Season’s half won by GBHS

Gisborne Boys’ High School Blues and Royals, winners of the first half of the T20 Challenge Cup season are, back (from left) Malsha Mahabalage, Bjorn Botma, Jett Whitaker (captain), Brandon Fearnley, Aarav Nair. Front: Gayesha Mahabalage, Micah Langford, Caleb Taewa, Sol Bevins, Finn Robertson. Absent: Jack Holden. Gayesha Mahabalage and Aarav Nair have played for both the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards. GBHS picture

Challenge Cup T20 cricket has a new hero: Aarav Nair.

The unassuming Life Guards middle-order batter was the surprise package of his team’s innings in the all-Gisborne Boys’ High School final against the Blues and Royals at Nelson Park on Wednesday. The Blues won by four wickets.

Nair hit 16 not out from No.6 for the Life Guards. He took 13 balls to get off the mark but hit two tremendous boundaries — off a pull-shot and cut-shot — towards the end of his knock.

Nair shared a 36-run stand for the fifth wicket with second drop Alex Langford (13).

It was the biggest, most important partnership of the innings.

The Guards, led by Robbie Newlands in the absence of big-hitting Zyden Worsnop, won the toss on the No.4 pitch. Despite the slow outfield, they chose to bat and fought their way to 82-4 — a par score — on the artificial pitch.

The Guards had lost opener Gayesha Mahabalage (1, run out) and No.3 Newlands (5, caught by Blues skipper and gloveman Jett Whitaker off the bowling of a medium-pacer Malsha Mahabalage, 1-5 from four overs, two maidens) with the score at 15. With the score at 46, stylish opener Charlie Whitfield (9) sliced a drive to be caught by Sol Bevins at point off tall outswing bowler Brandon Fearnley (2-4 from two overs), who came on at second change.

Fearnley then bowled Tarn Boyle around his legs first ball. No hat-trick followed.

It was then that Langford and Nair rectified the situation. Langford has improved game by game in the first half of the season, while Nair has been one of the new Boys’ High cricketers to impress. Bevins, Boyle, Whitfield and Leyton Hall have also made their mark.

The Blues conceded 34 extras, including 21 wides. The Life Guards gave away 30 extras defending 82 for 14.4 overs. Openers Whitaker and Malsha Mahabalage had scored only six runs each off the bat when the former was out with the score at 42.

Mahabalage (17) hit the only six of the match, off his pads, and then was the first of two batsmen to be caught by Hall at mid-on. Both were tricky chances.

Boyle ran out non-striker and No.5 Brandon Fearnley for a black duck from square leg, and the Guards owed much to No.3 Jack Holden (8) and second drop Caleb Taewa (11no).

Taewa was classy around leg stump, and hit a pull-shot over midwicket for four to decide a low-scoring final in the three-team competition.

Whitaker, who has ably led both the Blues and Royals and the GBHS second 11 in Senior B club cricket, said: “It was great to get out there and play after the weather we’ve had lately, and good to see keen cricketers enjoy the game, the likes of Charlie (Whitfield) and Malsha (Mahabalage) make runs, then Aarav (Nair) and Alex (Langford) keep the score ticking over.

“For the Guards, in the field, Leyton (Hall) caught both Jack (Holden) and me, and Tarn (Boyle) threw down the stumps. I'm excited to see improvement from all of the boys, and everyone is in contention to make our Boys’ High second 11 for Saturday’s game, on the same pitch, against Breakers Horouta Te Waka.”