The Napier Tech year 9-10 team who didn’t lose any of their five games at the annual Riverbend Cricket Camp at Marewa Park, Napier, yesterday. Photo / Duncan Brown
The Napier Tech year 9-10 team who didn’t lose any of their five games at the annual Riverbend Cricket Camp at Marewa Park, Napier, yesterday. Photo / Duncan Brown
We've all heard of unhappy teams where a lion's share of cricketers don't get to bat and at the other end of the spectrum don't shine a ball.
Well, the Napier Technical Old Boys (NTOB) age-group team at the annual Riverbend Cricket Camp do not entertain any such discriminatory viewsand are reaping the benefits, so it seems.
They didn't have five top batsmen or bowlers dominate while the others watched. "Everyone gets a go," team manager Shane Allen said last night after NTOB went through the Year 9-10 competition without conceding a game.
The teenagers beat Upper Hutt on Sunday in a 50-over match, got home by the skin of their teeth against Tawa on Monday before making easy work of Havelock North on Tuesday as well as Western BOP and Cornwall (Hastings) in two T20 affairs yesterday.
"We looked like we were gonefor all money against Tawa at Cornwall Park but wecame back to collect wickets at the end as they [Tawa] were short in trying to get three runsin the last over of the 50-over match," Allen said.
The secret to the team's success has also been their stickability as a group and knowledge of each other's strengths.
"They've been togther for a long time and they are all good mates. Their fielding is exceptional and they haven't dropped any catches."
The boys all attend Napier Boys' High School and most of them are in the school's Colts XI which won the secondary schools' Hawke's Bay competition this summer.
