Poverty Bay cricket: Hope Cup club final goes down to the wire in Gisborne

The Hope Cup Reserve Grade champions of Poverty Bay club cricket for 2026 are the Bollywood High School Old Boys Presidents. Back row (from left) are Brad Reynolds, Jonny Hardie, Ollie Needham, Nathan Quimpo, Glen Udall (captain), Jak Rowe, Bradley Clark and Mackenzie Potts-Tyro. Front row (from left) are Matt Jefferd, Justin Kohere, Alex Shanks and Anthony Boyder (with the Hope Cup) and Josh Adams.

Full tosses are often destined for the boundary, but not in the 2026 Poverty Bay Reserve Grade’s Hope Cup cricket final.

The Bollywood High School Old Boys Presidents (HSOB) defeated the Pioneer Green Caps Ngātapa by one run in a low-scoring but nail-biting match that was decided by a no-ball at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday.

HSOB dedicated the win to Pirates Cricket Club stalwart Wynsley Wrigley, who passed away on Saturday. Two of his nephews – Brad Reynolds and Josh Adams – were in the victorious side.

Presidents off-spinner Matthew Jefferd (5 wickets for 16 runs off 2.1 overs) and left-arm orthodox spinner Justin Kohere (3-13-4) were the destroyers in the first innings.

Offies Archie Gillies (3-19-5) and Charles Morrison (3-28-5.4 overs) did a similar job for Ngātapa in the second dig.

Seven batters fell to deliveries just below the striker’s waist – between waist and knee – in their normal stance at the popping crease.

The game finished on a nutty note, with the scores tied at 90, that not even online scoring application PlayHQ could record.

Morrison, who had earlier bowled left-hander Josh Adams (6), Jonny Hardie (10) and Nathan Quimpo (0) – Hardie and Quimpo with magnificent deliveries through the gate – bowled a full toss above the waist to Jefferd (5no) with HSOB on 90-8 in the 23rd over.

Non-striker Justin Kohere (5) was run out as the pair went for the single – which is the only way under normal circumstances in which a batter can be dismissed off a no-ball – but the run for the no-ball gave HSOB victory.

HSOB Presidents dedicated their Hope Cup victory to Pirates Cricket Club stalwart and long-time Gisborne Herald reporter Wynsley Wrigley, who passed away at the weekend. He is pictured after receiving life membership to the Pirates in 2009.

HSOB skipper Glen Udall won the toss, opted to bowl and the oddest of days unfolded on ground No 4.

Ngātapa lost captain Morrison (9 at the top of the order) to a full toss, caught at mid-wicket from the bowling of spearhead Brad Reynolds (1-17-4).

Both second-drop Ollie Jonasen (a second-ball duck) and seventh man in Mike Gibson (7) were bowled by curving deliveries of the teardrop variety from Kohere, a good flighter of the ball.

Jefferd bowled three batters – Sam Briant (7), Mark Kennedy (2) and Edward Nepe (0) – as the Green Caps managed just 90 in 21.1 overs.

Udall (10), at the top of the HSOB order, fell to a Gillies full toss and the Blues were soon in difficulty at 3-33.

Young umpire Cody McMurray adjudged HSOB No 4 Jak Rowe out lbw to Gilles for 23 – the highest individual score in the match.

Swing bowler Jonasen (2-18-6) pushed the game further Ngātapa’s way with a wicked out-swinger that clipped the foot and nipped the bat of Premier regular Alex Shanks (2) en route to glovesman Jacque Davis, who held a crucial catch to dismiss the No 5.

Jonasen then bowled the dangerous Anthony Boyder (12) to blow the game wide open.

HSOB were 65-7 when seamer Hoffman Haasbroek (1-25-6) held a return catch to account for the eighth man in Ollie Needham (a five-ball duck).

The Blues were 7-83 before Morrison, loop majeste went through Hardie and Quimpo at nine and 10 to have HSOB teetering at 9-83 three balls into the 21st over.

Haasbroek conceded only one run (a wide) in the 22nd over.

But with his side at 9-85, Kohere flicked the first ball of the 23rd over to the boundary and, two balls later, took a single to tie the scores.

The rest added to the Hope Cup’s colourful history.

“That was a great game,” Morrison said. “Unfortunately we fell short right at the end. Still, I’m proud of our boys’ effort to get Ngātapa as close as we came, but HSOB were the better team on the day.”

Udall, like many who played in the final, knew Wrigley as a knowledgeable, forthright contributor to discussions and decision-making as regards club cricket.

“We played in memory of Wynsley – to honour him and his beloved Pirates – and used the occasion to celebrate his contribution,” Udall said.

“The day was special for us with Brad Reynolds and Josh Adams, nephews of Wynsley, both playing for HSOB.”

Gisborne Boys’ High Second XI co-captain McMurray made an excellent debut as a Poverty Bay umpire in charge of the hearty battle.