Tough weekend at the office for our Bartercard New Zealand Taranaki women

It was a tough weekend at the office for our Bartercard New Zealand Taranaki women – going down twice against a powerful Hawke’s Bay side with a stack of Hinds players at their disposal

The results put an end to the team’s hopes of winning the Shrimpton Trophy for the year – they are now in fourth place, eight behind the now competition leaders, Hawkes Bay.

Played at Western Park, the weekend got off to a positive start in game one.

Sent into bat, Taranaki made a good beginning with openers Jessie Hollard (28) and Emily Cunningham (23) putting on a 50-run opening partnership before departing in quick succession. From 59/2 though, the wickets tumbled rapidly against the visitors’ slower bowlers, with some poor shot selection and execution costing the Taranaki middle order batters. At 97/8, a late 22-run partnership between Lucy Mitchell and Anika Scott helped Taranaki to a slightly more respectable total of 123 – bowled out in the 35th over.

It was never going to be enough runs despite claiming six Hawkes Bay wickets, with Grace Foreman (2/27) and former Canterbury first-class player Nicola Clayton (3/16) bowling good spells. Hinds batter Kerry Tomlinson showed just why she is a next level player with a composed 36 not out to anchor the innings and guide her team to a comfortable 4-wicket win in the 27th over.

Day two saw Taranaki sent into bat once again but this time the middle order showed their lessons from the day before had been learned. Strong contributions from Foreman (44 not out), Charlotte Butler (23) and again Mitchell (30) helped the side bat out their 40 overs and post a very defendable 185.

But it wasn’t enough. Hawkes Bay opener Margot Scoular set the tone with a half century at the top and was joined for a 77-run second wicket partnership by another Hawke’s Bay Hind, Thamsyn Newton. Newton went on to make 86 not out as Hawkes Bay got home with seven wickets in hand and an over up their sleeves.

Despite the loss, the second match showed a significant improvement on the first, but in the end the weight of Hawkes Bay’s experienced top-level players shone through.

The team now has a weekend off before heading to Whanganui from February 28-March 2 for an inaugural CD T20 tournament, with their match against Nelson at the tournament also doubling as their final Shrimpton Trophy outing of the year.