Youngsters making their mark

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

CRICKET

Poverty Bay’s next generation of batsmen is on the rise — Blake Marshall scored a century in T30 junior colts action on Saturday morning, and Max Briant scored his first half-century in club cricket in the afternoon.

Briant, 15, made 54 from 56 balls in Ngatapa’s 70-run Hope Cup win against the Old Boys’ Rugby second team.

“I tried to play every ball on its merits, keep it on the ground and take every run I could,” said the 6ft 5in all-rounder, who took six wickets for eight runs in four overs against High School Old Boys’ second team three weeks ago.

Ngatapa made 192-3 in their 30 overs.

Apart from Briant, the main contributors were Tim Gardner, who hit 10 boundaries in scoring 74 off 44 balls from No.3, and Liam Spring, coming in at No.4, who hit four fours in his 25 from 10 balls.

Left-arm seamer Travis O’Rourke (2-27 off five overs) was tidy. He and Mana Taumanu (1-31 off five) were the best bowlers for OBR (2).

For OBR (2), 13-year-old Cohen Loffler (45 off 65 balls) and 14-year-old Nathan Trowell (42 off 70) got their side off to an good start. They rotated the strike and placed the ball skilfully.

OBR reached 122-6 off their 30 overs. James Maher and Andrew Knight took the wickets for Ngatapa.

Ngatapa player co-ordinator Chris Hurlstone was delighted that Campion College players Briant, Spring and Luke Hurlstone — all of whom played for the Ngatapa Nippers and have ties to the club — were able to help what he described as a “fledgling Ngatapa side” missing six players on Saturday due to work commitments. Campion had a bye.

All three will play for Poverty Bay at the Northern Districts boys’ junior secondary schools tournament, beginning on December 3.