Wairau grab third title

DEREK FLYNN/Marlborough Express

TAKE THAT: Wairau batsman Colin Wood belts the ball through mid-off during his fine half century on Saturday.

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Three down – one to go.

Wairau proved that not only are they easily the most talented side in the Marlborough senior cricket competition, but they also have the fighting qualities of a champion side.

Wairau easily won the two-day senior final at Horton Park over the weekend against Celtic, adding the two-day title to the Twenty20 and Kelvin Scoble Trophy titles they already have in a bulging trophy cabinet.

However, the two-day final certainly didn't go to the script victorious skipper Vaughan Harris and his team had in mind at the start. Wairau scored 212 and 60-2, Celtic were all out for 133 in reply.

Sent in to bat by Celtic captain Greg Hegglun, Wairau were soon in disarray at 16-4, Hegglun knocking over Martin Vercoe for a duck, Andrew McCaa and Bryce Smith for four runs each, while Greg Knowles got rid of Geoff Barnett for six.

Harris himself then went for 18 with the score at 53, but from then on, Wairau clawed their way back into the match and in the finish, won in a canter on the first innings which is all they had to do to bag yet another title in what is turning out to be a truly memorable 125th year for the club.

Wairau all-rounder Cleighten Cornelius was justifiably named man of the match for his match-winning innings of 88. Slow to start and looking a little rusty, not helped by feeling unwell, the former Canterbury representative showed his class in tandem with the wily Colin Wood. The experienced duo set about retrieving Wairau's perilous position, which they did to great effect, adding 105 runs for the sixth wicket.

Cornelius eventually fell, caught in the gully by Jackson Pearce from Knowles's bowling for 88. His innings included nine fours and three booming sixes off left-arm spinner Josh Poole.

Wood played a fine hand as well, making 57, Clay Wilson catching him off the impressive Hegglun's bowling. His innings included nine boundaries.

Martin Campbell looked good, but ran out of partners, unbeaten on 21. Medium-pacer Knowles took his first senior five-wicket haul, returning the fine figures of 5-46 from 14 overs. Former Central Districts medium-pacer Hegglun reckoned he bowled as well as he has all season and his figures reflected that, 4-21 from 19 overs of aggressive and accurate bowling.

Needing 213 to gain the all-important first innings lead, Celtic only needed a couple of partnerships of substance, but in the end they fell well short.

Near the close of play on Saturday, the match was evenly poised, but Wairau inflicted the key blow just prior to stumps when Wade Cornelius had Jerrym Lamb caught by his brother Cleighten for 20, leaving Celtic 65-3.

Pearce and Clay Wilson began yesterday's play well, Pearce pulling Wade Cornelius twice to the square-leg boundary early and Wilson dropping anchor and batting determinedly down the other end.

Just when the partnership was starting to put the pressure on Wairau, veteran left-arm spinner Greg Logan produced a gem of an arm ball, completely deceiving Pearce and clean bowling him with the score at 94, Pearce's final tally 29.

From then on, Wairau's spin twins Logan and right-arm off-spinner Matthew Dodds whipped through Celtic's batting, using all their considerably experience and guile. Celtic lacked the necessary skill and fight to seriously threaten what was not a difficult target on a pretty placid deck, although to be fair this is a very fine Wairau bowling lineup with the Cornelius brothers and Barnett complementing the fine work of the spin twins.

Dodds returned the fine figures of 4-22 from 12.2 overs and now leads he senior aggregates on 39 wickets from Logan on 38. Logan took 2-31 from 22 overs, producing two gems to get rid of Pearce and Hegglun, the latter stumped by Wood. Wade Cornelius turned on one of his best performances of the season taking 2-26 from 15 overs, Cleighten Cornelius and Barnett chipping in with a wicket each.

Celtic skipper Hegglun didn't offer any excuses afterwards, congratulating Wairau and admitting his side was simply outplayed.

Wairau batted a second time for almost 10 overs, reaching 60-2 when rival skippers Harris and Hegglun agreed to call the match off around 2.30pm. McCaa had time to play several spanking cover drives in an unbeaten 35, Barnett hit a couple of lusty blows in a rapid 21, his dismissal ending the match.

Harris was delighted with the result, especially the way his side achieved it and breaking a sequence that has seen Wairau lose the last five two-day finals they have contested, including one against Celtic two seasons back.

"We obviously lost the first hour. We fought pretty hard and probably played some of our best cricket all year for the next six hours. We got ourselves into a position where we had to fight for the rest of the day to get back on level terms, which we probably did."

Harris cited the wicket of Lamb late on Saturday and Logan's dismissal of Pearce as two of key turning points of the match.

"The spinners (Logan and Dodds) have bowled superbly all year. Everyone was chipping in. A pretty gutsy performance all-round."

Wairau and Celtic do it all again next Saturday at Horton Park, contesting the Marlborough one-day final and it's hard to see a different result.

- The Marlborough Express