High School Old Boys still unbeaten

Record still intact: HSOB's Dave Castle grabbed three wickets to contribute to his team's unbeaten DJ Barry Cup run this season. HSOB beat OBR by eight wickets on Saturday to make it four wins from four games. Picture by Paul Rickard

HIGH School Old Boys have retained their unbeaten record in this season's DJ Barry Cup cricket competition with a convincing eight-wicket victory over OBR.

After bowling out Coastal Concrete OBR for 150 in the 42nd over, Bollywood Stars HSOB raced to victory at a rate of almost a run a ball.

OBR had to survive on scraps. Opener Josh Adams provided their batting highlight with 47 runs before he was caught just shy of his half-century off the bowling of Marshall Norris.

After Adams's strong start, handy contributions came from David Gray (26) and Nick Greeks (19), but OBR weren't able to make lasting partnerships.

As wickets fell, OBR's run rate slowed. No over went for more than eight runs and they struggled to find traction.

The HSOB bowling attack forced OBR to make their own runs. Their tight line and length allowed only six extras.

Spinner Dave Castle was the best of the bunch, bowling 10 overs for just 16 runs, with three maidens. His three wickets included danger men Greeks and Gray.

The HSOB innings was a no-nonsense affair as they looked to punish OBR for their mistakes.

Captain Carl Shaw made an unbeaten 39 opening the batting with Baxter Mackay, who made a handy 22 before being caught in the slips by Nick Greeks off the bowling of Ian Loffler.

Scott Tallott, batting at No.3, put in his best performance of the season. He raced to 64 runs in just 66 balls before he was dismissed off the spin of Daniel Stewart.

The two wickets they took were the only real highlights for OBR in the HSOB innings.

Castle (20 not out) chimed in with a 34-run partnership to finish the job with Shaw, who hit the winning runs in style with a boundary.

Shaw said he was happy with the team's performance and how they stepped up.

“The way Dave (Castle) and Dan (Torrie) tightened the screws and picked up consistent wickets was the key to the total staying low,” he said.

“I'm really proud of the low extras count, too. That was an aspect we wanted to improve on and did.”

He said the batting performance was outstanding, with Mackay starting it off “perfectly”.

“Scott came in and showed his talent, winning us the game. Scott's innings was really patient and very low risk, but he still had a strike rate near 100, which goes to show his talent.

“I think if we carry on in the same vein and make the small improvements, take all our catches and are a little tighter in the field, we'll be well placed to get to the final.”

Greeks said he was “really happy” with the start they made through Loffler and Adams in their innings, but it wasn't enough down the stretch.

“We just lacked intent and struggled to rotate the strike,” he said.

“With only 150 on the board, it was always going to be a struggle.

“We bowled well in patches but HSOB took the game away quickly with some positive batting.”