Composed and skilful under pressure

All-round excellence: Campion all-rounder Blake Marshall took three wickets and scored the winning runs in the C Grade cricket final at Harry Barker Reserve yesterday.Picture by Paul Rickard

CRICKET

Looks can be deceiving.

That’s how it was in the C Grade cricket final at Harry Barker Reserve yesterday.

Campion College beat Gisborne Boys’ High School by five wickets, and it was true grit — character — that saw them home.

Blake Marshall can bat anywhere in the top half of the order but his 11 not out at No.6 (including four, all run, to win the game off a free hit) and the 10-run stand he had with No.7 Luke Hurlstone (2 not out), were testament to composure and skill under pressure.

Boys’ High had won the toss and been dismissed for 72 in 34.4 overs.

Marshall took 3-21 off eight overs with his seamers. His dismissals included a one-handed return catch off Daniel Watts.

He had support from Campion captain and left-arm orthodox spinner Edward Fili-Weti (2-4 off 3.4) and leg-spinner Liam Barbier (2-14 off eight).

All three of these bowlers displayed admirable control with a wet ball.

Boys’ High skipper Daniel Stewart (15 runs off 31 balls), Luke Fisher (13 from 34) and Cohen Loffler (10 off 31), all batsmen with the ability to play shots, had to graft for their runs.

The most productive partnership for Boys’ High was the 23-run fifth-wicket stand of Stewart and Fisher. They took the score from 40 to 63.

In Campion’s innings, Fili-Weti, batting at No.5, hit the only boundary of the final. A strong striker, he top-scored with 26 off 31 balls.

“Our bowlers executed well,” he said.

“Max Briant (1-8 off five overs) was good.

“But our batting effort was average. Liam Spring (9) and I got together (39 for the fourth wicket), and that brought our run rate up from two runs an over to four.”

Campion had lost three wickets for 14 runs in 6.5 overs when Fili-Weti joined second-drop Spring.

Boys’ High vice-captain Matthew Foster (2-11 off seven overs), left-arm paceman Travis O’Rourke (2-14 off five) and Patrick Brownlie (1-15 off three) all took wickets.

Campion’s Barbier and Boys’ High’s Foster were their teams’ most consistent bowlers in terms of line and length.

O’Rourke bowled Campion opener Nathan Proctor (1) with a beauty that took the bails, and Foster scattered Fili-Weti’s stumps to bring Hurlstone to the crease.

Boys’ High wicketkeeper Jack Whitehead-McKay held catches off O’Rourke and Foster to account for Briant and Spring, although Marshall’s one-handed reflex catch for a caught-and-bowled dismissal of Daniel Watts was the fielding play of the day.

“The game was played in good spirit,” Stewart said.

“We could have made more runs, but both teams had tough times with the bat and 72 ended up being a hard total to chase.

“The longer form of the game on grass means deviation of the ball off the pitch. It’s a better test of our cricket skills because on an artificial surface you know what’s going to happen. On grass, batsmen and bowlers have to adjust.”

Campion coach and old boy Mark Naden said: “It was awesome for our young men to play on the rep wicket. Having to field, our bowlers had to keep the pressure on. Maybe losing the toss helped us.

“Liam and Edward held up strongly in the middle of our innings; Blake and Luke finished it off.

“I want to thank Poverty Bay Cricket, Rowan Clark of Recreation Services, Andrew Turner and Tom Cairns of Boys’ High, and Chris Hurlstone and Brendan Spring, who’ve taken our Campion boys every Wednesday.

“And it was a privilege to have a legend like Lance Cairns there to watch the game.”