Cricket: KIS hunting national title

The KIS cricket side after their heart-stopping win over Tauranga Intermediate. From left, back row: Nathan Parkes, Taine Beardsell, Jordan Dwight, Max Turner, Luke Trigg (c), Harry Cooper and Andre Luiten. Middle row, Will Coop, Kian Bird and Cale Pooley. Front (on ground), Alex Gordon, Sam Webb, Cam Gordon and Billy Alexander-Crawford. Photo / Mike Bird

Kamo Intermediate School will compete for a national cricket title this month after beating past champions Tauranga Intermediate in a heart-stopping knockout final.

KIS' First XI will represent Northern Districts in the ActivePost Cup (NZ Cup) Twenty 20 tournament on November 26, 27 and 28 in Palmerston North.

A primary/intermediate school team from Auckland, Wellington, Otago, Canterbury and Central Districts will take part, vying for the informal crown of the best primary/intermediate T20 team in New Zealand.

Coach Sam Walker said the team could win it.

"If they play to their potential, they have a got a serious chance to win this tournament - their fielding and bowling was outstanding."

However, Walker says they need to learn from the batting collapse they had this week.

KIS was cruising to victory on Tuesday at the neutral venue of Bruce Pulman Park in Papakura, when they lost seven wickets for as many runs. Earlier, Tauranga was dismissed for 50 off 16.4 overs on an artificial wicket with erratic bounce that challenged both teams.

KIS opening bowler Max Turner skittled a Tauranga opener in the opening over and caused ongoing problems for the Tauranga players with his outswing.

A second wicket fell shortly after to a runout, and KIS steadily chipped away at the Tauranga batters.

Turner finished with 2-6 off three overs, supported by leg spinner Sam Webb (2 for 8 off 4) Harry Cooper (1-9 off three), Billy Alexander-Crawford (1 for 12 off two) and Cam Gordon (1 for six off two overs).

KIS lost opener Webb for four, but wicketkeeper Luke Trigg (19) and Kian Bird (10) then seemed to have KIS cruising to victory.

At 41-2, KIS needed just 10 runs off 9 overs.

However, a batting collapse saw Kamo plunge from 41-2 to 48-9, with three runs still required. Tauranga's chief destroyer was Thomas Murray-Edwards, who took four wickets - including a hat-trick - for 10 runs off four overs with his right arm medium pace.

It was left to Alexander-Crawford and a cool-headed Andrew Luiten to steer KIS home, with Luiten taking an easy single for Alexander-Crawford to then sweep a legside delivery to win the match.