Napier Tech won the one-day showcase in 2024/25 and will be one of the teams to beat this year. Photo / HB Cricket
– This article is provided courtesy of Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association
If attitude aids performance, then Taradale are saying all the right things ahead of the Hawke’s Bay premier men’s club cricket season.
Beaten finalists in the showpiece MJF Shrimpton Memorial Cup 50-over competition, Taradale won the Laver &
Once a little fragile, the team showed a much greater resolve and prospered as a result.
A bit’s expected of them this season, but Taradale aren’t looking to rest on their laurels.
“The good teams are the ones that back it up year after year. There’s no point getting halfway through this season and finding we’re still talking about last year because this season’s not going too well,” Taradale captain Luke Kenworthy said.
“We want to make a good start this year and have our sole focus be on this year, rather than keep looking back and mentioning how well we did last year.
“We’ve probably been a little bit guilty of that in the past. We’d have a couple of bad seasons and then reminisce about the two seasons in a row where we won the 50-over comp. But, at the end of the day, they’re eight, nine 10 years ago now.”
Taradale start their 2025/26 campaign against Central Hawke’s Bay, at Nelson Park on Saturday.
Their squad has a relatively settled look about it. Offspinning allrounder Ollie Beale has arrived from Napier Technical Old Boys, which should offset the uncertainty about when or if the experienced Nihal Shilar will play this season.
Kenworthy says Shilar has been training with the side, but that’s as far as things have progressed at this stage.
Taradale might want to talk about last summer, but their performances should be a source of inspiration for a club like Cornwall.
Man for man, Cornwall look as good as anyone on paper. It’s just that they too can sometimes be a side that are pretty adept at beating themselves.
“After a tough season last year, we reviewed it and we identified that I need to take the boys on this season and not fire them up, but show a bit of seniority,” new Cornwall captain Bayley Wiggins said.
The team’s been bolstered by 21-year-old Sussex county professional George Thomas, who’ll open the batting with the explosive Logan Ryniker-Doull.
A knee injury kept Ryniker-Doull out of action last summer, but there’s few better strikers of a cricket ball in Hawke’s Bay than him.
Thomas, who opened for England at the 2022 under-19 world cup and strikes at 82.57 in List A cricket, is also a more than handy medium pacer.
Wiggins predicts the opening pair will be “good watching” for teammates and spectators in 50-over, Twenty20 and two-day cricket this summer.
The competition hasn’t featured two-day fixtures since the 2009/10 season and Wiggins is as excited as anyone about their return.
“Two-day cricket’s where you learn as a unit and you grow. That’s how combinations are made and where people develop,” Wiggins said.
Cornwall host Havelock North on Saturday, who have a new skipper of their own.
Englishman Kane Addison has assumed the role from Sam Cassidy, whose university commitments and regular selection at higher levels left a bit of a leadership void last summer.
Tertiary study will limit how much cricket the likes of Oscar Mabin, Lovepreet Padda and George Mowat play at the start of the season, but Addison’s confident the club can cope.
“I’d say we’re looking stronger this season. We’ve added a bit more depth,” Addison said.
“We won one competition last year, so we’re thinking let’s go further and win a couple at least.”
English allrounder Aidan Golding will be relied upon to provide some of that depth, while the return from injury of Harry Ghodke is a welcome one.
As ever, the team everyone’s out to beat will be Tech. Former Central Districts age-group and Manawatu allrounder Bayley Latter should more than fill the hole left by Beale, otherwise Tech should be as strong as ever once everyone’s fit.
James Rawnsley has had back surgery, while opening batter Harrison Woolley is out with a rotator cuff problem.
Such was the partnership Woolley and Christian Leopard struck up last summer, that few teammates got much meaningful batting last summer. Tech skipper Todd Watson says the batting order might become a bit more flexible to avoid guys getting out of nick although, with Rawnsley and Woolley injured, their hand has been forced in that direction anyway.
Watson is unapologetic in saying Tech covets both the overall and Shrimpton titles this summer, as well as finishing a bit better than third in the T20s. His own personal aspirations are more modest.
Still the quickest and most penetrative bowler in town on his day, Watson’s battled a persistent shoulder injury in recent seasons. Everything is in working order right now, but the challenge is keeping it that way.
“All going well, hopefully I’ll still be capable of bowling after Christmas. That’s my goal, because I haven’t done that for the last couple of years,” Watson said.
Tech meets traditional rivals Napier Old Boys Marist at Nelson Park this weekend.
Marist has lost experienced campaigners Bronson Meehan, Josh Paerau and Vance Morris, but do hope to have English professional Charlie Caslake arrive within a week or so.
Pritpal Singh will captain the side this summer, which has been buoyed by the recruitment of Mitch Innes and Charlie Furlong from Napier Boys’ High School.
“I feel like everyone wants to play cricket and have fun, so I don’t think morale will be an issue. Everyone wants to be there and everyone wants to win and give it their best and the team culture is really good this season,” Singh said.
The skipper’s hopeful medium pacer Ethan Madden can continue his development, but much of the team’s success will depend on Singh himself. Few players improved as much as Singh did last summer, putting a much higher price on his wicket and always being a threat with the ball.
Once pretty loose outside off stump, Singh became a much more compact and productive player.
“It’s definitely hard to change your natural style, but it’s just a mindset thing. I changed my mindset and have really tried to be that senior player who digs in,” Singh said.
That leaves CHB, who look as equipped as anyone for the addition of two-day cricket to the schedule.
Even though, as CHB captain Dominic Thompson said, it’s been so long since the Hawke’s Bay competition featured two-innings matches “that a lot of guys would’ve chucked their white pads out years ago”.
Opener Henry Collier should be available on a fairly regular basis and, along with Thompson, Thomas Zohrab and returning Sussex county allrounder Danial Ibrahim, form part of one of the better top-orders around.
Thompson says CHB has become accustomed to the fact “we aren’t always going to have our best XI on the park”, which means trying to accumulate points before the representative season starts.
Finalists in the Murray McKearney Memorial Cup Twenty20 competition, CHB qualified for the semifinals of the Shrimpton competition last summer as well. While “we didn’t have any trophies to show for our success”, Thompson was satisfied with the season and is confident CHB can be in contention again this time around.
NTOB: Christian Leopard, Todd Watson (C), Harrison Woolley, Andrew Rawnsley, James Rawnsley, Samuel Pawson, Charlie Pawson, Baylee Foote, Bayley Latter, Tyler Annand, Prasanna Senarathne, Liam McCarthy, Harry Beale, Hamish James, Izaiah Lange, Corey Leopard, Jack Smidt, Jayden Lennox, Manorath Gohil, Toby Findlay, Naveen Samarakkodi.
Cornwall: Logan Doull, Jono Whitley, Bayley Wiggins (C), Bailey McDonald, Koji Hardgrave, Josh Fairbrother, Liam Hall, Jayden Wiggins, Sim Yiba, Jed Greville, Bryce Green, George Thomas, James Church, Braden Reeve, Thomas Hall, Matt Mullany, Joshua Jenkins, Dylan Nel, Ryan Miller.
NOBM: Ben Harris, Pritpal Singh (C), Kulwant Singh, Mathew Sinclair, Daniel Evans, Finn Diphorn, Jacob Murdoch, Reid McGrath, Reilly Hannan, Ethan Madden, Charlie Caslake, Mitch Innes, Charlie Furlong, Sam Pieterse, PJ Singh, Joban Singh, Max Healey.
Taradale: Luke Kenworthy (C), Sachin Jayawardena, Callum Hewetson, Jacob Cotter, Ollie Beale, Steven Phillips, Ethan Green, Ben Stoyanoff, Angus McKnight, Josh Young, Charlie Geange, Shea Bentley, Vance Morris, Nadun Pathirana.
CHB: Dominic Thompson (C), Hamish Lewis, Thomas Zohrab, Toby Richardson, Shaun Newland, Charlie Robson, Craig Lawrence, Henry Collier, George Collin, Angus Jaspers, Sam Chrystall, Finn Reid, Danial Ibrahim, Fred Mowat, Charlie Lourie, Gordy Chatfield, Matt Butcher, Harry Clinton-Baker, Max Devonshire, Rupert Smith, Angus Schaw.
Havelock North: Kane Addison (C), Taylor Bettelheim, Sam Cassidy, Lovepreet Padda, Oscar Mabin, Cam Hart, Harry Ghodke, Aidan Golding, Baljeet Singh Ranu, George Mowat, Quin Stephens, Monty Field, Sunil Kumar, Paul Boardman, Bruno Moriarity, Luke McNally, Sam Parbhu, Freddie Ives, Fergus Benefield, Wilf Bartlett, Jacob Holder, Tom Caveney, Peter Connell, Joey Field.
Reusable cups replaced 1500 single-use ones at this year’s triathlon.
Hawke’s Bay club cricket: Taradale and Tech looking to build a legacy – NZ Herald
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