Rupertswood reigns in the Gisborne and District Cricket Association B-grade competition after a comprehensive grand final win over St Anthonys.
Rupertswood was well and truly in control of the match at its home ground after the previous weekend and didn’t take long to wrap it up on Saturday.
St Anthonys resumed at 5-80, chasing 212, and was quickly in even deeper trouble when Rupertswood grabbed an early wicket.
From there it was plain sailing for Rupo with St Anthonys skittled for 109.
Only Lucas Alaimo offered any resistance with 57.
For Rupertswood captain-coach John Lane, the win completed a journey back to the top grade which started after the team was relegated from the McIntyre Cup in 2012-13.
“It’s exciting to be premiers and back in McIntyre,” Lane said.
“Aaron [Forward] bowled a treat with his eight overs and put us in the box seat so we could win comfortably.”
Despite being in apparent control, Lane said there was a small change of game plan during the week.
“We decided to bowl straighter to their guys who liked to free their arms a little bit,” he said.
“Aaron and Brandon Webber bowled from one end and I bowled nine overs from the other and they couldn’t get us away.”
Kyahl Anderson was named man of the match for his 76 made on day one after coming into the senior team in only the final round of the season.
“He batted at four and had only played one game for us during the year,” Lane said.
“He’d played first XI for us before and made three hundreds in the thirds, but his restricted availability meant he couldn’t play a lot of first XI cricket.
“Once we knew he was qualified for finals, we started feeding him balls in the first XI net to get him ready to play in the top team and hoped he would get runs.”
The premiership ends Lane’s time as captain-coach. After being in charge when Rupo dropped from McIntyre Cup, he returned this season because of “unfinished business”.
“I’ve fulfilled my commitment to get them back into McIntyre Cup,” he said.
“The club is in a good position and someone else will have the opportunity to lead them in McIntyre. I’ll still play some cricket next year, but I won ’t have the same commitments as this season.”
