The inaugural Tararua Shield Final will be contested between Hutt Valley and Wellington City this Sunday at Karori Park.  This competition was set up to provide additional cricket for aspiring players that included Wairarapa and Manawatu.

Hutt Valley qualifies on top after going undefeated during the round robin phase while City had a mixed season experiencing a win, washout and loss to make the final. 

In the only Tararua Shield meeting between the two sides, Hutt Valley got up to secure a five wicket victory on the back of some solid batting by Taita’s Phil Tunnicliffe.  Tunnicliffe has had a good season with the bat for Hutt and will be a player the City team will need to remove early if they are to add the Tararua Shield to the Dempster Shield they won in January. 

The star of the Dempster Shield, Jamie Gibson from City, is back and has been in top form with a dominating display for Eastern Suburbs in the club one-day final held recently.

The game starts at 10:30am.

Hutt Valley v Wellington City
Karori Park
Wellington
10:30am

Wellington City
Lance Dry (captain)   Eastern Suburbs
Andrew Fletcher   Onslow
Ben Orton   Eastern Suburbs
Neeraj Chawla  North City
Barry Rhodes    Onslow
Harry Wright   Karori
Chamika Gajanayaka  Eastern Suburbs
Jamie Gibson   Eastern Suburbs
Dane Hutchinson  North City
Fraser Quartermann  Karori
Sean O’Connor  Onslow

Hutt Valley
Mark Houghton (captain) Taita
Nick Ward   Petone-Eastbourne
Matt Taylor   Upper Hutt
Fraser Colson   Hutt District
Phil Tunnicliffe   Taita
Henry Walsh   Taita
Kieran Lennon   Hutt District
Darren Cudby   Hutt District
Ollie Newton   Upper Hutt
Iain McPeake   Hutt District
Sam Fraser   Hutt District
Fergus Martin   Hutt District

Umpires
Evan Watkin
Garth Stirrat