Lansdowne and Turkey Red Greytown are through to the final of the Wairarapa Cricket Association's Umpires Cup limited-overs competition.
They booked their tickets on Saturday, Lansdowne winning their semi against Copper Kettle Kuranui Old Boys with their last two batsmen at the crease and just three balls to be bowled and Greytown beating Red Star by four wickets.
Chasing 209 for victory against Kuranui Old Boys, Lansdowne looked in dire straits when their ninth wicket fell with the score at 189 but tailenders Ford Burr (25 not out) and Jock Cameron (9 not out) were not to be denied and they got them home in an exciting finish.
Batting first, Kuranui Old Boys got off to a good start with Nash Patel and Darren Dingle putting on 57 runs in their opening partnership. Both were out for 32, Patel's coming of 42 balls and including four fours and Dingle's off 64 balls with three boundaries.
The loss of the in-form Sam Curtis for just two would normally have been a mortal blow for KOB but the middle order through Sanjay Patel (55), Tony Russo (18) and Greg Dennes-Wilson (23) maintained the momentum. Sanjay Patel was especially assertive in his approach, scoring his 55 in 52 balls and cracking seven fours and two sixes. KOB were all out for 208.
Lansdowne used six bowlers and it was seasoned campaigner Chris Jackson who did the most damage. He was fifth change and from 8.3 overs finished with 4-36. Fellow medium pacer Ford Burr took 2-45 from 10 overs and spinner Jamie Holmes took 2-33, also from 10 overs.
In contrast Lansdowne did not make the best of starts to their innings with prolific-scoring openers Jamie Holmes and Justin Herbert both being back in the pavilion with just 28 runs on the board. A 54-run partnership between Henry Cameron, whose 52 came from 52 balls and included five fours and two sixes, and James Adamson (18) steadied the ship and Josh Jacques (19) and Alex Treseder (31) gave handy support.
At 140-5 things looked promising but with two wickets falling at that total and another one run later Lansdowne were suddenly 141-7 and staring defeat in the face. However, the tail 'wagged' and after Jackson (11) and Calvin Ball (21) had done their bit Burr and Jock Cameron got their noses in front with three balls to spare. Burr faced 35 balls for his 25 and while he managed just the one four his ability to pick up the ones and twos on a regular basis was vital to the cause.
Bowling for KOB Mountcastle had the most success with 3-21 from his four overs while Mark Goodin took 2-33 and Nash Patel 2-43.
Short scoreboard: Kuranui Old Boys 208 (N.Patel 32, D.Dingle 32, L.Dingle 14, Curtis 2, S.Patel 55, Russo 18, Dennes-Wilson 23, Towgood 2, Macdonald 6, Goodin 5, Mountcastle 0 not out, extras 19; fall of wickets, 19, 57, 73, 78, 112, 167, 172, 193, 202, 208, 208; Ball 8-1-31-1, J.Cameron 5-0-25-0, Burr 10-45-2, Holmes 10-1-33-2, H.Cameron 6-0-30-0, Jackson 8.3-0-36-4) lost to Lansdowne 209-9 (Holmes 7, Herbert 7, H.Cameron 42, Adamson 18, Jacques 19, Treseder 31, Bidlake 0, Jackson 11, Ball 21, Burr 25 not out, Cameron 9 not out, extras 20; fall of wickets, 12, 28, 82, 85, 140, 140, 141, 156, 189; Russo 10-1-49-1, Goodin 10-4-33-2, Macdonald 1-0-11-0, S.Patel 9.3-3-30-0, N.Patel 10-2-43-2, Mountcastle 4-0-21-3, Curtis 5-1-14-0) by one wicket.
A battling collapse which saw their last seven wickets fall for the addition of only 34 runs cost Red Star dearly in their semifinal with Turkey Red Greytown.
With Troy Burling having made 24 and Daniel Stoneley 33 Red Star were travelling well at 77-3 but only one other batsman made it into double figures and the side was all out for 121 in 34.3 overs, a tally made to look even worse by the fact that extras contributed 26 runs to the total, 15 of them from wides.
There were some impressive figures from the Greytown bowling unit, with Seth Rance taking 2-10 from nine overs, Brian James 2-29, Daniel Haxton 3-32 and Steve Coleman 3-23.
Greytown also struggled with the bat after Jason Kibblewhite (11) and Jake Ross (32) had put on 31 runs for the first wicket. They stumbled along from 60-2 to 94-6 but some lusty hitting by Rance took them out of the mire. His unbeaten 31 came from 22 balls and included four fours and Greytown won with four wickets still intact. Tane Workman was the pick of the Red Star bowlers, finishing with 3-34 from his eight overs.
Short scoreboard: Red Star 121 (Jarvis 7, Burling 24, Stoneley 33, Clinton-Baker 6, Burling 0, Workman 9 not out, Karaitiana 0, McCluskey 1, Payton 0, Workman 12, Sigvertsen 3, extras 26; fall of wickets, 22, 59, 77, 78, 85, 86, 96, 96, 113, 121; Foster 2-0-19-0, Rance 9-5-10-2, James 5.3-0-29-2, Haxton 8-1-32-3, Coleman 10-2-23-2) lost to Greytown 122-6 (Kibblewhite 11, Ross 32, Hudson 10, Lyttle 0, Coleman 21, Reisima 0, Rance 31 not out, Lucas 3 not out, extras 14; fall of wickets, 31, 60, 61, 70, 81, 94; Karaitiana 5-0-31-0, Workman 8.5-1-34-3, Sigvertsen 5-0-18-1, Jarvis 10-1-27-1, Burling 4-0-19-1) by four wickets.