men’s indoor cricket title last weekend.

The Hawke’s Bay Turkeys played seven of the 16-overs-a-side matches at the three-day tournament, scoring more than 150 runs in three of them, and over 100 in the others, apart from an 87-69 first-up win on Friday over defending champions Auckland Central.

In other section play the Turkeys beat Wellington 171-35, Rocket 152-69, and Upper Hutt 125-36, made their way through the quarterfinal with a 104-95 win over Palmerston North and the semifinal against Central Auckland again with a 106-54 victory, before beating North Harbour 101-42 in the final.

Hawke’s Bay Cricket CEO Craig Findlay, who played in the tournament for Hawke’s Bay as a teenager in the 1980s and with Paul McCarthy managed the side, said the weekend triumph was the first time Hawke’s Bay had won the title.

It was also a first national title for captain Todd Watson, who, despite being onlyt 24, is a veteran of more than a decade of national and international tournaments through the age groups to the senior level.

He said the side, which last month won the lower North Island league, knew it had the talent to win the title and put “a lot of time and effort” into achieving the goal.

“We backed ourselves,” he said, highlighting the impact of the bowling attack at the “back end” of each innings.

Among the features along the way during the tournament was the semifinal win over Auckland Central where the home-city hopes passed 50 at the halfway stage of the innings but were pegged to just the 54 in total by Hawke’s Bay’s slickness at the bowling crease and in the field, and the subsequently regular dismissals and the five-point each penalty each time on the scoresheet.

Most of the team will now head into the outdoor season, which starts in Hawke’s Bay with the Kilbirnie Sports Twenty20 tournament on October 6-8, with clubs from as far afield as Auckland and Wellington expected.

But for players such as Watson and Toby Findlay, there are other early goals in sight, with Hawke’s Bay facing a November 10-12 challenge against Canterbury Country, travelling to Rangiora with the hope of redemption after losing the national minor associations prize in an innings defeat, out for under 100 in each innings, against Canterbury Country, in Napier, in November last year.

The Hawke’s Bay Turkeys were coached by Mike Pawson and Scott Findlay, and comprised: Todd Watson (captain), Tyler Annand, Ollie Beale, Toby Findlay, Braden Gardner, Charlie Geange, Ben Jackett, Dion Joll, Bronson Meehan, Charlie Pawson and Samuel Pawson.