It’s been a short season that’s packed a punch.
With five weeks remaining in Poverty Bay Cricket Association Senior B play, Round 10 of the quest for the 30-over Hope Cup features three intriguing contests, with the possibility of rain creating a twist in the tail.
At time of writing, the games are scheduled to be played on the artificial pitches of Nelson Park — as opposed to the grass wickets of the Harry Barker Reserve — because of the weather forecast for tomorrow.
Competition leaders Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps (22 points) play Horouta Te Waka (15pts) on NP 1 at 2pm, the powerful Rawhiti Legal OBR (16pts) play the George Gillies-led Gisborne Boys’ High School second 11 (1pt) on NP 3 and defending champions Bollywood Stars High School Old Boys Presidents (7pts) play Campion College (6pts) on NP 2.
HSOB Presidents captain Ollie Needham’s side beat second-placed OBR — by one wicket, off the second-to-last ball of the sides’ second clash of the season — three weeks ago.
That, and the involvement of Presidents’ team members in some excellent cricket for the Queenstown 6s tournament-winning Poverty Bay Wekas in the past month, has given the old students new life.
“With a semifinal berth at stake, this match against Campion is a must-win game for us,” Needham said.
“We can’t afford to take them lightly after they outplayed us in our previous encounter. We’re looking to do the basics well, and give our players an opportunity to find form and confidence after a long break.”
HSOB conceded 54 extras in that nine-run loss, the upset of Round 4, to the Mark Naden-coached Campion on Harry Barker Reserve No.4. Only Jake Theron, a talented outswing bowler, produced the all-round goods for his Presidents crew that day, with 1-27 from six overs with the new ball, two catches and 34 not out from No.8.
Campion’s tall spearhead, Rhys Grogan (5-24, two maidens) bowled out — with great support from, among others, Taye McGuinness (2-22 off 3.5 overs) — in sensational style.
Grogan is carrying an injury and will not play against HSOB.
Theron’s unbeaten 34 came in response to Campion captain-in-waiting Hamish Swann’s 33 as second-drop in the first dig. Both innings had a gritty character. Since the departure of Liam Spring, Swann has shown himself to be a determined and hard-working cricketer and skipper.
Campion were bowled out for 39 by Ngatapa three weeks ago but the college’s longtime coach, Mark Naden, wants line and length from his own seamers, good footwork from batsmen and a body-on-the-line attitude in the field.
Horouta captain Mel Knight is pleased to have her daughter and Northern Districts opening bowler Kayley Knight back for Te Waka’s clash with grade front-runners Ngatapa.
Knight junior, Grace Levy and Grace Kuil of the Tairawhiti Women’s Cricket Club are turning out for the underdogs tomorrow — the Green Caps won the Round 4 clash by seven wickets.
Horouta will be without Piumal Madasanka, a medium-pacer never to be underestimated, but they have — in Knight senior and left-armers Clarence Campbell and Mike Tapp — finger-spin options.
Billy Morse and Horouta’s hero of December 4, James Craig (4-21 from six overs against GBHS), along with Levy, remain to bowl seam-up.
Mel Knight said: “Ideally, we’ll get the key wickets early, and our batters will be a bit more patient as Ngatapa have some quality bowlers. Vishal Singh has been hard at work, being more selective in his strokeplay to keep the ball on the ground. I just want him to middle a few.”
Ngatapa skipper Mike Gibson, who with Poverty Bay Wekas organiser Jeff Chambers, Chambers’ HSOB compatriot Glen Udall and OBR’s Craig Christophers, Jimmy Holden and Matt Henwood played for the late John Heikell and John McFarlane’s esteemed invitation side a fortnight ago.
The Wekas were always popular and their members typically brought a great keenness to play back into their regular club ranks.
Gibson referred to Ngatapa’s outlook for Round 10: “We’ve had a good break — now we’re ready to get back into cricket.”
The Caps have frontline pacemen Ryan West, Zac Borrie and Thor Crombie. Gibson himself is a smart bowler, with Grant Walsh and Charles Morrison as off-spinners of a different hue and Luke Hurlstone, who can be hard to hit in the middle stages of an innings, once more with his family club Ngatapa having left Campion College.
Batting can be more or less difficult on artificial wickets of consistent bounce, although the ball tends to bounce higher. West, who bowls right-arm and bats left-handed, may bat with a fellow leftie in accomplished veteran Richard Briant, who has a wicked eye and wrists of steel, to which those unfortunate bowlers who get too straight will testify.
Yet in the landscape of left-arm bowlers, the Gisborne Boys’ High School second 11 versus Craig Christophers’ OBR tomorrow has its own platoon.
The experienced Lukas Fry, Year 9 debutants Caleb Taewa and Jack Holden, orthodox spinner Riker Rolls and wrist-spinner Dylan Torrie will all roll the arm over. Their captain, George Gillies, is a clever off-spinner and the grade’s No.3 bowler Akira Makiri — who, like Campion’s Rhys Grogan, has taken 14 wickets in seven games — has as a potential new-ball partner the tall Nathaniel Fearnley.
Both Gillies and Torrie spent an hour batting in the centre at Nelson Park midweek. Concerns over potential bad weather have seen prudence dictate that Senior B games be shifted to Nelson Park.
Local cricket is lucky to have the best of both worlds — ideal weather to assist in the drying-out process for damp wickets at the Harry Barker Reserve, and a quality alternative.
As is sometimes forgotten, elsewhere cricket is played more often on concrete than on grass. Gillies took 3-14 and Makiri 2-8, both bowling three overs, when GBHS and OBR last met on November 20 last year.
OBR bowled Boys’ High out for 88 in 25 of a possible 30 overs (Fearnley made 16 from No.3 to top Gisborne Boys’ scoring list — wily seamer Christophers took 6-16 in six overs) but were under some small pressure at times in the run-chase.
NGATAPA GREEN CAPS: Mike Gibson (captain), Cam McNaught (wicket-keeper), Zac Borrie, Richard Briant, Thor Crombie, Ben Holden, Chris Hurlstone, Luke Hurlstone, Charles Morrison, Grant Walsh, Ryan West.
HOROUTA TE WAKA: Mel Knight (c), Riley Horsfield (wkp), Clarence Campbell, James Craig, Grace Levy, Aman Kamboj, Kayley Knight, Grace Kuil, Billy Morse, Vishal Singh, Mike Tapp.
OBR: Craig Christophers (c), Thom Berry (wkp), Olly Garland, Matt Henwood, Matt Lotar Mcfatter, George Reynolds, Tim Scrimshaw, Mana Taumanu, Lloyd van Zyl, Amit Vyas, Tama Wirepa.
GISBORNE BOYS’ HIGH SCHOOL (2): George Gillies (c), Kavindu Withanage (wkp), Nathaniel Fearnley, Lukas Fry, Jack Holden, Ben Langford, Malsha Mahabalage, Akira Makiri, Keanu Makiri, Riker Rolls, Caleb Taewa, Dylan Torrie, Jett Whitaker.
HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS PRESIDENTS: Ollie Needham (c, wkp), Nicholas Armour, Jeff Chambers, Michael Francis, Marcus Gray, Matt Jefferd, Mahmood Khan, Wayne Lanka, Kyle Jean-Louis, Jason Lines, Nathan Quimpo, Jarrod Renouf, Billy Stackhouse.
CAMPION COLLEGE: Hamish Swann (c), Dan Baillie (wkp), Aiden Armstrong, Izahn Duckworth, Jonty Fenn, Matt King, Taye McGuinness, Gagandeep Singh, Joe Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Connor Starck, Hayden Swann, Charlie Whitfield.
HOROUTA: David Situ (c), Heyan Ranasinghe (wkp), Ben Brick, Karn Dhillon, Harmanpreet Gill, Bruno Judd, Gaurav Chetan Kashyap, Keegan Martin, Vinay Patel, Jagroop Singh, Teghbir Singh, Hasantha Withanage.
Gisborne Boys’ High School: Nathan Trowell (c), Graham Sharp (wkp), Kelan Bryant, Luke Fisher, Dylan Foster, Keegan Jooste, Cohen Loffler, Travis O’Rourke, Bekko Page, Alex Shanks, Adam Situ, Malcolm Trowell (p-c).
HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS: Carl Shaw (c), Glen Udall (wkp), Dave Castle, Ajay Kumar, Baxter MacKay, Ryan Majstrovic, Marshall Norris, Jak Rowe, Scott Tallott, Daniel Torrie, Sean Wills.
OBR: Nick Greeks (c), Josh Adams (wkp), James Bristow, Matthew Cook, David Gray, Te-Reimana Gray, Sean Henry, Jimmy Holden, Ian Loffler, Daniel Stewart, Paul Stewart.