HSOB victory plan works

BALL VERSUS BAT: OBR bowler Timoti Weir sends down a delivery to HSOB opening batsman Glen Udall, as wicketkeeper Kieran Venema waits and umpire Ryan Majstrovic watches. Weir took the wicket of Udall when he had him caught by Josh Adams with the total at 32. Pictures by Paul Rickard

CARL Shaw and Gagan Dhingra were the stars as High School Old Boys beat Old Boys Rugby by 176 runs in the DJ Barry Cup 40-over game at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday.

The victory took Bollywood Stars HSOB to the top of the table and left them as the only unbeaten team after two rounds.

Shaw scored an unbeaten 70 off 102 balls and shared in three crucial partnerships — with skipper Scott Tallott, Ajay Kumar and Ryan Majstrovic — as HSOB posted 232-8.

Right-arm spinner Dhingra ripped through the Bain Construction OBR batting line-up, finishing with five wickets for five runs off three overs as the Doleman Cup and Walker Shield champions were rolled for 56.

Tallott won the toss and batted first.

“I’ve got confidence in our batsmen and we wanted to put pressure on OBR by setting them a decent target to chase,” Tallott said.

“It was almost a run a ball and we knew if we restricted the scoring in the first 10 overs the pressure would build, and that’s the way it worked out.”

Tallott joined Shaw after Glen Udall was caught by Josh Adams off the bowling of Timoti Weir with the total at 32.

While Tallott was the more aggressive — he scored 51 of 38 balls, hitting six fours and a six — Shaw was content to accumulate runs at a steady clip until near the end of the innings.

Shaw and Tallott put on 65 runs before Tallott became the first of Arun Kurup’s three victims. HSOB then lost Sam Tallott and Jak Rowe for the addition of 11 runs.

At 108-4 and with 20 overs remaining, the game was evenly poised. Shaw and Kumar then swung the game their team’s way with a 73-run stand before Kumar (37 off 53 balls) was caught by Matt Henwood off Matt Cook’s bowling, with 16 overs remaining.

When Jarrod Renouf and Dhingra departed, both bowled by Kurup, it was anyone’s game at 187-7 with four overs remaining.

Shaw started to free up the arms and Majstrovic joined in.

They put on 45 runs for the eighth wicket before Majstrovic was stumped by Kurup off the bowling of Cook, for 18 off 14 balls.

With the first part of the plan completed — “setting OBR a decent target to chase” — Tallott tuned to his brother Sam and Shaw for the second, restricting runs and picking up wickets in the first 10 overs.

Tallott strikesSam Tallott struck first when he had Kieran Venema caught by wicketkeeper Udall with the fourth ball of the second over, out for five with 13 runs on the board.

Shaw then capped a superb day when he bagged the big wicket of the in-form Craig Christophers two runs later, caught by Majstrovic for eight with the score at 13.

Ian Loffler and Timoti Weir advanced the score to 35 before Loffler was bowled by Kumar for 10.

When Weir (12) followed 12 runs later, caught by Renouf off the bowling of Dhingra, it was the beginning of the end. Dhinga ran through the remaining batsmen.

With three games remaining before the top three teams play off, HSOB — who beat Pirates last week — are in a commanding position to clinch top spot.

Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates bounced back from last week’s defeat and gave Dane Thompson a winning start as captain when they beat Coastal Ultrasound Horouta by 48 runs in local club cricket on Saturday.

Scott Hollinshead anchored the Pirates innings with a hard-hit 80. He received solid support from Brad Reynolds (32), Richie Needham (24) and Sam Patterson (23 not out) as the Buccaneers scored 202-7.

Thompson, Patterson and Dan Torrie each picked up two wickets as Horouta were dismissed for 154.

Prince Malhotra top-scored for Horouta with 34 off 24 balls, while David Situ and skipper Blake Taylor chipped in with scores of 24 and 22 respectively.

Wickets tumbleHorouta lost Bick Chand and Tushar Balat with 15 runs on the board before Malhotra and Situ shared a 52-run partnership. But when these two departed, wickets tumbled.

“I thought 202 was a bit light, maybe 30 to 40 runs short, but our bowlers bowled well and it was good to see Brad score his 2000th run for the club and Richie, his 1000th,” said Thompson, who took over the captaincy from Reynolds.

“Brad just asked me if I wanted take charge of the side and I gave it a go. It was good to get a win first up.”

Hollinshead faced 71 deliveries and hit 11 fours. Reynolds and Needham shared what proved to be a match-winning partnership of 46 for the fourth wicket, taking Pirates from 116-3 to 164, before Needham was bowled by Balat.

Patterson’s 23 runs off 23 balls — 12 off the last six deliveries — also proved invaluable.

Gisborne Boys’ High School kept their top-three hopes alive with an eight-wicket win against Campion.

Batting first, Campion scored 75, former Poverty Bay captain Patrick McHugh leading the charge with 22 off 24 balls.

Boys’ High coach Ben O’Brien-Leaf said he was impressed with the commitment of Campion’s Max Briant and Nathan Andrews.

“They may not have scored many runs but they stuck around and didn’t give their wickets away,” he said.

Boys’ High skipper Drew Scott said left-arm orthodox spinner Adam Whibley, who took 3-17 off eight overs and scored 24, had his best game of the season.

“It’s his first year at this level and he’s improving with every game,” Scott said.

HSOB 232-8 (C Shaw 70no, Scott Tallott 51, AJ Kumar 37, R Majstrovic 14no; A Kurup 3-52, M Cook 2-40, C Christophers 2-40) def OBR 56 (G Dhingra 5-5, J Drain 2-8).

Pirates 202-7 (S Hollinshead 80, B Reynolds 32, R Needham 24, S Patterson 23no; B Taylor 2-24) def Horouta 154 (P Malhotra 34, D Situ 24, B Taylor 22; D Torrie 2-12, S Patterson 2-14, D Thompson 2-26).

GBHS 76-2 (A Whibley 24) def Campion College 75 (P McHugh 22; A Whibley 3-17, P Stewart 2-10, Jack Faulkner 2-17).