Top teams square off in key match

CAN’T WAIT: High School Old Boys skipper Scott Tallott is putting pressure on himself to perform against Old Boys Rugby in club cricket tomorrow. Picture by Paul Rickard

CRICKET

HIGH School Old Boys captain Scott Tallott is pumped up for tomorrow’s top-of-the-table cricket match against Old Boys Rugby.

“I’m excited for it. I’m putting a lot of pressure on myself,” he said.

Three teams are chasing the No.1 spot in Poverty Bay’s DJ Barry Cup and the competition tightened up after Tallott’s side missed out on potential points against Gisborne Boys’ High School last week.

Bollywood Stars HSOB still lead the competition but Bain Construction OBR are not far behind and Kevin Hollis Glass Pirates are in with a shout after the latter two sides got on the park amid drizzle and HSOB did not.

Tallott said he was keen to “make right”.

“We’re playing against an opposition with a lot of quality. We’re doing battle with a good bunch of lads.”

OBR batsman Ian Loffler said HSOB remained the team to beat.

“We haven’t been able to build partnerships in the top order — and if we can do that we can apply pressure.

“HSOB have a lot of match-winners. We see this as an important game for us in order to make the final.”

For OBR, Arun Kurup is unavailable with work commitments.

“Otherwise, we are at full strength,” Loffler said.

Pirates will play Gisborne Boys’ High School, who are a distant fourth in the competition.

“No disrespect to Boys’ High”, captain Dane Thompson said, but Pirates are chasing “as many points as possible”.

“You’ve got to risk to get reward.”

He said he would probably look to bat first, bank a good total and then put pressure on the youngsters with the ball.

Pirates will be missing opening batsman Baxter Mackay, so Thompson is thinking about his options, including opening with Richie Needham.

Thompson also wants to “step up as captain” and build on the 42 he made against OBR last week.

Boys’ High captain Paul Stewart said they aimed to “bat for as long as we can”.

Patience was an important lesson to come out of a Super 8 schools tournament last week.

Stewart said it was good to have a week to recover from the bumps and bruises before they take on Pirates.

The DJ Barry Cup games are starting at the earlier time of 10.30am at Harry Barker Reserve to allow the Poverty Bay rep team to travel to Hamilton afterwards.

Bollywood Stars Poverty Bay play Hamilton B in the Basil McBurney Shield on Sunday.

Hope Cup games remain at 2pm tomorrow. Coastal Ultrasound Horouta play Ngatapa and Campion College play Bollywood Stars HSOB Presidents. OBR’s second 11 have a bye.