Deferral opens the door

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Walker Shield Twenty20 cricket competition leaders Bain Construction OBR have deferred both their double-header T20 games tomorrow, due to having four players in the Bay team to play Waikato Valley this weekend.

That opens the door for their rivals, Bollywood Stars High School Old Boys and Gisborne Boys’ High School. They, like OBR, have won their first two T20 matches.

Boys’ High, without skipper Drew Scott, on rep duty, play Coastal Ultrasound Horouta at 1pm.

Meanwhile, Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates, yet to win a Walker Shield game this season, should open their account when they take on Campion College.

Pirates, who threw the form book out the window last week with a three-wicket victory over HSOB in their Doleman Cup 40-over clash, are missing Richie Needham, Brad Reynolds and Dan Torrie, but will play both games.

Although wicketkeeper/opening batsman Scott Hollinshead stole the show last week with a tidy display behind the stumps, backed up by an unbeaten 95 off 89 balls, there was a lot to admire about the efforts of Needham, Peter Stewart and Torrie.

Torrie came in at No.9 and batted with a broken right thumb and finished unbeaten on seven in a thrilling win.

Had the trio been available, Pirates would have been confident of taking maximum points in their game against Horouta at 3pm. With Needham, Reynolds and Torrie out, Horouta will fancy their chances.

HSOB will be without skipper and top-order batsman Scott Tallott and opening bowler Jak Rowe (rep duty) but should still be too strong for a young Campion side finding life difficult this season.

They are not short of enthusiasm and commitment but lack experience, apart from player-coach Mark Naden, his son Matt and medium-pacer Sam Patterson.