Taranaki etched itself into more Hawke Cup history, defeating a stacked Canterbury Country team on the first innings in a touch-and-go finish to produce one of the classic Hawke Cup encounters.
View this post on Instagram
Zone 3 Challenger Canterbury Country came to New Plymouth with five first-class representatives in its playing XI, including Canterbury and BLACKCAPS representative Henry Shipley, and ex-Canterbury, now Lancashire county pro, Will Williams.
Taranaki was hoping to hold on to the Hawke Cup for a second successive defence, in a rare tenure for the CD District Association.
The match would end up being contested on the first innings, as the dry summer of 2025 continued at an arid-looking Pukekura Park.
DAY ONE
Canterbury Country has been no stranger to holding the Hawke Cup in recent years, and brought an experienced side to New Plymouth.
Captain Sam Chamberlain sent in Sam Fastier's men after winning the toss, but the hosts weren't initimidated by the line-up and dug in with determination against the strong attack - reaching a respectable 215/5 by the end of the first day.
Survival was the name of the game from the outset, and veteran opener Dean Robinson (29) survived for 30 overs for his start. He lost his opening partner Bailey Wisnewski to an early runout, and Fastier fell to Shipley at 67/3.
But they recovered.
An attractive strokemaker, Taranaki keeper-batter Rupert Young (his elder brother Will away at the Champions Trophy with the BLACKCAPS) batted for four hours for his half century.
He built a 92-run stand for the fourth wicket with the lively Liam Muggeridge (47), and the pair weathered a barrage of short-pitched bowling for their trouble before Muggeridge lashed out and was caught on the boundary.
With stumps nearing, Taranaki was still only four down, after a good day's hard yakka. Canterbury Country had the final word, however, by getting Young caught - bringing experienced Mattie Thomas to the middle before stumps.
McGrath reached an unbeaten 33 by the close of play, Taranaki in a good position to kick on if they could hold onto their wickets, on the second morning.
DAY TWO
McGrath not only carried on to reach his fifty, but helped to get the Taranaki 300 on the board, unbeaten on 77* by lunch.
After Canterbury Country had nibbled through a couple of useful cheap wickets early doors, his late order partnership with Ben Frewin (37) was an important rearguard effort that produced 88 runs for the penultimate wicket.
Number six McGrath reached 83 before he was caught behind off Chamberlain, Frewin following soon after as the Taranaki account was closed off at 316 in 132.5 overs.
The stars Williams and Shipley ultimately took six wickets between them, but with their teammates, they'd let Taranaki scrabble together a defendable total.
Will Williams was one of five current or former Canterbury reps in the Country side | PHOTOSPORT
By stumps, the challengers were 136/4 in reply, still trailing by 180, after some big early blows by the Taranaki attack.
Frewin had picked up both opener Robbie Foulkes and Harry Chamberlain by the 10th over, and bustling Jordie Gard got the big wicket of Shipley in the 22nd, at 63/3.
Young stumped young Canterbury and NZ U19 rep Cam Paul on 21, and it was game on.
Archie Redfern would dig in for the Cantabrians, however, the experienced Hawke Cup practitioner set to resume on the final morning on a patient 54* off 160 balls, with young Jesse Frew for company on 15 not out.
DAY THREE
On a dramatic Sunday afternoon, Canterbury Country swung from having the game in their grasp, to losing it by a fingernail.
Early wickets had tumbled, but they batted deep, and number eight Will Williams (41) and Mackenzie Smith (59) had seen off the new ball to get through to lunch at 210/6.
Williams was still there at tea, now with young left-hander Raunaq (Ronnie) Kapu taking their team to 311/8: just one lusty blow away from taking the first innings lead that would secure the Cup.
Number 10 Kapur was so close to being his team's hero, swinging hard for a fearless fifty. It was evidently his preferred method of scoring runs, having belted spinner Liam Carr for consecutive sixes to usher in the tea break in a hurry.
Kapur had come in at 229/8, late in the middle session when Canterbury Country had needed a further 88 to overtake Taranaki's total, with just the two wickets in hand. The tailender picked off six sixes in all, and two boundaries, in his brazen 52.
His 82-run ninth-wicket stand with Williams got the challengers so close, effectively chasing 317 for the Cup. But the professional Williams was caught off Frewin in the first over after the tea break - exposing last man Callum Cameron to the middle.
Fastier turned to his pacemen. The new, last pairing would survive just a further three overs in the final session, without a single run being scored.
Kapur had been doing his very best to slam one more six to claim the silverware. Cameron had narrowly survived feisty Frewin's over; now Kapur, on 52*, was facing senior paceman Ryan Watson in the 133rd over of the innings.
For a heart-in-the-mouth few seconds after the first ball of the over, the fate of the Hawke Cup was literally up in the air as Kapur miscued, skying a difficult caught and bowled opportunity. Watson had to scramble in a backwards circle, only to spill the ball as he hit the dirt.
Surely that was it. The last chance for Taranaki. Gone.
Kapur was in a hurry. He lashed at the next delivery, but was stopped cleanly in the field. The third delivery was stopped just as quickly at short leg, still no addition to the score.
Kapur let Watson's bouncer fly past him next, then carved Watson's fifth delivery straight back past his head.
If that ball had made it over the rope, the Hawke Cup would have winging its way to Rangiora. Instead, the Taranaki captain Fastier collected the catch that triggered jubilant scenes, en masse, from the Taranaki players while a disconsolate Kapur ripped off his gloves and threw them hard on the ground, having been just inches from tailender glory.
Watson has taken Canterbury Country's final first innings wicket when the challenger had needed just a six to overtake Taranaki's first innings score to steal away the silverware. Remarkably, both innings had spanned exactly 132/5 overs.
Taranaki will now host the Zone 4 Hawke Challenge from South Canterbury, the last Challenge match of the absorbing 2024/25 summer, from Friday 21 to Sunday 23 March, at Pukekura Park.
