Celtic captain Dan Laming led his team to victory over Temuka in the final of the Tweedy Cup after he backed up a superb innings of 174 by taking 3-44 with the ball. This capped off a fine season for Celtic after having already won the Twenty20 and One Day competitions.
The final is played under Hawke Cup rules and conditions and a first innings win is enough to secure the trophy, and after winning the toss Celtic had no hesitation in batting first on the Saturday morning. The plans did not begin well when prolific run scorer Craig Davies was dismissed second ball for a duck, but promoted opener Glenn Matthews and Ryan De Joux soon settled into their job with Matthews scoring at better than a run a ball on his way to 62. De Joux was his usual aggressive self making 38 before the second wicket fell at 55, and Jeremy Liddy helped in another 61 run partnership before both he and Matthews were both back in the pavilion with the score 123-4 and Temuka feeling quite happy with their progress so far.
Dan Laming was joined by his brother James and they slowly but surely set about building a partnership. By the time they went to lunch they had moved the score through to 205 and it began to look like Temuka may spend a long time in the field.
James lost his wicket soon after lunch for 39, but by now Dan was well into his work as he put his worst ever season with the bat behind him and brought up his century. Once he passed the 100 mark, he relaxed further and began to play even more of the shots we are used to seeing and it wasn’t long until he had brought up his 150. Matt Mealings with 27 was a solid partner in another century partnership, but eventually Laming played a tired shot and was caught behind for 174 just as the spectators eagerly anticipated a double century, but importantly, Celtic had now moved to 399-7. Laming played a classic innings with most shots along the ground included 32 fours and two sixes and left the ground amidst hearty applause from the spectators and team mates alike.
Temuka may have been hoping for a declaration after a long day in the field, but Celtic were making sure of this outcome (unless it rained) and continued on with Andy Scott continuing the barrage as he added a quick fire 62 and Sam Carlaw chimed in with an unbeaten 38, until eventually Celtic were all out for 486.
For Temuka the star was Kevin Teahen who put in a herculean effort with the ball, battling cramp and fatigue as he sent down 33 overs and was justifiably rewarded with 7 wickets. Temuka bowled 96 overs and all their bowlers suffered as Celtic scored at more than five an over, with Rory Lorimer the most economic conceding just 29 runs from his ten overs.
Temuka had it all ahead of them and knew their first job was to bat through to stumps for little or no loss of wicket. They began well with Simon Attridge and Adrian Cunningham growing in confidence as they got in and didn’t look troubled. Unfortunately with half an hour until stumps Cunningham received a bouncer from Willie Scott that he tried to hook but as he played the shot continued through to hit his stumps and was given out hit wicket for 28. Willie Stone joined Attridge with the sole purpose of getting through to stumps which they did successfully and would have left the ground reasonably happy at 59-1 overnight.
Dan Laming had Stone caught and bowled early on the second morning and then a terrible mix up as the batsmen looked for three saw Attridge out for 25. This brought the mainstays of the Temuka lineup together as Captain Ritchie Preston joined Johnny Geddis.
They took the score through to 100 when Preston was given out lbw before he had got going and Temuka’s chances looked slim as they still needed to bat out the day to achieve a draw and share the cup.
Geddis then showed his class as he first brought up his fifty and then put the accelerator down as he drove down the ground or pulled or cut and before long he had brought up his 100 off only 114 balls before lunch. He kept Temuka well in the hunt, but needed some support from the other end.
Returning from lunch with a new ball available meant a change of end for James Laming, a decision which would prove crucial as he had Geddis caught in the deep for a brilliant 126 including 88 runs in boundaries. The loss of Geddis when the total was 231 brought about a quick end to the innings as Dan Laming and Glenn Matthews mopped up the tail and Temuka were all out for 239.
The match could have finished then if both captains agree, but Celtic decided to bat a second time to give Davies a chance to set a new Celtic batting record for the season as he only need 28 runs to pass Andrew Buckingham’s 806, but Temuka were determined to deny him, and he was out for 11. Celtic continued on, losing wickets regularly, but eventually sense prevailed and the captains agreed to finish the match with Celtic 109-5. Ritchie Preston took 3-21 and James Laming capped off a useful double to be 30 not out as did Matthews with 23 not out.
The outcome went as predicted with the strong Celtic side backing up their depth on paper with the performance on the park, and coach Bruce Carlaw can take a lot of credit for that, but Temuka also capped off a good year making two finals and certainly fought gamely as they tried to cause an upset. Both teams ground fielding was outstanding, although Temuka will rue a few dropped chances, but the match was played in a good spirit and certainly showed what can be done on a good pitch.
Scoreboard
Geraldine’s first innings lead put Temuka in a position of having to win outright to gain enough points to keep Star from pushing them back into third place, but with relations between the teams this season in the local derby strained at best, Geraldine were certainly not going to do Temuka any favours.
Not an unsurmountable task, but with the pitch favouring the bowlers, this match eventually went to the wire. At one stage Temuka were 80-6 despite innings of 31 from Adrian Cunningham and 21 from Johnny Geddis and their chances looked grim, but a good 8th wicket partnership between Simon Attridge with 36 not out and Willie Stone (8) kept Temuka in the game, as Attridge continued his good form from the previous weekend in his new lower order batting position.