St Paul’s won the toss and elected to field first. The boundaries at Wanganui Collegiate would be the biggest in the country all of which measure of 80 metres so we knew that boundaries would be hard to come by. The decision to bowl first paid off as we had Wanganui reeling at 37/5 thanks to superb bowling and fielding. Wanganui recovered to be 77/6 then lost three wickets for not many before their last wicket put on 35 runs to give them a respectable score of 131/10 in 62 overs. Our bowlers all toiled hard in the hot, windy conditions the best of whom were: Guy Wilkins 12 overs, 4 maidens and 2 wickets for 17 runs; Simon Morbey 3/22 in 11 overs; Chris Swanson 2/11 in 9 overs; Scott Finlayson 2/13 in 6 overs.
We started off poorly with our recent centurion Kippa Fawcett being run out for 3 and losing Peter Winkelmann for a duck to be 13/2 and struggled against the aggressive effort of the Wanganui team to be reeling at 84/6. Fortunately our captain played a superb role scoring a valiant 40 in 78 minutes at the crease. He was ably supported by an unlikely role for Dillon Kelliher who occupied the crease for 73 minutes and scored 28 and Josh Malpas 27 in 93 minutes to see us through to a lead of 39 runs, as we were all bowled out for 170 in 69 overs and a minimum of a first innings.
Collegiate batted much better of the second day as the pitch had dried out considerably but was still low and slow. An outright result in this game was always going to be tough as the overall run rate hovered at a very low 2.3 per over. They batted for 56 overs scoring 170/6 as a rate of 3.04, leaving us to score 131 in 15 overs – a run rate of 8.73!
St Paul's took up the challenge and gave it a full go. Dillon Kelliher scored a rapid fire 55• off 47 balls and was well supported by Scott Finlayson 30• off 20 balls and Kippa Fawcett 17 off 23 balls to see us end on 113/1 off 15 overs – a run rate of 7.53 – a huge effort indeed.
The exchange was played in superb spirit and it is hoped that it will continue along with the Rathkeale exchange. These types of games really test the mental toughness of the players as it requires long periods of concentration.
Players of the match were: Dillon Kelliher and Scott Finlayson
