Campion reap fruits of their improvement

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

CRICKET

Comprehensive — such was Campion College’s 31-run win against Gisborne Boys’ High School in Round 5 of T20 C Grade cricket at Nelson Park on Wednesday.

Campion won the toss and made 168-4, with captain Max Briant (33 retired from No.1), No.5 Blake Marshall (31 retired), No.7 Nathan Andrews (30 retired), second drop Liam Spring (29 retired) and No.6 Luke Hurlstone (27 not out) being the chief run-scorers.

Vice-captain Matthew Foster (1-39 off four overs) and fellow right-arm seamers Ben Phelps (1-18 off three) and Patrick Brownlie (1-22 off three) all took wickets for Boys’ High.

Boys’ High reached 137-7. No.6 Cohen Loffler (32 retired), first drop Foster (16 retired), wicketkeeper-batsman and No.5 Jack Whitehead-McKay (16) and No.10 DJ Penfold (16) had to work hard for their runs.

Campion are a vastly improved team, containing key members of the first 11 who came within two wickets of upsetting Gisborne Boys’ High School in last Sunday’s Hope Cup final.

Year 7 student Rhys Grogan (2-10 off two overs), leg-spinner Liam Barbier (1-7 off one), Briant (1-10 off four), Andrews (1-18 off three) and Hurlstone (1-21 off three) all bowled well.

Grogan knocked Whitehead-McKay over with the first ball of his second over and Briant’s tight line and extra bounce made it difficult to score runs.

The fielding was tight, Loffler and Whitehead-McKay applying themselves with the bat against a good pace attack.

Loffler is a good player who hits the ball well and is working hard to keep it on the ground.

“Rhys picked up two wickets on debut with other bowlers chipping in too,” Briant said.

“My team are improving every week, conceding few extras (17) relative to the grade, posting larger totals (168-4, as opposed to 127-7 in the first meeting) and restricting the opposition batsmen. My team can finish this competition on a high.”

Primary boys beat GGHSWhile the big news on Wednesday was Campion’s win against the previously unbeaten Boys’ High, Round 5 also saw the Primary team chase down Gisborne Girls’ High School’s 87-6 with four wickets in hand.

The girls made 87-6, with player-coach Mel Knight top-scoring with 17.

Primary Boys’ left-arm seamer Lukas Fry (2-11 off four overs), right-arm medium-pacer Henry Watson (1-6 off two) and left-arm orthodox spinner Campbell Steele (1-13 off three) were all in good form with the ball.

For the Primary boys, Kelan Bryant hit six boundaries for 31 off 25 retired from No.1, while his captain Sebastian Wilson made 25 from 25, retired, batting at 4.

Bryant is very capable and Wilson has the potential to be a match-winning all-rounder.

Girls’ High captain Kayley Knight (1-15 off three) said: “We won the toss but didn’t score enough runs, although everyone chipped in. Our bowlers struggled for consistency a little bit.”

Wilson said: “This was our best match-effort so far — we were very efficient.”