Their standouts were Jaiden Meyer (46), skipper Arana Noema-Barnett (53), Whetu Na Nagara (51) and Hanu Rana (41) – the latter two putting on an 89-run stand for the seventh wicket when their side had been put under pressure.
The morning v afternoon batting contrast was only made clearer on Sunday as the Whanganui bowlers led by Connor O’Leary (2-96) took the last four Manawatū wickets for only 28 more runs being added.
The home side then responded with their biggest total so far this season of 327 because this time the top order of Nick Harding (33) and Ben Smith (34) and Tom Dempster (38) all got starts, before Manawatū’s other in-form seamer, Jack Harris (3-57), and the slower bowlers of spinner Noema-Barnett (2-77) and Rana (2-48) caught up with the lower-middle order to leave an innings defeat on the cards at 160-8.
Enter Mabin for one of the most extraordinary innings seen at Victoria Park in years – slogging a breathless 146 off just 70 deliveries.
Several balls were lost in the trees and more than a couple of egos dented as Mabin picked up the length and swung at everything – connecting with 16 boundaries and 10 towering sixes.
The O’Learys just tried to stay with the whirlwind – Hadleigh sharing in a 112-run partnership in which he scored 14, then last man Connor part of a 55-run stand in which he contributed six runs.
Finally, Thomas Kuggeleijn (2-18) ended the fairytale, although Whanganui now had hope they might be able to see out the day with a draw as Manawatū needed 141 to win outright with only 20 overs left.
Yet they did it in a canter – the pitch offering the bowlers little as Ethan Campbell (42 from 25) had Manawatū away to a flyer, then Jerome Robinson (63 not out from 34) got them over the line in just the 14th over despite the best efforts of Hadleigh O’Leary (2-24).
It had been another classic Whanganui day-two fightback, but this time both coach Warren Marr and skipper Greg Smith admitted the events of 10.30am to 11.30am on Saturday had been decisive.
“I still think it was the right decision to bat first on that wicket – we just had to get through the first hour and if we did that, we would have got a big score, but they were too good for us and we weren’t good enough,” Marr said.
“An entertaining [Sunday], I don’t think I’ve seen such clean hitting for such a long period of time with Oscar.
“He did so well and if he’d gone for another 20 minutes, who knows?
“The day went to us today overall, but we were so far behind on the first day that we were never going to get a result out of this game.
“That was the disappointing thing for me as coach and disappointing for the players as well.
“We bowled good lines and knocked them over, so the first two sessions were ours definitely; we were just so far behind the game it didn’t really matter what happened.”
Smith agreed.
“The toss was a hotly debated one before [the start], we weren’t 100% sure of what we wanted to do; based on that we knew the first hour was going to be tough.
“Realistically, looking at the way our lower order batted on that first day, if we’d been 2-3 down after that first hour, then we’re suddenly massively in the game.
“After two really promising weeks, we slipped back into that mode of only playing for one or two sessions out of the six.
“I think when you do that against good-quality sides, they’re gonna make you pay and that’s exactly what they did.
“Frustrating because there was some real good moments.
“Yes, it was brutish from Oscar Mabin, but that is one of the cleanest striking of the ball I’ve seen, and well-deserved Honours Board performance.
“But if we’d thrown together some half-decent cricket into one or two extra sessions, it could have been game-defining.
“We stuck at it, we gave it a good go, but unfortunately, outplayed in too many of the sessions.”
Manawatu skipper Noema-Barnett praised the work of groundsman Stu Belk for the quality of the rebuilt No 1 pitch, which realised nearly 950 runs and 33 wickets in two days.
Scoreboard, November 30-December 1
Furlong Cup
Whanganui 1st innings: 148 (39.5 overs)
Manawatu 1st innings: 335 (80.1 overs)
Whanganui 2nd innings: 327 (74.2 overs)
Manawatū 2nd innings: 141-3 (13.5 overs)
