NZ Super Max Final: Cunis wins mind game (21 December 1998)

21 December 1998

NZ Super Max Final: Cunis wins mind game

By John Coffey

Young Stephen Cunis admitted to being in "a bit of a trance" as he prepared to bowl the last over, worth $12,500 to his Canterbury team, in the Super Max cricket final against Wellington at Jade Stadium (Lancaster Park).

Cunis had conceded 36 runs from his only over in the first innings on Saturday night and could not be blamed for self-doubts. Wellington, though progressively losing its once-firm grip, needed 10 runs to claim the $25,000 first prize and leave Canterbury with the $12,500 runner-up cheque.

"I was thinking about my other over when I bowled too many half volleys. I was concentrating on bowling straight, trying for yorkers, and winning it for the guys because they deserved it," said Cunis afterwards.

He conceded singles to Gavin Larsen and Chris Nevin from the first two balls. The next two were a little fuller than Cunis intended, but Larsen holed out to Darren Reekers behind the bowler and Nevin hit a comfortable catch to Chris Harris at long off.

Carl Bulfin could only manage a single from the fifth ball, leaving Mark Jefferson needing to hit to or over the boundary within the Max zone.

Cunis, 20, and Jefferson, 22, are good mates from their old Northern Districts days, but friendship counted for nothing with a title and the biggest monetary reward in domestic cricket at stake.

By now Cunis was in the groove and Jefferson, facing his first delivery of the night, could not get to grips with a ball pitched on his legs.

It completed an encounter which extended the contrasting reputations of the two provinces -- that Canterbury can win any form of cricket, even Max, when it sets its mind to it, while Wellington will choke in most situations. Canterbury should never have won after its batsmen failed in a first innings of 101, a total possible because Shane Bond plundered 28 from the last over by Heath Davis. With Roger Twose rampant, Wellington went ahead after 4.2 overs and led by 50. Twose reached his half-century in 11 balls, and his 75 in 17 (nine of which hit or cleared the fence).

Once again, Harris was Canterbury's saviour. Its second innings had only been marginally better than the first until Harris hammered 28 from a Mayu Pasupati over. With one over left Canterbury was still just 65 runs in credit. But 38 runs were pounded from that Twose over: a single by Harris, a four and single by Warren Wisneski, and then 12, eight, and 12 as Harris drove straight and high to finish with a flourish. Harris's unbeaten 87 was reaped from 28 deliveries.

Even then, Wellington seemingly had the result in safekeeping when Twose took 21 runs from Wisneski's opening over in quest of the modest winning target of 104. But those who followed Twose could not maintain the required run-rate.

The choice of who should be given that fateful last over came down to Cunis or Darron Reekers. If Cunis's 1-0-36-0 first-innings analysis prompted concern, he still looked a reasonable bet alongside the unfortunate Reekers, whose night had produced two golden ducks and bowling figures of 1-0-20-0 and 1-0-13-0.

Canterbury 101-7 (C Harris 30, S Bond 28no; G Larsen 2-17, C Bulfin 3-15) and 153-6 (Harris 87no; Bulfin 2-19, R Petrie 2-11)

beat

Wellington 151-3 (R Twose 75, P Chandler 55no) and 97-7 (Chandler 31, Twose 21; M Priest 2-25, S Cunis 2-3).

Umpires: D Quested and B Bowden.

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