OBR in nine-wicket win, still team to beat

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

CRICKET by Ben O’Brien-Leaf

OBR’s vice-like grip on Senior B club cricket tightened on Saturday.

Round 9 in the 18-week quest for the Hope Cup at the Harry Barker Reserve produced an OBR win over Siteworx Horouta by nine wickets, with the Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps beating Gisborne Boys’ High School (2) by 143 runs and Bollywood High School Old Boys Presidents recording a 67-run victory against Campion College.

Horouta captain Mel Knight won the toss against OBR on the Harry Barker practice wicket and chose to bat. OBR’s Jannie Jacobs ran The Waka’s No.9 James Tapp (nine runs) out off the last ball of the innings, and Horouta were all out for 114 in 30 overs.

Joint top-scorers were No.6 Vishal Singh and No.10 Grace Levy, with 14. Wicketkeeper Bhushan Dave (13) at No.7 and New Zealand under-19 squad member Kayley Knight (10), at five, were the only other Horouta players to score in double figures. Singh went at a run-a-ball but was bowled by OBR leg-spinner Mana Taumaunu, who took 2-11 from six overs with two maiden overs — a fine return.

Left-arm seamer George Reynolds also bowled two maidens in a six-over stint, taking 3-10 in his MVP (most valuable player) performance for OBR, who did not dally in the run-chase.

Captain Craig Christophers (28) hit six fours in 21 balls and was the only wicket to fall — leg before wicket to first-change seamer Piumal Madasanka (1-15 from three overs) — with 42 runs on the board.

Christophers’ fellow opener, the left-handed Peter Stewart, was 25 not-out at the end while Jacobs, in at three, took up the mantle of aggressor: he crunched two sixes and six fours in his 26-ball, unbeaten 45. OBR reached 116 for victory in 15.5 overs to remain competition leaders with the maximum number of points, 27, heading into next week’s game against Campion on HBR2.

Northern Districts u19 representative Grace Levy, 15, was The Waka’s MVP for her gutsy batting: she shared a ninth-wicket stand of 25 — Horouta’s biggest partnership — with Tapp. Knight senior noted that wides (17) led her team’s scorers while complimenting Reynolds on his control of line, length and in-swing for OBR.

Christophers described the result as a good team effort with particular emphasis on the first innings: “Mana bowled like Shane Warne and medium-pacer Matt McFatter (1-16 from two overs), took his first-ever wicket — that of Grace Levy — for OBR.”

HSOB Presidents played good cricket on Saturday.

Captain Ollie Needham won the toss against Campion College on HBR4 and elected to bat; the Presidents made 195-5 and the college reached 128-7 in 30 overs, for victory to HSOB by 67 runs.

Presidents showcased batsmanship and cricket-sense with a half-century (on his birthday) to Glen Udall, 31 not-out for No.6 Yegan Lanka, 30 from Udall’s opening partner Matt Jefferd and 30 from first-drop Marius Weyers. Former Campion captain Cameron Rowell (2-40 from six overs) was the best of their bowlers but the big news of the day for the Liam Spring-led college came in the second innings.

Seventeen-year-old Luke Hurlstone has been one of their hardest-working cricketers in the last five seasons. Against HSOB in R9, batting at 7, he hit seven boundaries — including one great straight drive for four off medium-pacer Udall (nought for 20 from four overs) in a 47-ball knock of 41. He was Campion’s MVP.

Year 9 Reuben Swanepoel made 17 not-out from No.8 to be Campion’s second-highest scorer, while Presidents’ second-change seamer Nick Armour was HSOB’s most successful bowler with 2-21 off six overs. Jason Lines’ accuracy with the new ball tested Campion — he took 1-5 in four overs — and he is a dangerous all-round cricketer.

Needham said HSOB would have liked 200-plus but also that Weyers, the Presidents’ MVP against the college, eclipsed his previous top score of 2 v GBHS in “swashbuckling style”.

Campion player-coach Mark Naden felt that his high-quality bowling attack conceded a few too many wides (15 — HSOB gave away 12) but was pleased that his outfit, who were 5-52 after 15 overs, added a further 76 runs for the loss of only two more wickets following the second drinks break.

Grant Walsh, Ryan West, George Whitehead, take a bow.

Veteran Walsh and opening bowlers West and Whitehead were in fine form for Ngatapa at the weekend, all making sizeable contributions to the Green Caps’ 143-run win against the Gisborne Boys’ High School second 11. Walsh hit nine boundaries in a 48-ball innings of 55 from No.1 and as an off-spin bowler later took 3-1 in 11 balls to be the country club’s MVP.

In the second innings on HBR3, the nippy West — who took 3-12 in five overs — and Whitehead, who took 2-14 off five overs, were equally impressive with their ability to move the ball, both in the air and off the pitch. West bowls a top-notch Yorker.

A measure of these bowlers’ discipline is to be found in the fact that five of the six wickets they took were bowled.

GBHS captain Dylan Foster won the toss and opted to bowl. Ngatapa put up 215-4, captain-keeper and first-drop Mike Gibson playing a good hand for 42; both left-handed opener Richard Briant and No.4 Jeremy Castles made 37 before being dismissed by second-change seamer Peter Reynolds (2-25 from five overs). Ngatapa chose Bekko Page as their MVP for the opposition, the GBHS out-swing bowler desperately unlucky not to have a better return than none for 14 off three. He beat the bat on the outside, on the inside and cleared the bails by millimetres against Gibson.

In the second innings, guest cricketer Dylan Torrie showed excellent batting technique at No.9, most notably a strong defence, to bounce back from a tough stint with the ball in the first innings. He hit two boundaries and was 11 not-out from 23 balls when the end came, No.11 Dylan Worsnop being bowled first ball by Walsh, with the score at 72 in 23.5 overs.

Torrie was the only Boys’ High batsman to score in double figures.

Gibson paid tribute to Foster and his unit, the youngest side in Poverty Bay senior club cricket: “Those boys never gave up on what was a pretty tough day for them.”

That win has Ngatapa placed second in the standings (18pts) followed by HSOB Presidents (15pts), Horouta (12pts), Campion College (9pts) with the GBHS second 11 yet to take a point.