Cricket: Whanganui United meet Levin Old Boys in Coastal Challenge Cup final

Gerard Hobbs (left) and Greg Smith will be key players for United in the Coastal Challenge Cup final. Photo / Bevan Conley

Property Brokers United will try to make history in the Coastal Challenge Cup final at Tasman Tanning (Victoria) Park on Saturday.

After last weekend’s 20-run comeback win over Weraroa CC in the semifinals, United have again tied the record with Paraparaumu Medical Centre CC for the most Coastal grand final appearances with their fifth in eight seasons.

However, Paraparaumu have won three titles while United are still hunting their first, and they face a confident Levin Old Boys, who are also after their third championship from four Coastal finals. Levin are the defending champions and won the 2019-20 crown at United’s expense.

They will bring a solid batting line-up that chased down Wanganui Vet Services Marist’s total of 245 in less than 40 overs for a five-wicket win last weekend.

There are six United players – skipper Chris Sharrock, Tom Lance, Greg Smith, Simon Badger, Brendon Walker and Gerard Hobbs – from the side that lost the 2019-20 final by seven wickets to Levin.

Those players will be required to lift again, although the hope will be the younger brigade of Mathew Boswell, Zeb Small and 2022-23 representative players Sam Roebuck and Carter Hobbs can also dig in at the crease.

The bowling group are in good form as Duane Maraki and Lance both got 4-fors in the Weraroa win, while Walker, Badger and Lovedeep Randhawa kept it tight in the low-scoring match.

For Levin, Matt Good scored an unbeaten half-century in the 2019-20 final and got 88 from 86 balls last weekend against Marist.

Top-order batsmen Bailey Te Tomo, Andrew Simpson and Mathew Wilson are in fine touch, while all-rounders Ryan Taylor, Daemon Kennett and skipper Dion Sanson can deliver in the clutch.

Play starts at 12.30pm.

Premier 2 and 3

The Cricket Whanganui grades will also crown their 40-over champions for the 2022-23 season, with the Premier 2 and Premier 3 finals being held at Victoria Park and Whanganui Collegiate respectively.

Both the Premier 2 semifinals last weekend were thrillers, with Matt Burke Engineering Marton Saracens’ goal of “doing the double” by adding the P240 crown to their Combined Twenty20 title win still alive.

It took a great Liam McAleese catch in the last over against Property Brokers United Colts to claim a two-run victory, with the youngsters’ shot to the boundary meaning they were running to tie the scores when the ball was caught.

Dominic Rayner, Daniel Ford and Thomas Westwood delivered with the bat, while Brett Cunningham secured vital wickets throughout United’s order.

Wicket Warriors Whanganui got up by one wicket against defending champions Wanganui Renegades off the last ball of their innings.

All-rounder Aleseo Paulose contributed wickets and runs, while Libin Cherian again scored at the top of the order and Abhishek Astakar and Babu Isaac shared a ninth-wicket partnership of 21 to secure the upset.

The Warriors will have to lift again facing their unbeaten opponent, as Marton picked up a six-wicket win in their previous meeting on March 4.

There has been a back-and-forth rivalry in Premier 3 between finalists Kaitoke Knight Riders and Wanganui Vet Services Marist 2nd XI.

Since the P340 began, Marist secured a big 146-run win on February 18, but the Knight Riders came back to claim a one-wicket victory on March 11 when Marist were a player short.

Due to a default, the teams played a friendly Twenty20 last Saturday, with Marist winning by 64 runs.

The games start at 12.30pm.