Active Physio Wanganui's strongest season in the Furlong Cup grade in many years was confirmed late on Sunday when Manawatu narrowly missed out on first innings points against Taranaki in New Plymouth.
Dismissed for 179, Manawatu fought hard but could not stop Taranaki's final pair from getting the last handfulof runs to reach 183-9 and declaring.
Manawatu were then in danger of an outright loss when they slumped to 95-6 in their second innings, but an excellent century from former Wanganui captain Henry Collier saw them through to 262-7 for the match to be called off.
Collier scored 105 from 171 balls, after team mate and another former Wanganui representative in Nick Blundell took 2-45 with the ball.
This result and Wanganui's nine wicket win over Horowhenua Kapiti lifted Wanganui to an impressive third on the points table among the six associations, behind runnerup Taranaki and the winner Hawke's Bay, who will now challenge for the Hawke Cup, probably against Bay of Plenty, on February 10-12.
Wanganui coach Warren Marr said after the win on Sunday that a big part of the team's unexpected success this summer was understanding their limitations and better planning for matches ahead of time.
This showed in a number of innings where Wanganui did not score heavily but batted time well - an effective strategy in two-day cricket with several games shortened by rain.
Interestingly, Wanganui scored 1411 runs in total from their five matches, the highest in the competition, even above the dominant Hawkes Bay (1373).
Leading batsman Greg Smith, who captained the team twice in the absence of Simon Badger, finished third in the batting stakes with 230 runs, behind Matt Edmondson (296) and Brad Schmulian (260), although those men overtook Smith by virtue of scoring 229 and 118 not out respectively in Hawke's Bay's massive 469-4 during their last game against a hapless Wairarapa.
Ross Kinnerley's nine wicket bag against Horowhenua Kapiti took him to 17 scalps, fourth on the overall list behind the dominant Taranaki pair of Ryan Watson (29) and Tom McDougall (21), along with Manawatu's Tim Richards (18).
Allrounder Akash Gill, who played one less match, was sixth overall with 14 wickets.
Wicket keeper Todd Inness picking up seven caught behind catches in the last game took him to the top of the season standings with 11 dismissals.
Final Points Hawke's Bay 37, Taranaki 35, Wanganui 21, Manawatu 18, Wairarapa 14, Horowhenua Kapiti 1.
