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CRICKET
They’ve got more than one bowler.
Veteran Amit Vyas took 4-7 in 4.3 overs against Campion College on Saturday, a week after fellow Coastal Ultrasound Horouta medium-pacer Tushar Balat had taken 3-7 off six.
Balat’s fine spell came in a tie with the Stirling Logging Ngatapa Green Caps. Vyas’s man-of-the-match effort in Round 12 set up an eight-wicket victory.
“It was a great effort from Amit: he bowled line and length and got the rewards,” Horouta captain David Situ said.
“We bowled to our plans, performed in the field and Franco Colucci made 62 not out off 30 balls, which is good because he’s worked really hard on his batting.”
Campion’s Liam Spring won the toss on a quick, bouncy No.3 pitch at Harry Barker Reserve and chose to bat first. The College were bowled out for 81 in 27.3 overs, opener Liam Spring top-scoring with 33 from 66 balls. The next best effort was 11 off 13, from Sam Briant, batting at No.7.
Left-arm seamer Keegan Martin (2-12 off four) and left-arm orthodox spinner Clarence Campbell (2-21 off six) bowled tightly in support of Vyas.
The pivotal moment of Campion’s innings was the run-out of player-coach and opener Mark Naden (10) with the score at 17. Naden is the batting linchpin of a Campion team whose young players have benefited from not just his presence but that of other old boys and cricketers of experience.
Colucci hit a lofted cover-drive off Liam Spring for 84-2 and victory in 9.2 overs of the 30-over contest. Second-drop Vaughan Thompson was unbeaten on 10.
Spring, Sam Briant (1-11 off two), leg-spinner Liam Barbier (1-23 off two), Luke Hurlstone and Matthew King all took turns at the bowling crease but Year 11 seamers Blake Marshall and Max Briant were missed. Briant and Spring are both unavailable this weekend, but Marshall will be there.
Naden said 81 was “not very many to defend and Horouta were too good on the day”.
Campion began the season with three wins before their bye, and lost to Ngatapa by 56 runs in Round 5. Heading into Round 13 against Old Boys’ Rugby (2) on HB4 this Saturday they are in third place with five wins from 10 games and 17 competition points.
Horouta lead the championship (six from 10, 21pts), Ngatapa are in second spot with five from nine for 18pts and OBR (2) have four points from one win from nine games.
Ngatapa will play High School Old Boys’ Presidents on HB3 this Saturday: Horouta have the bye.
It’s happened again.
Isaac Hughes’s committed HSOB Presidents have a second Hope Cup win to savour — by 25 runs against OBR (2) — having first tasted victory against the same foe on the same ground, HB4, on December 8. They also won the toss.
Presidents captain Hughes said it was their best batting performance of the year.
“Mike Francis (26) and Jason Drain (46) came out firing at close to six runs an over to set the game up nicely for us.”
Opener Francis and first-drop Drain led Presidents’ scorers to 146 in 28.4 overs.
They were up against the youngest bowling line-up in this incarnation of the Hope Cup competition: Daniel Watts (2-12 off three), Cohen Loffler (2-20 off six) and OBR (2) man-of-the-match Nathan Trowell (2-23 off six) are all 14, but leg-spinner David Gray (1-29 off four) is 11 and left-armer Johnathan Gray (1-9 off 1.4 overs) is 10.
Opener Trowell made 32 and David Gray 20 from No.8, with OBR (2) being bowled out for 121 in 26.4 overs.
Drain, a savvy medium-pacer, had taken 3-17 off six to complete his man-of-the-match effort.