Cricket: Women's side beat Nelson in rain affected weekend

Bartercard Taranaki women eventually got their Shrimpton Trophy campaign off to a winning start on Sunday, after a second rain out hampered day one of their weekend trip south.

With games scheduled for Saturday vs Wairarapa in Masterton and against Nelson in Palmerston North the next day, the weekend was pivotal for their hopes of taking out the CD district associations tournament.

Having won the toss at Queen Elizabeth Park in Masterton, Taranaki sent Wairarapa in to bat and Central Hinds batter Georgia Atkinson was the glue in the home team’s innings, crafting 83 off 91 balls to lead Wairarapa through to a solid tally of 169.

Cara Hollard was the pick of the Taranaki bowlers, taking 4/30 off her eight overs, in what was the start of a good weekend for the CD Under 19 spinner.

Facing a potentially tricky chase, the rain arrived in just the second over of Taranaki’s innings, and play never resumed.

After the first-round game against Manawatu was also washed out a fortnight ago, Taranaki would have been frustrated but with a game against the Nelson Nyxons the next day it was time to quickly refocus.

Sent in to bat at Fitzherbert Park, Taranaki was quickly in trouble at 14/3 before Cara Hollard set about a rescue mission. Hitting her way to a solid 31, Hollard had partnerships first with Charlotte Butler and then with CD Hind Grace Foreman before she departed with the score at 78/5. But Foreman had also found her groove and carried on to top-score in the innings, making a careful 44. Some late contributions from Kate Baxter (17) and Anika Scott (13 not out) saw Taranaki through to a defendable 163 off their 40 overs.

Foreman got the innings off to a good start, knocking over the dangerous Kate Gaging and Claudia Green. From 25/3 the Nyxons were just never able to get their innings going, and lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 77. Aside from Foreman (2/23) others to shine with the ball were captain Lucy Mitchell (3/6) and Hollard again with 2/16, while Niamh Moriarty snared a late wicket on debut.

The weekend’s results leave Taranaki on top of the Shrimpton Trophy points table, with 8 points from three games. Hawkes Bay and Manawatu are both also well in the hunt sitting on 6 points.

The weekend was also notable for veteran Aimee Wisnewski bringing up her 50th game for the province.

The team is next in action on December 8 when Wairarapa travels to Taranaki for a match which will be key for Taranaki to solidify it’s top of the table position.

Full results from the weekends game are available here at PlayHQ:

Vs Wairarapa: https://www.playhq.com/.../shrimpton.../game-centre/54f550af

Vs Nelson: https://www.playhq.com/.../shrimpton.../game-centre/168ebfd7