Tech's winning huddle. Photo / Carl Gunderson
Harry Beale could hardly talk for smiling.
And you’d be grinning from ear to ear if you were him too.
It’s been a week of cricketing firsts for the Napier Boys’ High School captain.
There were the 10 wickets he took against traditional 1st XI rivals Palmerston North Boys’ High School, then the 100 he scored in Division One cricket on Friday.
But those deeds were eclipsed by what the 17-year-old did on Sunday to win Napier Technical Old Boys the Murray McKearney Memorial Cup Twenty20 final at McLean Park.
Beale took 5-17 in four pinpoint overs of leg spin, dismissing some handy players along the way.
Central Hawke’s Bay batters Henry Collier and Thomas Zohrab are both former New Zealand under-19 players and seasoned representative cricketers. As is Charlie Robson, who Beale bowled reverse-sweeping.
Had it not been for Beale’s spell, there’s every chance CHB would’ve won. Chasing 148, they looked in reasonable control.
Tech had already tried five bowlers and seen their main spinner - Bayley Latter - get hit out of the attack after bowling two overs for 23.
The ball was tossed to Beale who, had Tech had its full strength side available, probably wouldn’t have been playing.
He thought he might fill in on the odd Friday night this season, when his school team wasn’t playing and Tech had players out with Hawke’s Bay or Central Districts commitments. There was never any thought he’d end up playing a starring role in a showpiece final on McLean Park.
“I was pretty excited, but also very, very nervous,” Beale said after helping bowl CHB out for 135.
“My shoulder was pretty sore before I bowled my first ball, but I landed it perfectly and that gave me a bit of confidence.
“I was just trying to attack the stumps as much as I could and change my pace and go a little bit slower. I bowled the leggie pretty much every ball and just kept changing my pace and hoped they would make a mistake.
“The slower ones gripped a bit as well, which was helpful.”
It was Beale’s first five-for in Twenty20 cricket, to go with the six and four wickets he took in the two innings against PNHBS and then the hundred against the Napier Tech Lions.
“It’s been a pretty good week,” Beale said.
“I’d probably call myself a bowling allrounder. I can hold a stick and in school cricket I bat top five, but I’m probably more of a bowler at prem level.
“I’m very, very happy.”
As was Tech captain Todd Watson. It was his 39 not out that shepherded Tech to its total of 147/5 and allowed them to atone for last summer’s semifinal loss to CHB in this competition.
“We’re expected to be here at the end and that’s not easy. It’s a weight on us as a team, because we are good and we know that we’re good, but we also know that we have a target on our back,” Watson said.
“It didn’t go to plan last summer and we definitely wanted to rectify that, especially after that spanking on Friday.”
That was the interesting subplot to Sunday. Tech suffered a 230-run defeat to Cornwall in Friday’s round of 50-over cricket, while CHB lost to Napier Old Boys’ Marist.
Central then met Cornwall in Sunday’s Twenty20 semifinal, from which they emerged 14-run winners.
For CHB, that meant the heartbreak of losing another Twenty20 final, having fallen short against Havelock North last season.
“It’s a carbon copy of last year, with runs on the board being critical on a tired wicket,” CHB captain Dominic Thompson said.
“We definitely put ourselves in a good position with the bat, but we knew they had guys like Todd and Toby [Findlay] to come back at the death so you have it at the back of your mind that you have to attack those guys [bowling] between 15 and 18 [overs].
“It would be nice if we could qualify first next year. We seem to be playing our best game in the morning.”
Sloppy fielding didn’t help CHB’s prospects in the final, nor Findlay’s batting cameo. On a wicket where only he and Collier timed too many shots, his 26 off 11 balls was decisive.
As was his bowling with the new ball. Findlay started with a maiden and bowled with hostility and skill for his 2-16 off four overs.
Mention should be made of Collier, too, who made 40 for CHB, despite being severely hampered by a nerve he pinched while fielding. He eventually fell slog-sweeping Beale, having given a bit of a masterclass on hitting the ball with the full face of the bat and manoeuvring it into gaps.
In Friday’s other 50-over match, Havelock North chased down 262 to beat Taradale by four wickets.
- This article is provided courtesy of Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association