Broncos seamer Sam Patterson (1-23 off three overs) took the important wicket of Hendrie with the last ball he bowled and the wily Amit Vyas (1-7 off one) — he of the quick arm-action — was also excellent value. Operators like Vyas are often underestimated.
The Broncos were well on track to hand the Bail-Breakers their second loss of the season at 73-0 in 9.1 overs, before Jonathan Purcell fell for 33 off 24 balls and, with the score at 88, Craig Christophers was out for 41 off 39. The Broncos reached 102-5 in their 15 overs.
Medium-pacers Jimmy Holden (2-15 off three) and Rowe (1-22 off three) dismissed both Broncos openers. The game had swung against the Broncos, as evidenced by two run-outs.
Rowe said his side “batted smart”.
“Our bowlers were tight and bowled to the fields. Although we dropped three catches, we never let them get away on us.”
Rowe couldn’t name a man of the match on such a group effort but Christophers named first-change bowler Patterson for the Broncos.
“Sam bowled well,” Christophers said.
“The difference in the game was extras. We conceded 27, the Bail-Breakers conceded five and we lost by 13 runs.”
GLEN Udall can be happy with that.
The Bollywood Stars captain and Gisborne Intermediate School principal wanted a performance his side could be happy with and a confidence-boosting win to finish the round robin. A nine-wicket win against the Eagles was both.
“The most pleasing aspect was the contribution of some of our no-frills recruits,” Udall said.
“Our man of the match, Brad Reynolds, was devastating with 4-7-3,” said Udall.
“Credit too to our openers Franco Calucci and David Situ, for taking the game to the Eagles bowlers and batting with real aggression.”
Udall won the toss on HB4 and opted to bowl first: Reynolds aside, the Stars bowlers as a group were superb — Dane Thompson (1-11-3) set a high standard initially with Jagroop Singh (2-13-3) and Paul Stewart (2-21-3) hammering that home as the Eagles were bowled out for 69 in 14.3 overs. Carl Carmody top-scored for them with 11 — his fellow opener and captain the left-handed Matt Crampton was their second leading scorer with 10.
Situ (16 from 11) and Calucci (27 not-out off 12 balls) then made relatively short work of the chase: Ajay Kumar was unbeaten on 12 at the end. The Stars won the game in 4.5 overs.
“We started well but then it slipped away from us.” Crampton said.
“Our man of the match was seam bowler Sam Keogh, who bowled David Situ out, with 1-8 off his over.”
