A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
The best thing Gisborne Boys' High School can do is to keep themselves small — stay under the radar.
But that is no longer possible. The GBHS first 11's re-entry to premier grade cricket led by Nathan Trowell came with a bang in the season-opener at Nelson Park on Saturday, Boys' High beating the David Situ-led Horouta by 99 runs.
Under their second-year skipper Carl Shaw, Bollywood Stars High School Old Boys won by three wickets against Coastal Concrete Old Boys Rugby.
OBR captain Ian Loffler and his capable crew will have another crack at HSOB in these traditional clubs' age-old rivalry on November 21.
Trowell was stoked with his fast-improving GBHS team's performance in Round 1 of the race for the Doleman Cup.
“We're loving our cricket at the moment,” he said. “The experience of the older players around us, their passion for the game is rubbing off on us. Our talk and skills in the field, ability to hit our lines and lengths, they've all come on. As a team, we were stoked with our batting effort — the hard work plus the win, that's all the motivation we need.”
The older players Nathan is referring to were player-coach and father Malcolm Trowell (who took two catches and effected two stumpings), left-hander Nicholas Hendrie, who batted at five, and opening bowler Josiah Turner.
Trowell senior wouldn't praise his outfit were they not deserving.
“First competition game up — the boys stuck to our game-plan and were superb.
“Luke Fisher (72 off 109 balls faced with four boundaries) and Sebastian Wilson (87 not-out off 61 balls with 11 fours and a six) were outstanding for us — Luke, from No.1, batted for 39.2 overs of the 40 possible,” said the coach.
“The fielding was top-notch. Cohen Loffler and big Max Briant threw themselves around and seamer Matt Foster (3-32-8) continued his excellent bowling form of our pre-season game against Horouta. There was intensity out there.”
GBHS won the toss, batted and made 227-3 in 40 overs. The Fisher-Loffler opening stand was worth 52, Loffler making a valuable 24.
No GBHS cricketer has shown more commitment to cricket than Fisher, who — along with Wilson — posted his first 50 in senior club cricket at the weekend.
Horouta medium-pacer Billy Morse bowled well to take 1-19 off eight overs. The Waka's spearhead, Tushar Balat (1-57 off eight), was the only other bowler to take a wicket in the innings, though his new ball partner Bruno Judd (0-20-6) was economical.
In the second innings, tight line and length were the keys to Foster's success with the 6'6” paceman Briant difficult to play on the high-bouncing artificial pitch. He took 1-10-4. Leg-spinner Liam Barbier (3-35-6) and off-spinner Daniel Stewart (2-26-5.2 overs) mopped up the tail. In that regard, not much beats a well-flighted leg-break and a genuine, hard-spun off-break.
No.11 Abdul Fahad (25 off 22) and Balat (20 from 32 at no.6) were Horouta's best with the bat and fought hard. Judd (16, in at 5) and Balat's stand of 41 for the fifth wicket was The Waka's biggest partnership in the second innings. Horouta is a side strong in seam bowling, and like the nine other club teams, will be happy to be back on the grass wickets of the Harry Barker Reserve for Round 2.
OBR and HSOB have always been fearsome competitors.
On Saturday, it was tidy bowling from Jagroop Singh (2-26-8) and his fellow medium-pacers that restricted a powerful OBR batting line-up to 189-8-40. That potentially tricky target, 189 being a mid-range target, HSOB ran down with seven wickets standing.
HSOB captain Carl Shaw having won the toss, Singh, left-armer Jak Rowe (1-26-8), Angus Orsler (1-30-8) all bowled out. Short-form cricket on an artificial pitch often entails either a thrashing for the bowlers, or hateful struggles for batsmen. Had the seamers been off, HSOB might have had to chase down 300 or more, but as it was, only all-rounder Dane Thompson (63 off 51 with two fours and five sixes, from no.6) really collared the bowlers.
Carl Carmody made 35 from 29 at three and gave glimpses of his stroke-making ability, while skipper Ian Loffler put up 25 from no.4. Loffler's influence on this promising OBR side will be a determining factor in their success.
OBR contain past Poverty Bay men's senior representatives who can turn a game, whether with the bat, the ball or in the field.
HSOB did bowl 19 wides, but imposing left-hander Shaw's run-a-ball 70 went a great way towards compensating for that. From No.1, he saw HSOB through to 142-5 in 28.1 overs before falling to former first-class pace bowler Cody Andrews making his exit. Before then, Baxter MacKay (19) and Scott Tallott (22) at 3 and 4 respectively had learnt enough batting support that their club was within sight of the finish line. Andrews took 2-31-7, Loffler 1-30-8; Thompson bowled eight high-quality overs — two of them maidens — for 27 runs, and was unlucky not to claim a scalp. His return to cricket in form is good news for the local game.
OBR also have, in left-arm orthodox spinner Nick Greeks and mercurial leg-spinner Jonny Purcell, valuable variety where a break from the seamers might do the trick.
Carl Shaw said: “That was an awesome game, against OBR. Everyone in our team had been looking forward to it for a while and it's always good to start against old rivals who also have a great squad. We knew it would be a challenge. Jak, and Angus bowled exceptionally well, in the beginning, at the death, while Jagroop held it together in the middle overs. Angus is an incredible addition to the squad. We're excited about his season and just playing more cricket.”
Ian Loffler is a student of cricket and not one to jump up and down after just one game.
“For us, there was a bit of rust, especially in the field. The game was there for the taking, but we didn't step up when we needed to. We'll learn from that,” said Loffler. “Being put in to bat was tough first up, but Dane and Carmo (Carmody) were good and we're building a squad.
Although we didn't win, we know our work-ons and the boys are keen to improve this weekend against Horouta.”