"There was a lot of discussion about it. It wasn't an easy decision to come to, but the decision was made."
Marist senior player John McIlraith went with captain Mark Fraser to the Wednesday meeting with Tech's Simon Aitken on Wednesday night.
McIlraith said Marist had made an agreement with then-Tech captain Dominic Lock that their January 17 match, which was the rescheduled final from December's knockout competition to find the Wanganui representative to play Taranaki's Inglewood, would also double as a one-day competition game.
Marist won comfortably.
Lock left to go overseas a couple of weeks ago, with Sam Roebuck replacing him as captain.
Aitken said he had talked with Lock, who told him the points scenario had not been agreed but was just a "discussion".
"Both sides walked away thinking different things.
"It was a discussion before Christmas, never taken anywhere and never taken through the right channels.
"Any changes to the format need to go through the Council of Clubs. It was never confirmed.
"We were always pretty confident we were the team that should go through."
Kirkwood said Cricket Wanganui had to use the results counting from January 31 onwards, when Wanganui Collegiate were also involved in the five-team competition.
From that point, in games played amongst a couple of defaults, Tech's run rate was superior to Marist's, which was why they finished in second place for the semifinals.
"It was enough, there was a significant difference, put it that way," Kirkwood said.
McIlraith said it was "a bitter pill to swallow".
"We went on Wednesday, it all got resolved there - we were going to the final. Simon acknowledged Dom's agreement.
"Tech appealed again, that's just the way it is.
"It's not really Cricket Wanganui's fault, they tried their best.
"We only lost one game all season, really. We got one trophy, would have been nice to have a crack at two."
United also learned they would have new opponents on Thursday night.
Senior player Gerrard Hobbs said it has not interrupted their preparations.
"You can't tell what's going to happen in a final. We're ready, we'll be right.
"It's revenge for us. For personal reasons, we're quite happy to play Tech."
While undefeated in the one-day competition, United suffered a shock 175-run loss to Tech in the knockout tournament in December, meaning for the first time in six seasons they did not play the inter-district match against their Taranaki counterparts.
"That was our worst game of the season," Hobbs said.
The team will not have opener Matthew Boswell as he has left for university, while allrounder Brendon Walker is attending his sister's wedding.
However, former Collegiate batsman Matt Simes has joined the team, while veteran Tom Lance also returns.
Tech will also have the services of Nick Harding, who was a key figure in their win over United.
