There were three good games involving Whanganui sides in the last round of the Coastal challenge competition played over Wellington Anniversary Weekend.
Paraparaumu played Marist on Victoria Park, making a good start but soon found themselves 96/5 in the 25th over through good spells from Nick Harding (2-22) and Hadleigh O'Leary (3-42).
The side rallied through some excellent mid and lower-order contributions from Nigel Harvey, 65 off 93 balls, James Logan 30 (45), and a punishing 54 off just 34 balls by no 8 batsman Sean Windle. An end total of 242/6 in their 50 overs was solid but achievable with such a quick outfield.
The Marist innings began badly and the side were in desperate trouble at 72/6 with only John McIlwraith's 34 standing out. The side needed a good partnership to bring them back into the match and Hadleigh O'Leary's 72 from 102 balls and Fraser Kinnerley's 77 (71) provided just that, with a 146-run partnership that brought their side to the brink of victory.
With 25 runs required off the remaining 26 balls, the Marist side would have been confident of victory. However, both were dismissed in quick succession and the remaining tail-end batsmen could not do the job and the home side fell 17 runs short.
Paraparaumu's Dale McNamara took 5-20 off 9 overs and Kamal Patel took 3-41. The loss also meant Marist fell out of the semifinal race.
Wanganui United travelled to Levin to play the struggling Weraroa side. Weraroa batted first and started well against a depleted United side by reaching 96/2 in the 22nd over and a large score looked possible with the short boundaries.
However, regular wickets fell to medium pacers Brendon Walker (4-42) and Ritesh Verma (2-20), who were assisted by the economical spinners Robbie Power (2-32) and evergreen Marty Pennefather (0-34) off their full 10 overs.
The Weraroa side were bowled out for exactly 200 in the 48th over with their top scorer, Adam Simonsen, scoring 66. The United side started well and had just posted 50 when they lost their first wicket.
A number of useful contributions saw the Wanganui United side close in on their target. However, wickets were regularly falling and at 171/6 the result was still very much in the balance. Showing a similar resolve to their narrow victory in Masterton two weeks before, the United side held on to win by 4 wickets in the 38th over.
The United side also showed commendable depth within their squad to get the victory and as a result have now qualified for the semifinals in 2nd place.
Another excellent game of cricket played out at the Whanganui Collegiate school grounds. Wairarapa's United side travelled up from Masterton and bowled first.
The Collegiate side batted sensibly to get through to a competitive score of 192/9 in their 50 overs. Carter Hobbs anchored the innings with 62 from 75 balls. He received able support from Oscar McVerry, with a patient 41 off 91 balls, and Josh Allpress with 40 from 70 balls.
Gurdev Singh took 3-27 off his 10 overs and Sam Payne took 2-22. The travelling Wairarapa side were soon in trouble at 93/6 but rep player Jaco Vorster was guiding his side towards the total with 81 off 92 balls. When Vorster was dismissed and his side were still 16 runs short with only two wickets remaining, the match was on a knife's edge.
After his three wickets with the ball, Singh then played an invaluable role with the bat by scoring 38 not out to guide his side home to a nervous two-wicket victory. Oscar McVerry had a good match double, taking 5-34 with the ball, as did Josh Allpress who took 2-30 off his 10 overs.
