HSOB Pressies out to trump consistent OBR

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Both clubs will be up for it when OBR take on HSOB Presidents in Hope Cup club cricket at Harry Barker Reserve tomorrow.

And while the Craig Christophers-led Rawhiti Legal Old Boys Rugby are unbeaten and lead the six-team Senior B competition with 18 points after six rounds, Bollywood HSOB Presidents want to win this match more than any other.

HSOB (fourth on the table) will be without destructive opening bowler Jason Lines, who has another sporting commitment.

They can also expect heat from OBR paceman Lloyd van Zyl and his strong supporting cast of canny Amit Vyas and left-arm seamers George Reynolds and Jannie Jacobs.

HSOB have a skilful left-armer of their own in Baljeet Sandhu as well as out-swing from Jake Theron.

Both sides can bat but OBR's run-makers have been far more consistent although HSOB would be heartened by Israel Turner's sprightly 45 from 60 balls at the top of the order against defending champions Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps a week ago.

“OBR are an excellent side. They have depth with bat and ball, put up good totals and defend those with good catching,” said HSOB captain and wicketkeeper Ollie Needham, who faces a fitness test before tomorrow.

■ Mel Knight does a lot for cricket.

She is the founder and coach of the Tairawhiti Women's Cricket Club in the colts and junior colts grades, coaches the Poverty Bay girls' secondary schools team and last — but by no means least — will lead third-placed Horouta against bottom-of-the-table GBHS seconds.

“We feel very good after our solid performance and win against Campion but there's still plenty of room for improvement,” said Knight, whose daughter Kayley and another in-form pace bowler, Piumal Madasanka, will be key figures.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Clarence Campbell has the ability to winkle out an unsuspecting Boys' High batsman or two and Knight senior will steer The Waka not just on the field but from the middle with bat in hand at No.3.

Boys' High under Dylan Foster have grown as a team but bar their 244-5 v HSOB on the tiny boundaries of Nelson Park a fortnight ago, the youngest team in senior club cricket have been short of runs. Year 11 all-rounders such as Daniel Watts have the capacity to score 40-plus, as he did last season, and with one or two other contributions would make the clash on HBR 4 interesting.

■ Second-placed Ngatapa and fifth-placed Campion College will be fun to watch.

Despite conceding only four runs an over in the course bowling six overs on the trot to open up last weekend against The Waka, Campion player-coach Mark Naden will hand the new ball back to Blake Marshall.

“Our mission with the ball remains the same — to bowl six in a row top of off and all of us field our hearts out,” said Naden.

“We also want at least 10 runs from each of our batsmen with hopefully a couple of them going on to get big scores.”

Ngatapa captain Mike Gibson confirmed key players such as all-rounder and the competition's leading bowler Grant Walsh and classy 'keeper Simon Wilson were unavailable.

Campion have a winnable game to play on 3.