Cricket season wraps up

The Newman Shield will remain in Nelson hands for the winter.

Today the Nelson Griffins notched up a 33-run win over their Marlborough counterparts at Horton Park, completing home-and-away victories during the 2024-25 season.

Both sides were relatively young and inexperienced at rep level, resulting in a tightly-fought match, which the visiting side came out on top of mainly due to a more consistent batting display.

Inserted by Marlborough, Nelson amassed a slightly below-par total of 208, being bowled out in the 49^th over.

Their best partnership came for the second wicket, Sam Elstone, 74 from 76, and Finn Restieaux, 29 from 39, combining to add 64 runs. The only other contribution of note came from Sean Neal, 29 from 31, as Marlborough kept chipping out wickets with tight bowling.

The wickets were shared around. Zariab Karkaria bowled well at the top, claiming 1-23 from six. Archie Cornelius bagged 2-23 from five but the best figures belonged to youngster Luke Holdaway, the medium pacer grabbing 3-19 from eight overs.

After losing the early wicket of Corey Bovey, Marlborough consolidated through Holdaway and player/coach Andre McCaa, the pair pushing the score through to 63 before Holdaway, 14 from 51, was bowled by Neal.

From then wickets fell at regular intervals, the only constant being McCaa who batted until the 44^th over, scoring 78 from 106 balls to hold the innings together as the required run rate began to rise.

His dismissal left Marlborough needing 60 runs from six overs, a task that proved well beyond the local tailenders, although Kirk Nicholas with 28 from 29 balls did his best.

Eventually, Marlborough succumbed for 175 in the 49^th over, leaving Nelson to take the prized trophy back across the Whangamoas.

Best of their bowlers was former Marlborough man Neal, who picked up 5-38 from his 10 overs. Cameron Neame and Adam Ward both bagged a brace.

Club finals

On Saturday the second and third grade 40-over finals were also contested, with Renwick claiming the second grade crown, defeating Wairau Valley by 104 runs on the main ground, while Valley took out the third grade final over Wairau by four wickets.

Renwick, top qualifiers for the second grade final, batted first, racking up a handy total of 227-7 from their 40-over allocation. Leading the way was opener Hayden Gaudin, who carried his bat for an unbeaten 67 from 103 balls, defying everything Valley could throw at him.

Ed Gilhooly, 27, Tim May, 26, and Mark Zillwood, 24, contributed through the middle stages while Cody Golding slammed a quick 37 not out in the final overs. Stella Cornelius and Greg Stretch both bagged a brace of wickets for Valley.

Valley’s reply stuttered early, the side sitting at 3-27 before Sukh Aulakh, 33 from 48, and James Bell, 46 from 67, propped up the middle order. However, when they perished there was little more resistance. Gilhooly had the pick of the bowling figures, taking 4-11 from four overs, while Dane Winstanley and Alex Neal picked up two wickets each.

Wairau batted first in the third grade decider, putting together 162 all out from 34.4 overs. Tom Heagney’s 79 from 63 balls was the outstanding batting effort. Spencer Gregg, 3-30, and Joe Gilhooly, 3-31, took the bulk of the wickets.

Valley made a slow start in reply, struggling at 3-22 in the early stages, before solid batting from Nathan Glue, 32 from 34, Lachie Brick, 31 not out from 65, and George Frampton, 24 not out from 27, saw them reach 163-6 in the 35th over. Billy Hurren did his best for Wairau, picking up five wickets for just 34 runs but the honours firmly belonged to Valley.