CENTURY MAN: Glen Udall played his second match-winning hand of the season for High School Old Boys President’s, with an innings of 119 not out off 98 balls against Horouta on Saturday. File picture by Paul Rickard
CRICKET
Nothing is certain.
The Gisborne Boys’ High School Colts’ five-wicket win against Campion College at Nelson Park on Saturday was a much closer contest than the margin might suggest.
The Daniel Stewart-led GBHS tasted victory for the first time this Hope Cup cricket season in Round 4.
They had Campion nine wickets down for 75 runs in 20.2 overs of the 30 allowed.
Seamers Matt Foster (2-4 off three overs), Nathan Trowell (2-13 off five), Cohen Loffler, Travis O’Rourke (1-8 off six, including three maiden overs) and leg-spinner Dylan Foster (2-23 off four) all returned their best bowling figures of the competition to date.
Enter the teachers: Matt King batting at No.4 and Mark Naden at No.11. Naden hit 26 runs from 30 balls — a superb effort from a man with a sore back. King scored an unbeaten 50 off 73 balls (seven fours and a six). They put together a 59-run stand for the 10th wicket, and took the total to 134-9.
Before this game, Gisborne Boys’ High School’s Hope Cup totals this season had been 119-8 against the Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps and 105-9 against Coastal Ultrasound Horouta, so Campion had a real chance to claim their first win of 2019-20.
Blake Marshall with the new ball was the greatest danger to the Boys’ High top order, especially on the artificial wicket.
The small boundaries meant both teams scored more fours and sixes than they would have on grass at the Harry Barker Reserve. But Marshall (1-30 off 5.5 overs), the quickest bowler on show, tested Boys’ High.
Rhys Grogan (1-16 off three), Hamish Swann (1-19 off four), leg-spinner Liam Barbier (1-23 off five) and Cameron Rowell (1-25 off four) all pitched in.
Barbier’s leg-break to have Matt Foster stumped by Campion captain and wicketkeeper Liam Spring for 10 was a classic dismissal. Boys’ High were then 99-4 off 20.2 overs and that dismissal could have been a turning point but for the grit of first-drop Nathan Trowell.
Opener Cohen Loffler (28 off 32 balls) and gloveman Jack Whitehead-McKay (20 from 22), batting at No.4, both played key roles for GBHS but Trowell’s unbeaten 49 from 67 balls speaks to his resilience at the crease.
No.7 Daniel Watts (11 runs) was with Trowell at the end, when Boys’ High were 137-5 off 27.5 overs.
Trowell had previously shared in a 48-run partnership with Loffler for the second wicket and a 34-run stand with Whitehead-McKay for the third.
“With a win, we have some confidence and feel like we can be more competitive,” Boys’ High captain Daniel Stewart said.
Two tons in three games . . . Glen Udall of Bollywood High School Old Boys President’s played his second match-winning hand of the season, 119 not out off 98 balls. It included 14 boundaries and propelled HSOB to victory over Horouta by 26 runs.
Horouta were bowled out for 145 in 28.3 overs in pursuit of 171-4.
Udall shared a 79-run stand for the first wicket with Ollie Needham (18) and a 76-run partnership with Joe Reynolds (12) for the third wicket at the Harry Barker Reserve.
HSOB captain Isaac Hughes summed it up: “Glen scored runs, and we were good in the field and held our catches.”
HSOB seamers Reynolds (4-32 off six overs), Mike Francis (3-32 off six) and Udall (2-16 off 5.3 overs), and off-spinner Brett Armour (1-36 off five) gave an excellent example of how a capable veteran team holds a game together.
Horouta captain and second-drop Heyan Ranasinghe — who made 128 not out against the GBHS Colts last week — top-scored for “The Waka” again on Saturday. With 26 runs from 41 balls, he was their only batsman to pass 20. Kayley Knight of the Northern Spirit was unbeaten on 13 for Horouta at the end of the match.
Liam Spring (Campion), Isaac Hughes (HSOB) and Chris Hurlstone (Ngatapa) all won the coin toss in their games.
Spring and Hughes with their strong batting line-ups chose to take first knock; the Ngatapa Green Caps, with faith in their medium-pacers, bowled first on Harry Barker Reserve No.1.
Rawhiti Legal Old Boys Rugby were dismissed for 138 in 25.4 overs. They benefited from a very good 64 not out off 58 balls from first-drop Ian Loffler and 22 off 27 balls from captain and opener Craig Christophers.
OBR have great team spirit and player-mentors (Christophers and Loffler) within a group new to cricket. Eight of OBR’s line-up were out for four runs or less.
Jeremy Darby (4-20 off 3.4 overs) and Jimmy Maher (4-23 off six) were the chief destroyers for Ngatapa, who then reached 139-8 in 24.2 overs to win the game by two wickets.
No.4 Jock Spence clubbed two sixes and two fours in his hard-hit 25, and opener Jack Jefferd scored 23 from 31 balls. They were the two best batsmen for Ngatapa, although Darby (seven runs from 33 balls) and the unflappable Phil Cook (one run from 13) together for 3.1 overs in a 10-run partnership for the ninth wicket, saw the Green Caps home.
Christophers (3-22 off six overs) and Loffler (1-18 off six) were economical with the ball, while Lloyd van Zyell (2-37 off six) and Rongomai Smith (1-25 off four) lead a crop of promising new OBR pacemen.
They are strong, athletic and potentially dangerous to good batsmen.
Christophers said: “Ngatapa showed composure to get the win. Most of the guys in the OBR team are new to cricket this year and have great attitudes. They took some outstanding catches — Rongomai, JP Oberhulzer and Lloyd.
“The next step for us is to halve our wides tally (38 on Saturday ) and bat for 30 overs.”