“As well as being a good opener Scott’s a good motivator.
“It’s going to be tough. High School Old Boys are a good side, and we’re still not at full strength. We’re waiting on our uni boys.
“But if we can pick up some early wickets and hold the catches, who knows?”
In Gisborne Girls’ High School bowler Tayla Hollis, Pirates have one of the most promising young cricketers in the district.
Hollis picked up three wickets last weekend.
“Tayla’s got plenty of energy and good pace, and is hard to get away (score runs off),” Hayes said.
Bollywood HSOB will not have their main strike bowler Jak Rowe, who has work commitments, or “senior pro”, wicketkeeper and opening batsman Glen Udall, who will be out of town.
“Jak and Glen are big losses,” said HSOB captain Scott Tallott, who will take over as keeper.
“Jak can knock the top off any team and if he’s not taking wickets he keeps the runs down.
“Glen’s got so much experience and he brings a good culture into the team.
“It’s important we get a win this weekend, for points and for a psychological edge . . . we know Pirates will be stronger once the uni boys come back.”
Tallott said he was pleased with new additions Jarrod Renouf (formerly of Gisborne Boys’ High School) and Sasha Drain (formerly of OBR).
“Jarrod’s quick, has a good arm in the field and hits the ball cleanly. Sasha’s only 17 and shows promise as a bowler.
“We gave him the new ball last week and he didn’t look too flash first up, but he came back well in his second spell.”
¦ Gisborne Boys’ High School coach Ben O’Brien-Leaf will be without Jack Faulkner for the game against Horouta.
“Paul Stewart and Jacob Colbert will lead the bowling attack and both bowl good line and length,” O’Brien-Leaf said.
“Peter Kapene has taken 10 wickets for us so far this season and Adam Whibley is developing as a left-arm spinner.
“Other bowlers may also get the opportunities they deserve shortly.
“With no second 11, our squad is larger, and I’ll be looking for our batsmen to make good runs.”
For Coastal Ultrasound Horouta, Vishal Amin, Mel Knight and Bryan Forde are unavailable. But Horouta will have Blake Taylor and Vaughan Thompson, who missed last week’s win against Campion.
Taylor returns from Otago University to captain the side.
“We’ll be looking to improve in all areas as Boys’ High are a useful unit,” Horouta club captain and opener Greg Taylor said.
¦ CAMPION College may have lost their two Twenty20 games and one Doleman Cup clash to date but player-coach Mark Naden has not lost his sense of humour, as his side prepare to face OBR, who posted 299-4 against Pirates last week.
“OBR will be tough but we owe those old fellas . . . last time we met we got eight ducks and talked ourselves out of the game,” Naden said.
“This time we will work on technique, moving our feet to the ball and building an innings. We’ll back our defence and wait for the bad ball . . . when the old fellas get tired.”
Naden said some positives came out of the loss to Horouta last week.
“Once again our fielding and bowling were good,” he said.
“We restricted Horouta to 169 off 40 overs.
“Max Briant got 5-16 off five overs, Luke Hurlstone continued his good form with 2-23 off eight overs, and Nathan Andrews was unlucky not to get more.
“Nathan led the fielding with his speed around the boundary and willingness to dive on every ball within reach.
“We’re having the best training turnouts we’ve had for years and the boys are keen.”
Bain Construction OBR club captain Ian Loffler said it was great to see a young side like Campion competing.
“I’m sure they’ll improve with Mark’s coaching over the season,” Loffler said.
“We’re just hoping to get some early-season form and build as the season goes on.”
