Schoolboy seamer Henry Conway has saved his best 'til last, bowling a fiery four-over spell which yielded stunning season-best figures as Tauranga Boys' College romped to the Lonestar Baywide Twenty20 premier title at Mt Maunganui's Bay Oval on Saturday.
After totting up an impressive 163-5 after grabbing first use ofa good batting strip, Tauranga Boys' made an emphatic run at the title by rolling Rotorua's top club side Central for a meagre 68 with 27 balls to spare.
Conway was near unplayable at times, getting prodigious in-swing to bag 4-13 from his four overs in a man of the match performance.
He wasn't the only Boys' College bowler to shine, with left-arm seamer Tom Clout going wicketless early before returning to end the match early with 3-12 from 3.3 overs, including two in consecutive balls in the 13th over.
Spinner Tom MacRury, who hit 29 runs at the top of the innings for the schoolboys, took the other three wickets to fall, finishing with 3-23 from four.
Conway, who is in Year 13, sent the middle pole cartwheeling for his final two scalps but downplayed his effort, saying he was more stoked with finishing the club season on a high.
"With the boys' effort with the bat the bowlers could attack from the start without having to worry about the runs so much."
Central were lashed early in the field, with player/coach Mark Orchard (47) and MacRury putting on 55 for the first wicket before Orchard and another teacher, Charles Williams (29), hit 45 for the second wicket. Central reeled in the Boys' College batsmen for a bit before the long handle re-emerged late in the innings. Ben Watkinson took 3-40 for the visitors.
Conway said they went into the innings thinking 150 would be close to a winning score, so to get a handful more put an extra spring in the bowlers' step.
Needing 8.2 runs an over from the get-go, Central were on the back foot, losing their first wicket in the second over. Conway picked up a wicket with his third ball, setting the tone for a sublime spell that brought him wickets in each of his next three overs as well.
Central skipper Peter Wood's 42 stood like a beacon, with his side's next best dig a paltry 7 and the last three batsmen out for ducks."We never had a sniff today and that opening partnership [between MacRury and Orchard] out us out of the game, before [Conway] tore our top out."
