Muri won the women’s title in the Rarotonga Cricket Club competition after a close win against neighbours Turangi in the final at Raemaru Park.

Cancy Maro singlehandedly dashed Turangi’s hope of reclaiming the title after guiding Muri to a two wicket win on Saturday.

Maro bowled superbly in the opening inning, picking up five wickets from her four overs, conceding only a single run and four wides. In the second inning, she played a pivotal role in bringing stability to Muri’s chase (17 not out) to help them win the title.

Muri who won the toss elected to field first sending Turangi to bat on a slow Raemaru pitch.

Turangi openers Ina Willie and Josephine Monga struggled at the start of the inning but when they started finding a rhythm for a strong partnership, Maro stepped in dismissing Monga 1 for 22 runs.

Turangi recovered quickly with Nina Ioane coming in to form a decent partnership with Willie before losing her wicket for 2-40.

Muri’s bowlers led by Maro wrecked Turangi’s middle order batters with the latter side managing to get some much-needed runs from their tail enders before they were all out for 101.

Muri made a decent start to their chase led by opener Margaret Simiona who combined well with Maro (on number six) to reach the target in the 17^th over.

Turangi bowlers led by Annie Taufahema and Willie, who grabbed three wickets each, caused a worry for the Muri side when they destroyed their middle order hitters, dismissing a couple on a duck.

Muri coach Makiroa Mato hailed Maro for her superb performance that earned her the player of the match award.

“Cancy is our main bowler and I wanted to use her in the middle inning because I know Turangi had some good middle order batters and we needed an experienced bowler to get them out. It worked,” Mato said.

She also explained their reason to bowl first on a soft pitch. “We wanted to see how the pitch plays out and also our strength has been chasing the score. The opening inning gave us an idea on how to deal with the ball … the ball was coming fast but once it bounced, it slowed down,” Mato said.

“The directive was to win singles (in the second inning), we have 20 overs to play and can win the game with singles. The batters were advised to block any straight ball and go for a hit if the ball was coming slightly to the leg side. But I guess some of the middle order batters were eager to go hard and probably get it done early that’s why we lost some key wickets but with Maro providing some stability, we managed to get it in the end.”

Mato said the final was a “heart stopping” affair.

“I’m humbled and honoured to coach these group of players and proud of their achievement.

“Hats off to the Turangi side, they got a very young side and in the next few years they will be the ones to watch out for.”

In the men’s final, Arorangi Redbacks maintained their unbeaten run throughout the season beating Turangi by four wickets in a tense final.