But stamina and confidence could be the great levellers, with McGuinness, Nathaniel Fearnley, Connor Starck, Keanu Makiri and Riker Rolls (all of HSOB) and Whitfield, Patrick McInnes, Johnathon Gray, Joel Kirkpatrick and Caleb Taewa (GBHS) having to back up from the week-long Northern Districts Emerging Rangatahi Tane tournament held here this week.
McGuinness was in commanding form on HBR1 at the weekend. His 70 was the highest individual score on the day as HSOB reached their target of 157 for the loss of seven wickets in the 34th over.
He got off the mark with a cover drive for four off OBR captain and seamer Matt Cook (2 wickets for 32 runs off 7 overs) and brought up his half-century with a pull shot to the mid-wicket boundary from off-spinner Daniel Stewart (2-29-8).
Both McGuinness (stumped by Tom Garrett) and Starck (lbw for 21) fell to the much-improved leg-spin bowling of 15-year-old Harvey Reynolds (2-3-3).
Reynolds backed up with the ball, having made a respectable top score for OBR of 29 in 63 balls.
HSOB, with only nine players, did remarkably well to dismiss OBR for 156 in 32.5 overs.
Left-arm orthodox spinner Rolls (2-28-8) bowled tightly, and there were solid contributions from medium pacers Starck (3-18-6.5s), Uday Charlee (3-20-3) and Tharuka Fernando (2-36-6).
The dismissal of left-handed opening batsman Martin Worndl (bowled by Starck for 16), hot off a match-winning unbeaten century against GBHS, was a seismic shift.
GBHS won the closest game of the competition to date to secure their berth in the showpiece, denying Horouta the chance of repeating their triple crown of titles from last season.
Gisborne Boys’ captain Charlie Whitfield was elated.
“We showed fight in both innings, held crucial catches, held our nerve when things got tight,” he said.
“Patrick McInnes and Caleb Taewa dug us out of a hole with both the bat and the ball, Johnathon Gray restricted the Horouta batsmen and built pressure for our other bowlers to take wickets, and Brandon Fearnley produced the moment of our season so far: his last delivery to Billy Morse was unplayable.
“All that being said, every player in a black shirt contributed to that win.”
With nine balls remaining, opening bowler Fearnley - having been hit over mid-off for four by 10th man Morse (17) - bowled the Horouta veteran next ball and Te Waka were all out for 157 in 37.2 overs, chasing 159.
Year 10 student McInnes backed up his 47 in 64 balls at No 3 with 3-16-7 as the sixth bowling option.
Taewa, having made 26 off 47 at No 5, took 4-47 in eight overs of left-arm inswing as first change.
Earlier, McInnes and Taewa came together with GBHS in bother at 3-23 in 7.3 overs, and advanced the cause to 80-3 in 19.2 overs before seamer Simarjit Singh Basra (2-25-8, three maidens) held a return catch to dismiss McInnes.
GBHS player-coach Steve Whitaker steadied the ship with an unbeaten 39 off 35 balls from No 7.
Left-arm spearhead Gray (0-14-8, three maidens) and Brandon Fearnley (2-27-7.2 overs, one maiden) gave Boys’ High an excellent start, conceding just 19 runs in the first eight overs.
It took every pocket of resistance Horouta’s top order possessed to hold out against the high-quality bowling of paceman Gray, who missed the edge countless times.
Catches win matches, and Joel Kirkpatrick’s two efforts - one of them a one-handed screamer - were decisive for GBHS.
Opener Himanshu Bhargav (20), Gautam Sareen (23) at No 3 and second-drop Basra (46 off 47 balls) demonstrated grit for Te Waka.
