A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
It was worth the wait.
The games between Gisborne Boys’ High School and Napier Boys’ High started late at the Harry Barker Reserve on Monday. Fifty-over games became 30-over contests, but then it was cricket with a hiss and a roar.
Napier won the first-11 match by 32 runs, having won the toss and made a tremendous start — they were 34-0 after three overs.
Drew Scott (3-19 off six overs) and Travis Mitchell (2-39 off six) clawed things back for Gisborne in the middle of the innings. Left-arm orthodox spinner Adam Whibley (1-38 off six) provided a change of tempo and Jacob Colbert (2-16 off three) bowled superbly at the end of the innings.
Paul Stewart (1-19 off three) took the first Napier wicket to fall, that of captain Oliver Burns for 15 with the score at 47 after 5.3 overs.
Napier posted 185-9.
Gisborne fielding highlightsGisborne fielding highlights included Amani Karauria-Lunt holding a one-handed catch on the mid-wicket boundary to dismiss No.5 Oliver Kyle (one run) off the bowling of Whibley, and Zeppo Page pouching a difficult catch from Mitchell Williams-North (No.6, four runs) at mid-on off the bowling of Scott.
Napier opener Logan Trower (53), classy left-handed first-drop/wicketkeeper and Central Districts under-17 rep Brayden Hill (29) and No.4 Liam Hall (24) were the visitors’ leading run-scorers.
In the chase, Gisborne Boys’ High captain Drew Scott made 45 at No.4, but Paul Stewart’s 56 was outstanding.
Coming in with Gisborne two wickets down for one run and the tall Williams-North hammering a “heavy” ball into pitch No.3, Stewart’s ability to play straight and off his legs, plus good running between wickets, were the features of his best innings for Gisborne Boys’ High to date. He and Scott shared a 108-run stand for the third wicket.
Robert Schwass’s battling 14 at No.6 was the third score in double-figures. After a head-knock to Napier’s Hill, Burns took the gloves and effected the stumping of No.7 Whibley (0) on the second ball.
Home team shows mettleThe home team showed mettle in pulling Napier back from 34-0 off three overs to 185-9, and then by improving from two wickets for one run, to 109-3.
Napier BHS Colts coach and former Central Stag Mike Pawson praised the recovery properties of Harry Barker Reserve. It had not looked promising but all four teams got out there “and, by the end, conditions were excellent”.
It was his first ton at the Harry Barker.
Fourteen-year-old Napier BHS Colts captain Sam Pawson’s 103 off 72 balls was a great knock. The tall left-hander had won the toss, come in at No.3 and hit 13 boundaries and a six in the visitors’ total of 241-7 off 30 overs on pitch No.4.
Pawson hit the ball hard but also took every run available. Openers Jonty Elms (34 off 35 balls) and James Rawnsley (50 off 50) gave Napier a good start.
Gisborne wicket-takersGisborne wicket-takers were vice-captain Matt Foster (2-30 off six overs), Travis O’Rourke (1-32 off five), Patrick Brownlie (1-36 off three) and Daniel Watts (1-40 off five). Cohen Loffler fielded superbly, effecting two run-outs.
Gisborne were dismissed for 63 in 24 overs, tall leg-spinner Hamish James (5-12 off five overs) and off-spinner Elms (3-2 off two) to the fore. Loffler, at first drop, batted with application for 19 off 43 balls.
The Gisborne teams get little rest. The first 11 were to face Bethlehem College of Tauranga in the Super Smash Twenty20 game at Harry Barker Reserve today, while the Colts were to play Game 1 of the nine-a-side T20 C Grade on Nelson Park against Campion College. On Saturday, the first 11 play Campion in the Hope Cup bottom-three club final and on March 11 and 12, the first 11 and the Colts will play Hastings Boys’ High teams away.