New Zealand: Easts delight in long-awaited cricket title (29 March 1999)

29 March 1999

New Zealand: Easts delight in long-awaited cricket title

The Christchurch Press

When East Christchurch-Shirley last won a senior two-day cricket club championship, World War II was still being fought.

None of the newly crowned East-Christchurch Shirley players had been thought of, let alone born, when the club was last successful at first-grade level 56 years ago.

So when the drought was broken on Saturday, captain Scott Pawson dedicated the championship to all the teams and hundreds of players who had tried and failed to win the title.

Pawson said a nice balance of youth and experience carried the team to its triumph which was clinched by an emphatic seven-wicket win over High School Old Boys.

The value and input of 33-year-olds, David Grocott and Craig Gibb, is something second-year skipper Pawson said he could not do without.

"I said to those guys at the start of the season: 'You've got to play.' You need to have that blend which a lot of the teams don't have these days."

The senior side has several exciting youngsters, including Michael Papps and Marcel McKenzie, along with Pawson, Ryan Burson, and Carl Anderson who are all fringe Canterbury players.

East-Shirley was fortunate it lost few players to representative teams during the two-day series with Papps and McKenzie only elevated to Canterbury status in the closing Shell Trophy rounds.

Pawson said the side was conscious of not only success for past players but also long-serving club stalwarts and administrators who had backed the club through the lean periods.

"This is really for all of them. Dave and Gibby know what it's like to go for a long time without a win but the new boys think it just happens."

East-Shirley fielded some strong sides in the 1960s and 1970s, including the likes of New Zealand representatives, Vic Pollard, Bruce Taylor and Peter Coman, but success proved elusive.

This season East-Shirley and Old Boys steadily reeled in runaway leader Riccarton but needed the outright points on Saturday to claim the championship on its own.

Victory was rarely in doubt with Easts making 235 during the match for the loss of six wickets while Old Boys had only 231 for 20.

Old Boys failed by three runs to equal their miserable first innings total of 117. Only Andrew Robertson withstood, for 105 minutes, an accurate, venomous East-Shirley attack backed by enthusiastic fielding.

Seam bowler Burson, bowling at his best, caused the batsmen all kinds of trouble achieving his best figures of an impressive season. Tom Music caught the mood, taking four slips dismissals.

Needing only 105 to win, East-Shirley made a dismal start but Music and McKenzie added 70 for the second wicket. They had to work for their runs but played in accomplished and stylish manner.

Pawson and Gibb completed the assignment with Gibb, a 16-year senior player, batting with confidence. Pawson finished the match with a superb lofted four over extra cover for four.

In the other three matches, which had no bearing on the championship outcome, Burnside West-University and Lancaster Park-Woolston ended their season with wins against Marist and Sydenham respectively while the St Albans-Old Collegians encounter was drawn.

Park-Woolston pipped Old Boys for third by virtue of its 16-pointer when it made comfortable work of scoring the 183 it needed to beat Sydenham, achieving the target in the 12th of the final 20 overs. A 75-run third-wicket stand between Robert Tibbotts and Carlos McGillivray provided its victory platform.

Burnside-West University needed tail-ender Paul Harrison to hit two fours to get it through against Marist, before securing the target of 157. Simon Granger with pace and Ashley Ross's leg-spin kept Marist in contention as the visitors slumped from 140 for five to 147 for nine.

Richard Preston missed a century by three runs and his team fell 20 short in the chase for 202 set by Old Collegians at Elmwood Park.

Preston hit 14 fours off 140 balls and led the charge but the target of 4.5 an over proved insurmountable.

HSOB 117 (Carl Anderson 5-22) and 114 (Ryan Burson 6-34) lost to East-Christchurch Shirley 127-3 and 108-3 by seven wickets

Marist 199 and and 142 (Dominic Maxwell 6-47) lost to Burnside West-University 186 (Ashley Ross 6-56) and 157-9 by one wicket

Sydenham 199 and 182-7 dec (Simon Leigh 56) lost to Lancaster Park-Woolston 200-8 dec and 183-4 (Robert Tibbotts 69no) by six wickets

Old Collegians 208-9 and 112-9 dec (Chris Martin 5-28) drew with St Albans 119-9 dec (Jon Davidson 51no) and 182-5 (Richard Preston 97 no)

East-Shirley 93, Riccarton 81, Lancaster Park-Woolston 65, HSOB 64, Burnside-West University 41, St Albans 37, Old Collegians 26, Marist 21, Sydenham 6

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)