They play the game the right way.
Unbeaten OBR remain atop the six-team Senior B club cricket table after a 92-run Round 6 win over Gisborne Boys' High School second 11 in a game played in great spirit at Harry Barker Reserve on Saturday.
Ngatapa beat HSOB Presidents by five wickets and Horouta defeated Campion by six wickets.
Rawhiti Legal Old Boys Rugby (18 points) lead two-time defending champions Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps (15), followed by Siteworx Horouta and Bollywood High School Old Boys Presidents (both on 9pts), Campion College (3pts) and GBHS (0) in the 16-week race for the prized Hope Cup.
OBR captain and opener Craig Christophers won the toss against Boys' High, chose to bat and hit 11 boundaries — including a six — in his unbeaten 76 as his side posted 220-4 off their 30 overs.
No.3 Jannie Jacobs (38 off 34 balls), No.5 Matt Henwood (35 off 28) and second-drop Rongomai Smith (24 from 31) all made their presence felt in the middle by punishing loose deliveries — short stuff in particular.
Year 9 seamer John Broad's line and full length makes him the most consistent bowler in the GBHS side.
He bowled Smith and OBR gloveman Phil Viljoen to finish with two wickets for 20 runs off five overs — a return to compare favourably with those of greater experience.
Boys' High captain Dylan Foster's crew stuck to their task in the field. They have fought hard in the last fortnight and earned some respect in the eyes of OBR.
The students were dismissed for 128 with four balls left in the 30th over,
No.6 Noah Torrance-Cribb's run of good middle-order form for Poverty Bay at the Northern Districts boys' junior secondary schools representative tournament here last week continued. The big Y10 student made 29 off 38 balls.
Opener and keeper Jack Whitehead-McKay (19) looked classy despite his brief stay.
OBR left-arm medium-pacer George Reynolds took 3-24 off 6 overs and zippy opening bowler Lloyd van Zyl 2-14 off 6.
“As a young team, we learn from playing high-calibre sides like OBR,” said Foster, who was OBR's pick as man of the match (MOM) for Boys' High.
“We got a solid performance from Noah but we need more from the rest of our batting line-up. Jack, myself (12), George Gillies (11) and Alex Shanks (15) all got starts but sadly didn't go on.”
Jacobs held a great catch in the gully to remove Gillies but the star of the show in the field — and GBHS' nominee as OBR man of the match) was veteran Peter Stewart, who held two screamers to dislodge No.4 DJ Penfold and later Kelan Bryant (7), both for ducks.
Christophers was complimentary in victory.
“We played proper shots because of the Boys' High bowlers' accuracy in line and length. Dylan gave them support by setting good fields.
“John, and George (1-48 off 6) with his off-spin, bowled really well for GBHS and Lloyd set a great standard for us with the ball. Lloyd's example was followed by the others. Left-armer Tama Wirepa (1-8 off 1) took his third wicket in as many weeks.
“The GBHS batsmen timed the ball. With a touch more patience they'll make some big scores.”
Could the man give any more for Campion College cricket?
Old boy and teacher Mark Naden gave his last full measure of devotion in support of their cause in bowling six overs straight for 24 runs against Horouta on Saturday.
Horouta won the game by six wickets to retain the Naden-Taylor Trophy but the college's captain Liam Spring was in awe of player-coach's Naden's effort.
“Nades gives up a lot of time to coach us, be at games, make our team gel,” said Spring. “To have him step up to bowl was unreal. that gave us extra drive and urgency in the field.”
Spring's crew won the toss, opted to bat and made 115-9, their skipper and opener leading the way with 23 off 36 balls.
Fellow opener Matt King (22) offered more substance to the Campion total in the wake of a fine spell of in-swing bowling by Piumal Madasanka (4-12 off 5 overs). Left-arm orthodox spinner Clarence Campbell took 2-17 off 6.
Horouta captain Mel Knight (33 not out), at first drop, and opener Greg Taylor (29) did what old heads do when in pursuit of a small total.
They steered the ship home against a Campion line-up without regular spearhead Blake Marshall.
Cameron Rowell shared the new ball with Naden (Horouta's pick as the opposition's man of the match).
Marshall's usual foil — Luke Hurlstone (2-38 off 4.3 overs) — and Year 9 student Rhys Grogan (1-20 off 4) were the other bowlers used.
Knight, whom Campion selected as The Waka's MOM said: “Horouta v Campion — for the Naden-Taylor Trophy in honour of Vaughan Thompson — is our favourite fixture. It's always played in great spirit.”
Piumal bowled wicket-to-wicket as Campion went to drinks at 6-51.
Etienne Botes took 1-9 off 6 and held two catches, the second of those to dismiss Spring with only one run added after they lost Darryl Dunn (3) seven balls before.
Knight said Spring looked solid until his unlucky dismissal from a hard-hit lofted drive — “a catch most of us would've dropped”.
He just kept hitting the pads.
HSOB Presidents paceman Jason Lines took 4-13 off six overs, all four adjudged leg before wicket, against Ngatapa.
Lines had himself been given out lbw to Green Caps off-spinner Grant Walsh (4-12 off 5) in the first innings.
Ngatapa skipper Mike “Gibbo” Gibson won the toss, chose to bowl and his side dismissed HSOB for 131 in 28.1 overs.
Opening batsmen Israel Turner (45) and captain-keeper Ollie Needham (21) shared a 64-run stand.
Gibson got lbw with the first ball of the 13th over.
HSOB again didn't bat to their potential against Ngatapa and lost by five wickets but it was far better than their season-opener against Gibson's mob on October 31 when they were rolled for 43 in 18.3 overs and lost by seven wickets.
“We started both innings well but fell away with bat and ball to hand Ngatapa what, in the end, was a comfortable victory,” said Needham.
“Jason (Ngatapa's nominee as HSOB MOM) gave us a sniff. Two of his wickets hit those batsmen on the toe.
Ryan West's unbeaten 46 from No.6, Cam McNaught's 26 not out (including six boundaries) off 25 balls at 7 and Gibbo's 31 steadied the ship for the Green Caps.
McNaught took 23 runs, 20 of those in boundaries, off leg-spinner Inderpreet Singh Bassi's fourth over to put the game beyond doubt with 10 overs to spare.
West iced the victory with a straight six off Mike Francis (1-33 off 5.4 overs) to take MOM honours for Ngatapa.