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CRICKET
It was different but Wednesday night’s T15 Blast for Year 7 to 10 students at Nelson Park has proved an instant hit for cricket.
Dylan Foster (13 runs) and Matthew van Zyl (8) were the heroes, steering the Bollywood Stars to victory by three wickets with one ball left against the Auto Tyre Eagles.
Eagles captain Daniel Stewart won the toss and was the first batsman dismissed — off the second ball of the ninth over — for 2, with the score at 64 after openers Angus Baker (26 off 21 balls) and DJ Penfold (22 off 25) retired. Their 62-run stand was the largest of the game.
Second-drop Travis O’Rourke also batted well for 20 off 22 balls.
Michael Foster and Kayley Knight each took 2-10 off three overs, Foster with the new ball and Knight as first change.
The Eagles made 102-4.
Penfold was a dominant figure in the field, holding three catches — at square leg off the first ball of the innings, short fine leg in the seventh over and long-on in the eighth.
Stars first-drop Liam Barbier (13 off 19 balls) and Liam Spring (31 off 15) shared a 32-run partnership for the third wicket.
Eagle’s bowlers Peter Reynolds, Jarrod Ormiston, O’Rourke, Noah Torrance-Cribb and Brayden Sycamore all took a wicket.
Poverty Bay Cricket’s Matt Crampton said the youngsters bought into the format, and adapted to it and the conditions well.
“A lot of them played smart, even though it’s only a 15-over game.”
Eastland Broncos sponsor Deevon Gray was pleased with the “excitement, freshness and sense of identity among the different franchises”.
As captain, you do what you can, which is exactly what Blake Marshall of the High School Old Boys Pups did against the Eastland Broncos.
He took 1-15 off two overs bowling seam-up first-change and held two catches in the field, then made 35 off 24 balls opening the batting. The Broncos’ key to victory — by 51 runs — was batsmanship.
Broncos skipper Nathan Trowell won the toss and his side scored 154-7. The total included 58 runs in wides.
New Zealand Cricket’s new scoring system has a wide delivery or no-ball given as two runs, not one.
Opening batsman Cohen Loffler hit three sixes in his 32 off 20 balls and Sam Briant (19 off 14 balls) showed some nice touches batting at No.4.
Luke Fisher (2-14 off two overs) and Year 7 student Dylan Torrie (2-21 off two) were the Pups’ best with the ball.
Marshall’s dismissal of opener Trowell for a run-a-ball eight and Lukas Fry’s superb inswinging yorker to Max Briant (14 off 13 balls) were big moments in the game.
Aside from Marshall’s 35, no other Pups batsman got into double-figures and they were 103-7 at the end of the game.
Te-Reimana Gray, Loffler and Trowell are good all-round cricketers, but Sam Briant was the most successful bowler on the day with two wickets for five runs in his only over.
The likes of Marshall and Trowell are bringing together players from not just different schools but different age-groups. The Pups include young players such as 11-year-old Year 7 student Rhys Grogan and 12-year-old Hamish Swann.
Trowell has been impressed by left-arm seamer Torrie’s ability to swing the ball back into right-handed batsmen.
“Being more experienced, we’ve got a chance to tell the young guys where to go and what to do in the field,” he said.
“We’re getting more cricket now, which is good, and it’s a 30 over-game on Saturday.”
The Bollywood Stars play the Eastland Broncos on Nelson Park No.3 and the Auto Tyre Eagles face the HSOB Pups on NP4 tomorrow in 30-over matches starting at 8.30am.