Hawke Cup match slipping away
By TONY BIRD tony.bird@tnl.co.nz - Taranaki Daily News | Saturday, 06 December 2008A disappointing first-innings batting effort has left Taranaki in deep trouble in its Hawke Cup two-day elimination cricket match against Marlborough, in Blenheim.
Yarrows Taranaki was rolled for 147 in 58 overs on day one yesterday, with Marlborough under-17 rep Ben Wheeler (4-49) and Central Districts paceman Brent Hefford (2-32) wreaking havoc.
At stumps, Marlborough had a 16-run lead with six wickets in hand.
Taranaki was in trouble early yesterday, losing both its openers, Dean Robinson and Aaron Zame, with just 11 runs on the board.
No 3 batsman Dion Ebrahim settled things down a little, finishing the top scorer of the innings with 31, while watching wickets continue to tumble at the other end.
Taranaki was reeling at 79-6 when Travis Stewart (27) and Scott Davidson (26) finally formed a partnership, worth 47 runs. That helped save the side from total embarrassment.
In the field, Taranaki made an early breakthrough when Robert McLeod had Marlborough opening batsman Sean Neal trapped leg before wicket for one run, but then runs flowed freely.
Former Central Districts top-order batsman Geoff Barnett scored 28 runs while No 3 Tim Abrahams contributed a well-hit 64 before being bowled by Andrew Mason.
At stumps, another Central Districts rep, Brendon Diamanti, was on 40 and Josh Poole was on 10.
"It's been a tough first day," Taranaki player-coach Jamie Watkins said last night. "We didn't have enough discipline with the bat against what is a quality bowling attack.
"At no stage did we really get going and four or five dropped catches in the field has made it pretty tough."
Watkins hasn't given up hope of scoring an outright win, but admitted it would take a super effort to save the match.
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