Captain Greg Smith carried his team with a determined 91, battling for over 72 overs against Wairarapa on Saturday.
Active Physio Wanganui were willing to sit at the Victoria Park pavilion for as long as it took to get back out on the Tasman Tanning No1 pitch yesterday as they had Wairarapa in big trouble in their rain-soaked Hawke Cup match.
Coming off for short spells periodically during Saturday's first innings, Wanganui were put into bat on a very difficult green track that was keeping the ball dead low, yet they had enough players stubbornly determined to stick around.
Leading from the front was their young captain Greg Smith, handed the reins for the first time, who played with maturity and determination for a vital 91 from 215 balls, entering the match at 11-2 in the seventh over and proceeding to anchor his team for the entire afternoon.
Openers John McIlraith and Callum Croker were gone quickly, as was the returning Todd Inness, while in-form Mark Fraser departed before he could establish himself.
Smith had previously showed promise with 62 against Taranaki in a preseason one-day match over a month ago, but this was an entirely different kind of pressure and the small Englishman responded by keeping over the ball and not letting his concentration waver as the hours ticked by.
Veteran Dominic Rayner's return could not have come at a better time, because while he never felt comfortable he dug in grimly, at one point making just nine runs from 75 balls.
Wairarapa's pace bowlers Stefan Hook-Sporry (3-36) and Daniel Ingham (3-27) did the early damage, while Peter Sigvertsen (2-20) got Inness when coming on as first change.
However, they were blunted by Smith and Rayner putting up stonewall defence, punctuated by brief scoring flurries, like Smith flicking back-to-back boundaries either side of the wicket in the 40th over, while Rayner attacked young Kelsey Fahey during his short spell.
They had grinded their way to 145-6 by the tea break after Rayner finally departed for 29 from 108 balls.
This led to a resurgence from the visitors as Akash Gill, Dominic Lock and Nick Harding were all dismissed cheaply.
Smith was just sighting a thoroughly deserved century when Ingham finally had him off a Robbie Speers catch.
By this point Ross Kinnerley (13 from 58 balls) had been surviving for his skipper's sake, so coach Warren Marr made the call to just try and swing in the hope of reaching the golden 200 mark, yet Wanganui folded their tent on 196.
"When No9 and No10 were in, I just decided there was no point eeking out runs. Said to throw the willow at it, and we got 15 [runs].
"It gave us four overs to have a go at them. It was just a shame the rain came [back]."
By the time play ended early, a weary Wairarapa top order had fallen apart after spending all day in the field, stumbling to 2-3 off 25 balls as Gill tore through Nathan Elliott, George Deans and Liam Burling.
"It just doesn't happen in club cricket, where you bowl for 80 overs. Tired legs make slow minds," said Marr.
The coach said two of Gill's dismissals came from balls that were "unplayable".
"If we had the full 12 overs at them, we might have had five wickets.
"Akash and Nick [Harding] just bowled superbly."
However, overnight rain which intensified around 11am start time yesterday had Wanganui sitting anxiously in the pavilion, with Marr saying they would wait for any break in the wet they could - even if it meant starting at 4.30pm and getting maybe two hours at the visitors.
"We're after those seven [competition] points."
Wanganui were entirely confident they could clean up most of the rest of the Wairarapa lineup, well short of the 196 target, to earn them a first-innings points draw.
Scoreboard
Wanganui 1st innings
John McIlraith ct S Hook-Sporry b D Ingham 1
Callum Coker ct L Burling b S Hook-Sporry 2
Greg Smith ct R Speers b D Ingham 91
Todd Inness ct & b P Sigvertsen 2
Mark Fraser ct B Price b D Ingham 11
Dominic Rayner ct P Lyttle b R Speers 29
Akash Gill ct P Lyttle b S Hook-Sporry 12
Dominic Lock ct L Burling b S Hook-Sporry 6
Nick Harding b P Sigvertsen 1
Ross Kinnerley ct D Ingham b P Aitken 13
Chris Sharrock not out 5
Extras: 23
Total: 196 (83.2 overs).
Bowling: Stefan Hook-Sporry 20 overs, 4 maidens, 36 runs, 3 wickets; Daniel Ingham 22-9-27-3; Peter Sigvertsen 12-4-20-2; Peter Aitken 3.2-1-13-1; Gordon Reisima 10-5-15-0; Robbie Speers 12-1-53-1; Kelsey Fahey 4-1-15-0.
Wairarapa 1st innings
Nathan Elliott ct A Dinwiddie b A Gill 0
George Deans b A Gill 0
Liam Burling ct C Sharrock b A Gill 1.
Brock Price not out 0
Robbie Speers not out 0
Extras: 1.
Total: 2-3 (4.1 overs).
Bowling: Akash Gill 2.1-2-0-3; Nick Harding 2-1-1-0.