Cricket: Usual foes to meet in one-day club final

Taranaki Cricket

Two traditional cross-town rivals are set for another finals clash in the Grand Final of the Expert Turf Taranaki Premier one-day cricket competition on Sunday.

Nag N’ Noggin NPMU and Merit TV NPOB are no strangers to squaring off in the big matches of Taranaki club cricket and always eagerly await the opportunity to get one over the other.

This year Marist, the defending champions, have again qualified in top spot, romping through pool play undefeated before closing out a tight two-wicket win in their semifinal against Stratford two weeks ago.

The club has a strong squad to choose from, including Taranaki representatives Ryan Watson, Jacob Leuthard-Richards and Sam Fastier, some wily veterans such as Kurt Leuthart, Michael Blanks, Joshua Barret, Robbie Yule and Daniel Bernet and a host of young guns including Jack Southern, Chester Oldfield and Reeve Nelley and Thomas Larkin, who held their nerve to seal the semifinal win.

It’s a powerful squad, but NPOB also has plenty of firepower at their disposal.

Their squad includes no less than eight current Taranaki representatives – skipper Jordan Gard, Mattie Thomas, Ben Frewin, Rupert Young, Oli Burbidge, Josh Gard, Josh Borrell and Liam Carr – which would be enough to be a handful for any side on its own. When you add in quality players such as Ben Mitchell, Kyle Pillay, Fianlay Barnes and Samuel Taylor, it’s a side that won’t be unduly daunted by Marist.

Old Boys’ run to the final featured just one hiccup – a thrashing at the hands of Hawera, who they then went on to beat in the next day’s semifinal.

As top qualifier, Marist will win the title should weather prevent a match being played and with a patchy forecast at best for the weekend it’s not an out of the question scenario.

But it’s one neither team will be hoping for – last year’s competition was marred by the rain off of both the semifinals and the grand final, and there’s nothing any team wants more than to earn the trophy on the field at Pukekura Park.

Play is scheduled to begin at 10.30am this Sunday.

Click here to view the live scorecard.

Click here to view a live stream of the match.

Meanwhile, the two-day declaration format will move into day two today. Live scores can be found on Play HQ.