UNICORNS PULL RIGHT REINS IN RAIN

March 28, 2018. Not all cricket matches are equal. At this time of the year, context dictates approach. Add a forecast thunderstorm to the Prichard Cup – 50 over Premier Women’s final and you have two very different outlooks. One team needs to win. For the other, not losing is enough. So, the scene was set for University / Waitakere to take on Takapuna at Colin Maiden Park for the second week in a row.

It was important for both sides to complete the final. Takapuna simply had to if they wanted to lift the trophy. University / Waitakere, having won the T20 final via bowl-off after a tie and coming in as top qualifiers, will surely have wanted to win the final to confirm themselves as the season’s best team. With a must-win equation in mind, the Takapuna Ponies won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Takapuna started brightly with some accurate lines, while University / Waitakere played their shots. Katie Gurrey, the season’s leading run-scorer, showed more intent in the opening powerplay than I had seen from her in the previous two T20s between these twos sides.

Both openers were guilty of closing the face and living dangerously. The first dismissal came as something of a surprise. After several chances had flown into gaps, just over outstretched fielders and one to ground, Claire Mains beat the inside edge of Rebecca Ellison to disturb the top of off stump.

It wasn’t the earliest of wickets, but had it been followed by another, it would have taken some colour from the Unicorn’s rainbow. Just before the first drinks break at 17 overs, Sam Curtis was on the floor stretching her back. She wandered off the field at the end of the next over; she couldn’t continue.

Skipper Kate Anderson joined Gurrey at the crease. The pair soaked up the post-drinks pressure before Gurrey had time to hit through the off-side to the short boundary. She hit three boundaries in five deliveries – one sumptuously over mid-off, the other pulled behind square – during what turned out to be the most productive period in the match. Anderson chimed in with one of her own putting away a full toss.

Takapuna’s spinners struggled to find the ideal pace to bowl on the pitch and University / Waitakere were given too much time to play square of the wicket. Towards the half-way mark, Roz McNeil was bought back into the attack.

Takapuna were working hard in the ring to save singles and boundaries. As often happens in cricket, when you notice such a thing, something will happen to show you otherwise. A well-hit chance went down at mid-wicket off McNeil. The next over Gurrey survived a stumping chance as she came down the wicket.

Rather than rein herself in, on 49, Gurrey drove Sydney Bultitude firmly to mid-off. Toni Baldwin, who had been on the boundary for Gurrey in previous overs, made no mistake taking a tricky catch. The biggest partnership of the match (69) – a three-player effort – was broken. The Unicorns were still well-set at 90/2 after 26 overs.

Despite the best efforts of University / Waitakere’s middle order, the innings stalled from there. Lauren Down rotated her bowlers and Takapuna found a way to protect the boundaries. The Ponies rushed through their overs before the second drinks break. As a result of overs ticking by, Holly Huddleston tried to make the most of the platform that had been set. After only just clearing Baldwin at mid-off, having a simple chance go down in slogger’s paradise and encouragement from her coach to ‘settle down’, a paddle-sweep looped up into the air and was taken at short fine-leg.

55 runs came off the final 18 overs. On the back of a Bultitude four-for and some economical seam bowling by Arlene Kelly, McNeil and Mains, Takapuna took regular wickets. Mains bookended the innings by hitting the woodwork as University / Waitakere were bowled out on the final ball of the innings, but only after Curtis admirably made her way back to the crease at the fall of the ninth wicket.

It was a fine effort by the Ponies to restrict the Unicorns to 167, but with the death overs of the first innings completed through steady showers there were no guarantees that the second innings would commence.

University / Waitakere got the perfect start. Huddleston trapped fellow White Fern Down in front. The Ponies’ skipper didn’t seem impressed with the decision having looked to play through the on-side. Two balls later, Huddleston cleaned up Anlo van Deventer and 168 suddenly seemed a long way away.

Takapuna desperately needed a partnership and for a while a recovery looked likely. Meddy Hyde ended the rebuild in her second over when Kelly edged through to Maddy Cooke. Cooke would again be in the action when she snaffled Baldwin’s thin edge. Commendably Baldwin put her bat under her arm and walked off. It was a big moment in the game and there was no guarantee the umpire was going to put his finger up.

The rain had come and gone and come back again. Had the players gone off in the early overs of the chase they probably would not have come back. Despite protests from both sides at different times, the umpires kept the players out there. In the rain, the Unicorns flew through the Takapuna middle-lower order and 38/4 was quickly 93/9 as Anderson followed her 32 runs with 3 wickets.

As the game neared its conclusion in the cold, dark and wet, the attention of the some University / Waitakere players turned towards the presentation. The job, however, had not been completed. With 75 runs still required, Bultitude found a willing ally in thirteen year-old wicket-keeper Isabella Gaze.

I’ll be the first to admit, I was waiting for the wicket to fall so I could get out of the rain. The pair of Ponies played positively. After seven overs of sound defence, picking gaps and running hard Anderson threw the ball to Huddleston to finish it off. It spoke to the change in mood. It was game on. In what were now slippery conditions, even Huddleston couldn’t quite get it right. It was quite unbelievable how the partnership built away; from little to no expecation to playing for pride to putting the game in the balance.

Bultitude hit two boundaries in the 42nd over to reduce the equation to a manageable 27 runs off 48 balls. Takapuna were always only one mistake away from defeat and it finally came with 18 runs to get. It was a tame end to a magnificent partnership. Brianna Perry underlined her efforts with her third wicket as Gaze drove uppishly to Huddleston at short cover. A nonchalant celebration from Huddleston was quickly ramped up when she was mobbed by her teammates.

University / Waitakere won by 17 runs, but not without a fight and some late flutters. While there were no rainbows, the Unicorns were the best side during the season and they put in the big performances on the day. Both sides had seasons to remember, but only one side can ever come out on top.