Cricket: Hawke Cup challenge starts today for Taranaki

Ian Snook

Photo: Ryan Evans

With the Furlong Cup neatly sitting on a shelf at the Taranaki cricket offices, the attention now turns to the Hawke Cup challenge against Hawkes Bay in Napier this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Whitaker Civil Engineering Taranaki needs to stride into this game full of purpose and combativeness. These fixtures are not for the meek.

Legends are established in Hawke Cup challenges and defences, and none of these stories are about players who don’t possess the necessary strength of will, to play tough for three hard days.

Real champions stand out.

Dennis Yardley took 7 wickets to dismiss Southland, still 85 runs in arrears, in 1970. Alistar Jordan bowled 39.5 consecutive overs and took 6-61 to beat North Canterbury by 16 runs in 1988. He required his back to be manipulated back into position between overs.

When the team lifted the cup from Marlborough in 1994 the whole team played a part. Wickets were spread as were the runs, but the real desire to win showed through in the second innings when the team came from a first innings deficit to win the game with 8 wickets down. Close to be sure.

The standout player in the 2007 win against Hamilton was all-rounder Jamie Watkins. He batted with brilliance to score 126 and together with number eleven batsman Chris Cruikshank, forged a partnership of 103.

Watkins and Cruikshank then bagged three wickets each.

The joy of winning the tough challenges stays with players forever.

Coach Chris Coombe has not named a side yet, but it would be difficult to imagine that anyone outside the 12 who recently disposed of Manawatu will be in the van to Napier.

Unlike the Furlong Cup where there are 12 players named, including a non-batter, the toughness and history of the Hawke Cup returns, with coaches naming the playing eleven only, plus a full-time 12th man. This is just like the old days. There’s no kindness in these rules.

The fixture is also a three-dayer, with 95 overs a day; as against the normal weekend clashes, which allow 112 overs per day. Physically and mentally the players will need to grow an extra arm and a leg, and they both need to be in working order.

The theme for the game may well be, ‘be brave’.

The team for the challenge is: Dean Robinson, Bailey Wisnewski, Sam Fastier ©, Rupert Young, Liam Muggeridge, Trent McGrath, Mattie Thomas, Jordan Gard, Ryan Watson, Ben Frewin and Liam Carr, Jacob Leuthard-Richards.

Picking a 12th man out of that lot, for this game, will be the challenge.

Then, they must beat the best of the best.

Hawkes Bay held the cup from February 2020 through to November 2022, and then again from November 2023 through to the end of the 2023/24 season.

Last season’s four wins were all convincing performances, played on the flat surfaces, at Nelson Park in Napier.

They scored 53 runs more than Manawatu, were 59 better than Counties-Manukau, passed Canterbury Country with four wickets still in hand, and headed off South Canterbury by 105 runs.

There weren’t too many wobbles. This is a group that plays consistently and accurately and keeps applying the pressure. The plan has proved to be a good one.

With first class players missing these games, because of their commitment to the Central Stags, Taranaki haven’t seen Will Young or Tom Bruce during the 2020’s, whilst Hawkes Bay can always guarantee a good muster of players from the local province are going to be batting for the Stags.

Sometimes one wonders whether it is by ‘right’ or by ability that Hawkes Bay players fill most spots in the Stags, which is often a bitter pill for the smaller provinces to swallow. Taranaki people are often left shaking their heads knowing that only 50 local players have been selected in 75 years.

Knowing that they are always the underdog though, surely provides an edge and determination which can be put to good use.

The pattern in previous games is for the team winning the toss to have a bowl. The pitch played so flat last season that the second team had a better idea of what was required on the scoresheet. No doubt Taranaki will follow this pattern should the chance arise.

If they are batting however, Taranaki needs to head towards 360 to pass Hawkes Bay’s best total of 2023/24. Anything more will be a bonus. Reaching Bay of Plenty’s 701 scored in both 2013 and 2017 may just take a little too long.

This is going to take a consistency through the whole batting lineup, something which the group are well capable of, already seven of them having scored provincial hundreds.

The biggy of them all is the superman of Taranaki batting during it’s 130 years, Dean Robinson.

With a recent provincial and club hundred tucked neatly away, a provincial average in excess of 40, the leading Taranaki batsman of all time which includes 16 centuries, twice as many as the next man, and in this game, moving into second place for games played, his mere presence is sufficient to instill a huge amount of confidence in the group.

The return of NPBHS teacher Trent McGrath to the province this year, has provided the team with stability and ability in the middle-order, which has been a huge bonus. Averaging 60.5, and playing key innings against Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa and Manawatu, as well as coming off big runs in club cricket, McGrath is in good nick.

Add the fact that he has been part of recent Manawatu challenging sides, and he knows what will be required in this game, his knowledge, as well as his playing, will be an important factor.

Rupert Young, with a high of 78 and an average of 37.6; Jacob Leuthard-Richards with a 95 and average of 39.7; and Bailey Wisnewski with a high of 97 and an average of 34.5, will all be looking for three figures in this outing.

Each of them has this capability.

Skipper Sam Fastier hit an accomplished 39 against Manawatu and scored consistently at club to date. This game will demand his best. He’s scored plenty previously. How good would it be to see that huge smile return again.

Fresh off a 90 not out in club play Liam Muggeridge will be arriving at this game in fine fettle. With two scores in the 40’s to date, and with two historic centuries at this level, I’m certain he has been waiting for this special occasion to go ‘big’.

He has the ability. Now is the time.

Then there is the man that no team can get out – Jordan Gard. With a match winning innings against Manawatu still bouncing around on his shoulders, and batting as low as nine, he will be bursting for another opportunity. This time though, hopefully it will occur when the score is over 350.

With a team that can bat as deep as eleven, no total should be out of reach. Mattie Thomas and Ryan Watson have scored provincial centuries and Ben Frewin, fresh of his best wicket haul for Taranaki, has scored centuries in club cricket.

Long gone are the days nine, ten and eleven didn’t fancy their chances at the batting crease.

What wins Hawke Cups though is possessing the ability to bowl a team out.

Line up, Watson, Frewin, Gard, Liam Carr, Thomas, McGrath and Muggeridge.

With paceman John Beale carrying an injury, so not under consideration, the first named five will bear the main load at the crease, with maybe a little bit of magic required from the spinning fingers and left arms of McGrath and Muggeridge.

McGrath and Muggeridge have won games in the past by grabbing crucial wickets, but ideally they won’t need to perform their tricks in this game. If they do, they are hugely capable bowlers.

Gard was the leading wicket taker for the team in the Furlong Cup, picking up 16 with a best of 5-36, bowling his medium-fast swingers, with plenty of variations.

A fit and strong lad, he has a huge motor, can be relied upon to churn out plenty of consistent overs, and so apply the necessary pressure to each batsman.

With a best of 7-56, the left arm spinning magician, with a goose-step thrown in, Liam Carr has won the battle over 15 batsmen, at an average of only 16.6.

Playing with a smile, and fielding like a young Ross Glover, Carr could well provide the point of difference in Napier with his flight variations and changes of pace. He is learning his trade quickly.

Speed, bounce and angle are what Watson is all about. Heading into his 63rd game for Taranaki, and only behind legends Ali Jordan (375), Jamie Watkins (268) and Gary Robertson (210), with 184 wickets, Watson has 14 wickets this season but is still looking for a real armful, his best being 3-17.

No matter how many wickets Watson secures though, he will be a huge weapon in this Taranaki attack and a constant threat to the HB batting lineup.

The ‘heady’ Thomas, yet another left arm spinner, is also in the process of ticking off records.

His 167 wickets places him just behind Watson in 5th place overall, and going into his 87th game he is in 7th position overall.

Having not done a whole lot of bowling in the first four Furlong Cup outings, Thomas stepped up when it counted against Manawatu, and the same can be expected this weekend.

With great control over line and length, and an ability to outthink the batsman, he too will have an important role.

Backed up by keeper Young, having his best game to date in the Manawatu clash, Carr and Thomas, and maybe even McGrath and Muggeridge, will have every confidence at the crease.

The players are in place. The ability is there. It’s time to win the battles.