Boys’ High lead Senior B pack

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The Gisborne Boys’ High School second 11 leads the pack heading into Round 2 of the Hope Cup.

The youngest team in Senior B Grade club cricket won the local derby with the Campion College first 11 by 40 runs on Saturday.

Last season GBHS (2) won only one game, by 10 runs against then-defending champions the Bollywood High School Old Boys Presidents, at Harry Barker Reserve on February 26.

Boys’ High won this season’s opening game with at least two key principals from that remarkable win once again prominent: Lukas Fry, as captain, and left-handed wicketkeeper-batsman Kavindu Withanage (who made 54 in the clash last year and 45 not out on Saturday).

Withanage, in at No.3, and wristspin bowler Dylan Torrie (6-11 in six overs) shared the MVP (most valuable player) award for Boys’ High and were outstanding, with Fry making the point that every team member contributed to Saturday’s win.

Fry won the toss and opted to bat first on an excellent No.2 wicket at Harry Barker Reserve.

Boys’ High reached 123-9 in 30 overs on the back of Withanage’s unbeaten 45.

Campion’s game-day captain, Rhys Grogan, took 2-13 from six overs and left-armer Manjot Singh, 2-19 from four.

Singh, steady with the ability to swing the ball at medium pace, was once described by his coach Mark Naden as “a silent assassin who prefers his actions — rather than words — do the talking”.

Campion MVP Connor Starck replaced Grogan and took 1-24. His tight line tested all of the Boys’ High batsmen.

Campion were without regular skipper Hamish Swann and Boys’ High were without all-rounder Nathaniel Fearnley, Ben Langford, Caleb Taewa and Malsha Mahabalage.

However, young prospects such as Campion left-arm pace bowler Charlie Whitfield (2-22 in six overs) and Boys’ High off-spinner Ted Gillies (1-7 in 3.2 overs) took the opportunities on offer intelligently.

Dan Baillie, a much-improved wicketkeeper-batsman who retains the ability to bowl a good leg-break, scored 14 from No.1 for Campion; Starck, at second drop, scored 24.

Baillie was the college’s best technically correct batsman on show, and ran hard between wickets; Starck is a fair striker of the ball. Both looked dangerous in the run chase.

For Boys’ High, Withanage rode his luck with the bat and Torrie spun the ball up on to a great length, which was the secret of his success.

Campion player-coach Jonty Fenn said: “Dan and Connor looked good with the bat for us but Kavi’s 45 was the standout performance in that game.

“We always look forward to facing Boys’ High — that was a good game of cricket.”