Pukekohe Metro Cricket Club has completed the perfect season by winning the W.H Taylor Shield to fill their trophy cabinet with all four major championships this summer.
Earlier in the season they won the Inder Lynch T20 tournament, the Duthie Cup one-day competition and the Spark Regional Competition that includes teams from Counties Manukau, Hamilton and Waikato Valley.
An outright win over Papakura on Saturday handed Pukekohe Metro an unassailable lead at the top of the standings.
Marcel Marconi’s 6/68 and 3/35 from skipper Cameron Hardwick did the damage for the visitors on the final day as they bowled Papakura out for 214 in their second innings.
Pukekohe Metro achieved their target for the loss of just four wickets.
“I couldn’t be happier with the boys – we stuck at it all season,” Pukekohe Metro skipper Cameron Hardwick said.
“We just took each competition as it came. We won the big moments and all the boys stood out in each individual game.
“I think it is just our hunger to win. It has just be brought up in the Pukekohe Metro system – we play aggressive cricket and we always play to win and we back ourselves 100 percent.
“We have the talent, we have the culture and we have a real good group. Hopefully we can stick together for another couple of years and keep going.”
Karaka and Manukau City played out a draw in the other match, with neither side able to force an outright result to keep pressure on Pukekohe – not that it mattered in the long run.
Manukau City got within 38 runs of Karaka’s first innings total, thanks to 97 from Richard Faust. Karaka’s Michael Schofield finished with 5/82.
Karaka then made 156/7 before declaring and setting up a run chase for the home side.
After losing early wickets, Manukau City was forced to try and hang on for the draw and they survived to reach 87/7 by stumps. Sandeep Patel left 40 not out.
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