B Grade T20 wins to Ngatapa, HSOB in Poverty Bay club cricket

A couple of young cricketers watch Gisborne Boys' High First XI up against OBR from the stand in a Poverty Bay Premier Grade club cricket game at Harry Barker Reserve.

Durability thy name is Ollie Jonasen.

The Pioneer Ngatapa Green Caps opener carried his bat for 62, the highest individual score and best knock in Round 2 of Senior B Grade T20 club cricket.

On the hottest playing day of the season so far - 28C - the hard-hitting Jonasen shared a 64-run stand with Brent Gallagher (31) for the fifth wicket out of a total 144-8 in a 26-run win against Gisborne Boys’ High School Second XI.

Having been inserted on Harry Barker Reserve 2 by GBHS captain Kobe Donnelly, Jonasen mixed watchful defence and lusty thumping of the loose ball to the boundary. He hit nine boundaries.

EJ Nepe (11) was run out with the score at 28. Ten balls later off-spinner Donnelly (1-18 off four overs) bowled Anish Shivdikar (1) and young inswing bowler Callum McInnes (1-22-3) had Tim Fox (1) caught by Jack Williams off the first ball of his spell.

Ngatapa were 3-42 at that stage, though still with their skipper and best batsman Charles Morrison to come in at 10.

Boys’ High made the roughest start imaginable to their chase for 145.

Pranash Senthooran fell to a legside catch first ball of the second innings. His fellow left-hander and opening partner - adult player Kavidu Withanage - made 18 as the young side fought back from 4-7.

Donnelly scored 39 not out at No 6 and was severe on any Green Caps bowler who strayed on to his pads. He shared a 41-run stand for the eighth wicket with Cody McMurray (12) as the students got to 118-8.

Medium-pacers Mark Kennedy (4-26-4) and Anish Shivdikar (2-9-2) were Ngatapa’s best. Kennedy was teasingly accurate.

“Boys’ High bowled and fielded well,” Morrison said. “For us, Ollie, Brent, Mark, Shivdikar and others stepped up with bat and ball. It was a good game in the end.”

Brad Reynolds remains a good cricketer.

The ex-Pirate played a dab hand for Bollywood High School Old Boys’ Presidents with an unbeaten 22 as fifth man to bat in a seven-wicket win against Moshim’s Spice Horouta Te Waka Presidents.

He signed off with two fours - a cover drive and a straight drive - and a pull shot for six to decide the contest in 10.3 overs.

Presidents’ Hiren Bhatti, (37), at the top of the list, and second-drop Matthew Jefferd (22) were the other major contributors in HSOB’s total of 102-3.

Matt Kotuhi took 2-23-3 for Te Waka.

Presidents captain Glen Udall won the toss on HBR 4 and chose to bowl.

Horouta were bowled out for 99 in 16.4 overs, first-drop PJ Dagg making a brisk 22 off 21 balls and left-handed No 2 Thedchanamoorthy Senthooran compiling 20 in 30 balls.

Senthooran and the dangerous Stanley Blake fell to McKenzie Potts-Tyro (2-14-3) - Blake’s wicket being among the most highly prized in the grade.

Potts-Tyro’s fellow medium-pacer Bradley Clark took 2-15-3.

The return of a superb off-spinner in Jackson Donovan-Monteith to cricket this season points happily to Udall’s Blues embracing spin, a real fillip and boon for the competition.

HSOB leg-spinner Nathan Quimpo (1-15-2) bowled “B” Grade stalwart Clarence Campbell - normally a deflector and nudger of the ball into gaps - for 16 off 18 balls, demonstrating the effectiveness of spin bowling even against its own practitioners.