Horowhenua-Kāpiti teams dominate Coastal Challenge T20 competition

Levin Old Boys bowler Jeese Parker about to trap Kapiti Old Boys batsman Daniel Browne lbw for seven at Donnelly Park.

Levin Old Boys have won the first Coastal Challenge Cup for the season with a Twenty20 title win at the weekend, beating Kāpiti Old Boys in what was an all-Horowhenua-Kāpiti final.

The inaugural Twenty20 crown was first of three Coastal Challenge Cup tournaments for 2021-22, with the T20 final played at Donnelly Park in Levin on Saturday.

LOB beat Kāpiti Old Boys in the final to add the T20 title to their 2019-20 one-day title win.

Both teams advanced to the top playoff after taking out their final pool games earlier in the afternoon, with Levin picking up a comfortable 18-run win over Wanganui Vet Services Marist, while Kāpiti pulled a slight upset by holding off perennial Coastal Challenge favourites Paraparaumu Medical Centre CC by five runs.

Kapiti Old Boys batted first and lost opener Martin Harrison in the first over to a run-out with some good work in the field from Matthew Wilson.

When Kāpiti dangerman Andre Halbert was caught by Dion Sanson in the sixth over, and Daniel Browne lbw to Jesse Parker three balls later, it put the brakes on the early momentum, and they were eventually back in the pavilion at 133-5 off their 20 overs.

It was all too easy in the end for LOB, with opener Jamie Pinfold cruising along to an unbeaten 83 off 56 balls.

LOB reached their target in the 16th over, dropping the wickets of Matthew Wilson (13) and Andrew Simpson (13) along the way, with Dion Sanson the not-out batsman at the other end on 17 at stumps.

Of the bowlers, Fraser Bartholomew, Jesse Parker, Daemon Kennett and Sanson did the job well for LOB, while Carter Andrews and Michael Newell picked up wickets for KOB.

Meanwhile, Paraparaumu would ultimately finish third after beating Marist in their afternoon playoff by six runs after the heroics of bowler and lower-order slogger Sean Windle - who smacked a priceless 29 not out to give his side a defendable total, before taking two wickets in the final over as part of a late Marist collapse that had them come up short.

Those statistics were enough to lift Windle to the top of the MVP standings for the competition, ahead of LOB fast bowler Fraser Bartholomew, and Marist veteran batsman Mark Fraser, who also had a good tournament as wicketkeeper.

Finishing strongly was Property Brokers Wanganui United who, after the disappointment of two losses in the first two rounds the week before, came fifth overall after winning their last pool game with Weraroa CC and then their playoff with Wairarapa's United CC, both by seven wickets.

Player highlights for Wanganui United were Hunter Morrison and Martin Pennefather taking three-wicket bags against Weraroa and United CC respectively, while Andrew Penn scored 58 in the first game of the day.

Very impressive was the form of youngster Carter Hobbs who scored 30 not out against Weraroa, then 56 in quick time in the playoff for fifth.

Although they didn't get the results they wanted on the day, individual highlights for Marist included all-rounder Fraser Kinnerley taking three-for against Levin, and opening batsman Chris Stewart making 74 in the Paraparaumu playoff, finishing as the leading run scorer in the tournament with 139.

The best innings of the tournament was from Paraparaumu's Ajay Kumar, who made 95, while the top bowling performance was shared between Bartholomew and Red Star's Stefan Hook, who both took 4-12.

The next Coastal Challenge Cup tournament will be the two-day format, which starts on November 6.

Results for October 23
Pool 1
Round 3
Levin Old Boys 120-9 (A Simpson 72; F Kinnerley 3-26) bt Marist 102 (M Fraser 42, F Kinnerley 16; R Taylor 3-2, X Sakhalkar 2-16, F Bartholomew 2-20) by 18 runs.
Weraroa 120-5 (J Marshall 36, S Miratana 34, L Spring 22; H Morrison 3-18) lost to Wanganui United 121-3 (A Penn 58, C Hobbs 30, D Burgess 24) by seven wickets.

Pool 2
Round 3
Kapiti Old Boys 140-4 (D Browne 52, A Halbert 39, J Miles 30; S Windle 2-20) bt Paraparaumu 135-6 (S Windle 41no, N Harvey 29no, J Griffith 19, B Gill 19; Z Benton 2-27) by five runs.
Red Star 96-8 (R Anderson 21, N Elliot 16; R Speers 4-13, S Payne 2-24) lost to United 97-5 (G Singh 29no, K Dhiman 20, J Van Deventer 16; J Jonas 2-17) by five wickets.

Playoffs
7th-8th: Weraroa 125-9 (C Hapeta 34, L Spring 24, J Dawson 19; S Hook 4-12, P Sigvertsen 3-19) lost to Red Star 126-2 (R Anderson 62, J Anderson 24no, J Jonas 22) by eight wickets.
5th-6th: United CC 112-9 (K Dhiman 37, G Singh 35; M Pennefather 3-9, S Badger 2-27, J Beale 2-29) lost to Wanganui United 116-3 (C Hobbs 56, B Walker 32) by seven wickets.
3rd-4th: Paraparaumu 143-6 (B Gill 69, S Windle 29no; R Tofa 2-6, J Clark 2-19) bt Marist 137-6 (C Stewart 74, Z O'Keefe 30, S O'Leary 16; S Windle 3-24) by six runs.

Final
1st-2nd: Kapiti Old Boys 133-5 (J Miles 49, A Halbert 36, C Andrews 19; F Bartholomew 2-27) lost to Levin Old Boys 138-2 (J Pinfold 83 no, D Sanson 17 no) by eight wickets.

Kāpiti Old Boys
Ryan Hickey b Dion Sanson 14
Martin Harrison run out (Matthew Wilson) 4
Jayden Miles c Dion Sanson b FC Bartholomew 49
Daniel Browne lbw b Jesse Parker 7
Carter Andrews not out 19
Andre Halbert c Dion Sanson b FC Bartholomew 36
Extras (w 3, lb 1) 4
Total (5 wickets; 20.0 overs) 133 6.65 RPO
Bowling: Curtis Maclachlan 3.00 220 7.33. Daemon Kennett 2.0 0 11 05.50. Dion Sanson 3.0 0 71 2.33 7.00. FC Bartholomew 4.0 0 27 2 6.75 13.50. Jesse Parker 3.0 0 211 7.00 21.00 (w3). Stacey Kerehoma 2.0 0 18 0 9.00. Ryan Taylor 3.0 0 26 0 8.67.

Levin Old Boys
Jamie Pinfold not out 83
Matthew Wilson c Ryan Hickey b Michael Newell 13
Andrew Simpson c Taine Halbert b Carter Andrews 13
Dion Sanson not out17
Extras (w 7, lb 5) 12
Total (2 wickets; 16.3 overs) 138 8.36 RPO
Bowling: Carter Andrews 3.3 0 39 1 11.14 39.00 (w 1). Zack Benton 4.0 0 24 0 6.00 (w 2). Martin Harrison 2.0 0 12 0 6.00. Thomas Harris 3.00 360 12.00 (w 2). Michael Newell3.0 0 18 1 6.00 18.00 (w 2). Daniel Franks 1.00 4 0 4.00.