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CRICKET
It never looked so good.
The 2019-2020 Hope Cup club cricket season opened on artificial pitches at Gisborne Intermediate School and Campion College the Sunday before last, but tomorrow returns to the quality grass wickets of the Harry Barker Reserve.
Coastal Ultrasound Horouta will make their debut against the Gisborne Boys’ High School Colts on the HBR practice block, which with its straight boundaries, could see bowlers who stray in line or length pay a steep price.
The Stirling Logging Ngatapa Green Caps, who vanquished Gisborne Boys’ by six wickets at Campion last week on the back of an unbeaten 50 by second-drop Jock Spence and 38 from No.3 Grant Walsh, play Campion on the No.3 ground.
The Isaac Hughes-led HSOB — who beat Campion by 125 runs courtesy of an undefeated 107 by Glen Udall, plus good bowling from seamer Mike Francis (4-11-6) and left-arm orthodox spinner Adam Whibley (2-16-6) — will play the reinstated OBR2 on Nelson Park No.4.
HSOB have former senior representatives of real ability and experience, such as Udall, and OBR2 — who are as yet an unknown quantity — will have to play well to cause what would be a real upset.
OBR2 lost three high school players (and their dads) at the start of the season. HSOB have a strong, varied bowling attack, set good fields and bat deep.
Campion will be without Max Briant for the game against Ngatapa, but his partner-in-crime with the new ball, Blake Marshall, is back.
Marshall bowled excellently a fortnight ago, conceding only 26 runs from six overs in the context of a game in which HSOB’s top-scorer hit four sixes and 13 fours.
Campion have two promising Year 8 seamers, recently named in the Poverty Bay boys’ primary team, and the College will need them to back up well from their 30-over games on Saturday morning.
Campion were bowled out for 96 in 26.1 overs in Round 1, but they are a much better side than that. Their former senior reps include big left-hander Darryl Dunn, who can still hit the ball a very long way and his dismissal was a huge moment in Game 1.
Boys’ High will once again field an all-schoolboys team for the Horouta match. Matt Foster — one of only two Y11s in the side — and Dan Watts made an outstanding start to the season line and length-wise. They bowled in a good channel around off-stump and were up to the bat. Strong left-armer Travis O’Rourke (right thumb injury) and Sebastian Wilson (volleyball trip) are unavailable, but Foster’s fellow Y11 Daniel Stewart will be on deck and he bowled good off-spin without luck (0-14-3) against Ngatapa, bearing in mind that the natural variation of grass makes a difference to all bowlers who are accurate.
All three 30-over Hope Cup games start at 2pm.