Easts on back foot, not giving up without fight

Don't try telling Lance Dry that his dream of 10 successive Pearce Cup titles is slipping away.

Eastern Suburbs are certainly up against it, thanks largely to a magnificent 176 from Karori's Hamish Templeton, but the veteran skipper has led his club out of plenty of pickles over the years.

Karori will resume the third and final day of the final today at 82-3 in their second innings at the Basin Reserve, a lead of 157 after scoring 381 to Easts' 306 in their first dig.

"I don't think so, I think it's evenly poised," Dry shot back at a suggestion his nine-time champions were in some difficulty. "They're 150 ahead, three down, we take seven wickets for 100 and we chase 250 off 60. That's the target."

As top qualifiers, Karori need only a draw to end Easts' streak and claim their first senior title since 1986-87.

But Templeton, who will walk out to bat with Chris Spring this morning, said that wasn't his team's style.

"We're not playing for a draw. If you're in a final, you want to win it, don't you," Templeton said.

"I'm not sure what the weather has got planned but we're definitely not here to draw the game. We want to beat them outright and end their run. But we know they're going to come hard at us and we expect nothing less from them. That's the way they've been playing for the last 10 years."

Templeton's marathon knock has been the highlight of a match with plenty of notable performers.

Easts' Sam McLauchlan hit 114 yesterday while Karori off-spinner Jarred Sewell toiled away for 6-133 and team-mate Marc Ellison had a handy double of 87 and 40.

"The Pearce Cup final at the Basin is the pinnacle and especially against Easts, they've won it nine times in a row," Templeton said. "You can say what you like about them but they're a fantastic unit with great leadership and great players."

There's still plenty of cricket to be played but the key moment of the match may end up being Scott Golder dropping a simple offering at slip shortly after Templeton had reached his ton.

Dry admitted it was a bad miss but took heart that the pitch, a road on day one, was beginning to play a trick or two.

His distinctive fast leg-spinners will be crucial, while off-spinning all-rounder Niranjan Naguleswaran, who scored 55 yesterday, will also have a big role to play.

Whatever happens you can bank on Easts to put up one hell of a fight.

"It's starting to get a bit more up and down," Dry said.

"The spinners will be key, it is starting to turn but it's quite slow. The momentum has gone our way. Karori had a great first day, but we've fought back. We showed a lot of courage, to get 300 off 70-odd overs and now we've got them three down. It's there, it's pretty well poised considering where we were. We're a chance."

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