Boys' High School Twenty/20 Invitational climaxed yesterday when they met the host school in the grand final in Auckland's North Shore. Despite losing their first match of the tournament to Westlake on Monday, WBHS won their remaining games against Rangitoto College, Kelston Boys, Rosmini College, Tauranga Boys' and New Plymouth Boys'High School, to go through to the final where Whangarei set out to redeem themselves and did so by winning the gripping final on the last ball. Boys' High coach for the tournament Russell Smith said the victory capped an already successful season for the team, who dug deep to defeat the competitive Westlake side. "The boys were chasing Westlake's score of 144 and Henry Cooper top scored with 82 not out to guide us to the win," Smith said. Whangarei needed 39 off three overs to win and Cooper smacked four sixes to inch his side closer to the target. The heat was on in the closing moments of the match, when new batsman Jordan Antunovich entered the mix with two runs needed off two balls, however he handled the task with ease. "We've had a pretty good record over the last 15 years at tournaments like this. "However, over the past few years we've only managed to come second and not quite performed when it mattered - however, we managed to complete the task today," Smith said. Impressive Northland form has been on display this week against eight top cricketing schools, with Joe O'Sullivan racking up a staggering 144 runs not out off 65 balls against Kelston, seeing Whangarei through to 255/1 on Tuesday. For this effort O'Sullivan received the individual performance of the tournament award. On Wednesday, Cooper shone once again, securing 102, not out - demonstrating why he was named batsman of the tournament - in the make-or-break match against Tauranga Boys, while teammate Ben Hyde also hit an unbeaten half century. Yesterday, Whangarei skipper Rory Darkins was in top form, smacking 64 for his team who were chasing 151 against New Plymouth Boys, and reached their target comfortably. It was the first time WBHS has contested the invitational, which is in its second year.
