Cricket: Watson and Oldfield star for Marist’s consecutive title

Ryan Evans 

It was a case of something old and something new for New Plymouth Marist as they sewed up a consecutive Expert Turf premier one-day competition title at Pukekura Park today.

The four-wicket win over arch-rivals New Plymouth Old Boys marked the first time since 2012 the title has been defended and Marist’s veteran paceman Ryan Watson (3-16) and young gun opening bat Chester Oldfield (86 not out) laid the foundations for the win.

In overcast conditions the toss was a good one to win for NPMU captain Robbie Yule. Sending NPOB in to bat, Watson quickly made inroads into the NPOB top order as he and fellow opening bowler Joshua Barrett made the most of a spicy wicket.

From 24-4 after 10 overs, batting out the 50 became the name of the game for NPOB and Ben Mitchell (31) and captain Jordan Gard (31) began to rebuild the innings before both fell to the spin of Daniel Bernet. All-rounder Ben Frewin stepped up with a valuable top score of 39 and youngster Samuel Taylor made a vital 29 not out down the order as NPOB ground it out to the end of their innings to finish on 163-9.

Watson was the clear pick of the Marist bowlers – taking 3-16 off his 10 overs including five maidens. His fiery opening spell will stay in the minds of the NPOB top order batsmen for some time.

Reeve Nelley also bowled well to take 3-39 off his 10.

A potentially niggly chase got off to a good start for the defending champions with openers Oldfield and Michael Blanks successfully seeing off the Old Boys attack and taking the team through to 78 before a wicket went down when Blanks was bowled by spinner Liam Carr for 30.

Oldfield in particular batted superbly negotiating an at times feisty period with Taranaki paceman Frewin charging in. His 86 not out came off 126 balls and marked a strong end to the one day campaign for him.

Matches between these two sides are notoriously tough-fought encounters and once Blanks departed, Carr took a further three wickets to make things interesting, but with Oldfield anchoring the innings and a good start meaning Marist were under no scoreboard pressure, eventually they were able to close the game out in the 41st over.

Marist was also the last team to defend the one-day competition title, when they went three in a row from 2010-2012 and since then, the two teams have swapped the trophy each year.

This season, it’s on its way back to Lynmouth Park where the celebrations are sure to go on long into the night.

Full match details are available here at PlayHQ.