Rathkeale blitz rivals to make cup final

Rathkeale College are through to the finals of the Gillette Cup national secondary schools cricket limited-overs knockout competition for the second successive year.
They became one of the eight qualifying teams when they blitzed arch rivals Wanganui Collegiate in the central region final at Wanganui last Thursday.
Winning the toss and electing to bat first Rathkeale College decided to make a change at the top of the batting order, promoting the usually aggressive Dean van Deventer to open with Matt Dalley.
Those two put on 26 in an an unusual opening partnership which saw Dalley see out eight overs and bat for 37 minutes without scoring a run.
His partner van Deventer also showed commendanle patience against a consistent Wanganui Collegiate attack, reaching 49 in a knock lasting 2hr 4min before being dismissed.
Usual opener Andy Oldfioeld blazed his way to 27, including two sixes, in just 37 minutes and the ever-reliable Andy Dodd made a handy 40.
In the end Rathkeale were 197-8 at the end of their 50 overs, a score which coach Dick Kendall believed gave them a strong chance of victory.
"With the attack we've got any score between 170 and 220 is always going to be hard for the opposition to get," he said
Kendall admits, however, that on this occasion the task was made more difficult forthe bowlers by weather conditions which threatened to turn sour.
"It was important that we took early wickets and kept the pressure on.......... there was always the thought in the back of the mind that the rain could come and make it a no result," he said.
Kendall needn't have worried though as the Rathkeale attack soon had Wanganui College in big trouble and in the 19th over they were 56-6.
The next two overs saw the remaining four wickets taken without a further run being scored, two of them to Andy Dodd and the other two to Doug Bracewell.
Dodd finished with 2-0 and Bracewell 3-16 but the main wicket-taker was the 15-year-old van Deventer who completed a superb all-round performance by claiming 4-18 off nine overs.
Kendall described the ease of his team's 141-run win as "very surprising" as Wanganui Collegiate had eliminated the powerful New Plymouth Boys High side in their previous match and, of course, had the advantage of playing at home.
"We were expecting a really close tussle so it was a bit of a shock to win like that," he said.
Just two days beforehand Rathkeale College had recorded a comfortable win in another of the Gillette Cup elimination games against Hastings Boys High, this time at Rathkeale.
There too Rathkeale batted first and were all out for 179 in the 49th over. Dodd top scored with 48 with Bracewell making 29 and Brock Price 27.
Hastings Boys High never looked like reaching their target, being dismissed for 87.
Bracewell led the attack with figures of 4-22 while Jamie Willetts took 2-25, Dodd 2-23 and Simon Clinton-Baker 1-3.
Just who Rathkeale College will play in the Cup finals, to be held in Palmerston North from December 14, had not been confirmed at the time these notes were penned.
The eight qualifiers will be divided into two pools of four and with the winners of each pool playing off in the grand final.
Rathkeale placed third in 2005 when the finals were marred by poor weather, and Kendall is optimistic they will again be a force to be reckoned with this year.
"? lot depends on the batting, we just need to keep scoring enough runs to give our bowlers a fair chance of knocking the opposition over,"he said.
"?'d expect our attack to be as good as any there,we've got a lot of options in that area and we need to make the most of them."