Winning run continues

FIRST WIN: Ngatapa Green Caps had their first Hope Cup win of the season at the weekend. Many of the team had not played cricket since they left school, and some travel 45 to 80 minutes to get to games. They are pictured with the scoreboard as it stood when the final High School Old Boys (2) wicket fell. Ngatapa are, back (from left): Steve Hicky, Jock Spence, Matt Raleigh, Chris Richardson, Scott Brodie, Chris Hurlstone, Mike Gibson and James Maher. Front: Tom Holden, Lyle Crudis and Andrew Knight. Picture supplied

They’re loving it.

Campion College continued their perfect start to the season with win No.4 in the 30-over Hope Cup cricket championship on Saturday.

They beat Old Boys’ Rugby (2) by eight wickets.

OBR captain Deevon Gray won the toss and elected to bat. His side made 73 in 24.2 overs.

The skipper faced the first ball and got to 36 off 57 balls. His son Te-Reimana Gray made 15 off 34 balls.

Luke Hurlstone, bowling third change for Campion, took 4-16 off 5.2 overs.

Fellow seamer, Sam Briant, a Year 8 student, took 3-6 off four overs, one of them a maiden, and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick.

Aside from first-change bowler Matt Foster (1-6) breaking Campion’s 41-run opening stand between player-coach Mark Naden and Max Briant, and Travis O’Rourke’s brilliant side-on throw to run Naden out for 27 off 35 balls, Campion’s march to victory was relatively trouble-free.

Deevon Gray said: “Campion bowled tightly and were difficult to score from, Luke in particular. Travis O’Rourke (0-16 off three overs) bowled well for us and Matt Foster was accurate, too. It was a good learning experience for us, especially playing on a grass wicket.”

So that’s what it tastes like.

The Stirling Logging Ngatapa Green Caps picked up their first Hope Cup win of the season — a 49-run victory against High School Old Boys (2).

HSOB captain Isaac Hughes elected to bowl, and Ngatapa reached 135-6.

Opener Tony Holden hit four boundaries in his 46-ball innings of 33.

First-drop Chris Richardson hit six fours in an excellent knock of 66 off 82 balls.

Left-arm spinner Ryan Majstrovic took 3-19 off six overs, two of which were maidens, while Harmanpreet Singh was also successful, taking 2-26 off six overs.

Ngatapa then bowled HSOB out for 86 in 24.5 overs.

Opener Singh hit four fours on his way to 24 off 34 balls, and Majstrovic hit three fours in his innings of 18 not out from 35 balls.

The destroyer for Ngatapa was big pace bowler Jock Spence. His haul of 5-25 off seven overs put the other four Hope Cup teams on notice.

Ngatapa player co-ordinator Chris Hurlstone had every reason to be rapt with the effort. He, himself, took two wickets in five balls at a cost of only two runs.

“We’re thrilled with this win,” he said.

“It was quite an effort. Not many of our boys have played since they left high school 10 to 15 years ago. And some have to travel 45 to 80 minutes to get in on a Saturday.”

Hurlstone hopes to have a roster of 25 players by the end of the season.

“The rationale behind entering a team is for club members to stay in contact in rugby’s offseason and, in the future, give the Ngatapa Nippers an opportunity to play cricket within our club structure.”