A TALE OF TWO OUTER OVAL CENTURIES

January 30, 2018. Great finals tend to have three elements: an outstanding individual performance (or two), a rollercoaster ride and a nervy finish. Not all finals – see the SuperSmash final – live up to the occasion. Sunday’s Auckland Premier T20 Final saw the Howick Pakuranga and North Shore clubs invited to Eden Park and subsequently play out the Game of the Year.

I didn't play in many finals; seeing club cricket on the Outer Oval certainly made me a little jealous. A crowd of 300+ flocked in to the news Howick Pakuranga had won the toss and elected to bowl first. Matt McEwen charged in to Shore skipper Graeme Beghin who left comfortably outside the off stump. Gus McKenzie would kick off the boundary-hunting with a punchy on-drive through the vacant midwicket area.

Beghin and McKenzie took their time before taking on the short straight boundaries. The third over signaled a change in approach as Beghin decided he was ready to take McEwen on. Beghin stood tall as he drove and pulled 14 runs off the over.

Howick Pakuranga were surprisingly wayward up front allowing the North Shore openers to find the boundary regularly. Three sets of four leg-byes kept the score ticking as North Shore raced to 54/0 at the end of the powerplay. Beghin survived successive reverse sweep attempts that both landed fortuitously in between the keeper and short third man to the frustration of Howick Pakuranga's young spinner Adam Jones.

Jones continued building pressure with a consistent line and length. A picket fence of singles was forming and something had to give. He dragged one down and Beghin was more than happy to put it away to the midwicket boundary. Beghin sensed his moment, charged down the wicket and calmly chipped the next ball into the Merv Wallace Stand. He was on a roll and at 68/0, Scribe’s Not Many played over the sound system to the commentary, ‘How many dudes you know roll like Graeme Beghin?’ I'll leave you to answer that one.

All the while McKenzie was at the other end feeding his skipper the strike. It had been enough up until that point, but as he gave himself some room to access the offside Rutvik Botadra employed the ‘you miss, I hit’ theory. Botadra was ecstatic and the Howick Pakuranga supporters erupted as North Shore ended the eighth over at 72/1.

North Shore were finding the boundary every over and accompanying it with mature singles. It made for regular 10-12 run overs. Jamie Brown had Ronnie Hira caught on the fringes of the deep midwicket boundary. While Michael Olsen started with a beautiful cover drive that bounced over extra cover, Shore’s momentum slowed briefly before Howick Pakuranga skipper Bill Walsh decided it was time to roll his arm over. It was a critical part of the game and you have to admire his courage for putting his hand up.

Beghin, though, was in no mood for ceremony. He greeted Walsh by clubbing his first delivery over the training centre. The next ball hit the concourse. A couple of singles followed, before Beghin mowed the final ball for six into slogger’s paradise.

Jones came back nicely to concede only 12 from his final two overs – a fine effort either side of Beghin’s blitz on Walsh. North Shore headed towards an imposing total; the only question that remained was whether or not Beghin would bring up his second ton of the campaign. McEwen gave Beghin the offside and on 92* the classy right-hander was more than good enough to take it. North Shore’s new Ace found the boundary twice to move through to a sensational hundred.

Despite plenty of North Shore wickets in hand, Howick Pakuranga shaded the death overs. Donovan Grobbelaar got his afternoon started with two late wickets, before Beghin underlined his innings of 109* (65 balls) with one final six over the legside to steer North Shore to 186/5.

The chase started slowly and the early wicket of Andrew Morrison did nothing to settle any nervous Howick Pakuranga energy as he chipped Carl Brungar to square-leg. Captain Walsh did the bulk of the early scoring, before his top edge was well taken by bowler McKenzie. When Tim Duncraft later bowled David Winn in the tenth over, the required run-rate had soared above 13.5 runs per over.

One over of Grobbelaar destruction changed everything. The momentum. The mindset. The mood. Suddenly the game was again in the balance. Matt Strain, having conceded 13 from his first two overs, was struggling to land the ball. The over went for 37 – five sixes, three no-balls – and Howick were back in the hunt. Chitongo rallied to concede five singles to start the next over, but Grobbelaar was now in and he cleared the fence once more to finish the 12th over.

North Shore kept taking wickets at the other end. Brungar combined with his skipper to get rid of McEwen. Grobbelaar then had a life on 70 – a juggled caught and bowled chance that probably didn’t come back at McKenzie as quickly as he expected. The next over Hira trapped the in-form Daniel Young in front. Hira and Duncraft strung together a couple of important four run overs.

With 45 required off 18 deliveries, Grobbelaar needed support. All he was given was the strike. While he was hitting sixes for fun, only singles came from the other end. He lined Hira up for two sixes in the 18th over reducing the equation to 29 off 12 deliveries.

North Shore’s young gun McKenzie was thrown the ball for his fourth over. The strike was again given to Grobbelaar, who cleared the rope to bring up a magnificent century. Despite Grobbelaar’s twelfth six, McKenzie held his nerve to leave Brungar with 18 runs to defend in the final over.

Again, Grobbelaar found himself on strike after the first delivery of the over. He chipped a two into the leg-side and then scoop paddled a wide yorker over short fine-leg for four. 11 off 3. Brungar went back to the hole. Grobbelaar squeezed the yorker down to long on and tried desperately to get back for the second. Beghin charged in and made the longer throw to Grobbelaar's end. It wasn’t the perfect throw, but it got to Ben Wall in time to catch Grobbelaar short. The North Shore players sprinted to celebrate with their captain.

They knew how big the wicket was. North Shore, as Howick Pakuranga had done when Beghin left the field, applauded Grobbelaar as he departed with 112 beside his name. It was a clinic in clean hitting and an innings of real class.

10 off 2. Brungar bowls it in the go-zone and Sam Borland gets his hands quickly through the ball to clear Beghin at long on. 4 off 1. With no fuss about field sets or deliberation, Brungar charges in one final time. He overpitches and Borland gets one he can hit. He mistimes it and it’s in the air for what feels like an eternity. Appropriately Beghin settles underneath it and holds on to seal a three run win for his side. Wall flicks his gloves off as the North Shore players run around madly in celebration.

A worthy final in many respects; the sportsmanship on the field a must mention as the match was played in fine spirit. The same unfortunately could not be said for a handful of Howick Pakuranga supporters who thought rather than support their own club who were in the midst of trying to pull off one heck of a heist, they would hurl constant abuse at the players from the opposition.

I’d hate to take away from North Shore’s victory and what was otherwise a fantastic day for club cricket, but this nastiness cannot persist. There is no place for this kind of behaviour in our game – or any game, for that matter.

Both clubs deserve the plaudits for playing out a memorable match, but the spoils and this season's first trophy goes to North Shore.