Auckland Grammar's Kyle Jamieson in action in the team's loss to Kings College at the Hal Marryatt Cup in Auckland. Picture / Paul Estcourt
With four wins from six finals and runners-up in the other two, Westlake Girls stole the show at the champions of champions tennis at the Scarbro Tennis Centre.
The school won the James Aitkenhead Shield for the first time in its 36-year history.
Sacred Heart won three boys' titles and finished runner-up in another. But that was not good enough to win the boys' shield as St Kentigern won two and were runners-up in three to claim it by two points from Sacred Heart.
In reaching their semifinals, Trent Smith (intermediate) and Connor Williamson (junior) made what were telling contributions to St Kentigern's overall success.
The WGHS charge was headed by Danielle Feneridis who, after winning the junior, intermediate and senior titles in the previous three years, had little difficulty in wrapping up her second senior singles title. Feneridis and doubles partner Jana Stanojevic beat Megan Rogers/Georgia Whelan (Carmel) 6-1 7-5 in the final.
Rosie Cheng won the intermediate singles and the doubles, with Caitlin Beazley. Lauren Alter was runner-up in the junior singles and, with Claudia Maddren, in the junior doubles.
St Kentigern provided WGHS with their sternest opposition, with Kelly Drew the runner-up in the intermediate singles and Chanistha Ampornachariya winner of the junior singles, convincingly beating Alter 6-2 6-0 in the final.
St Kentigern withstood a strong challenge from Sacred Heart to win the boys' honours.
Sacred Heart's Rhett Purcell, the world 515th-ranked junior and the third-ranked 18-and-under Kiwi, was the standout performer. He beat St Kentigern top seed Ryan Henderson in the semifinals and came from a set down to beat third seed Olly Sadler 3-6 6-4 6-4 in the final.
Henderson and Sadler beat Auckland Grammar's David Jiang and Matt Metzger 6-1 6-4 in the doubles final.
St Kentigern's Edward Stoica dominated the intermediate singles, beating Jack Heslin (Sacred Heart) 6-1 6-1 in the final, but Heslin and Josh Walden fought all the way to claim the doubles with their 6-1 7-5 win over Stoica and Trent Smith.
The junior singles were notable for the triumph of the very young Macsen Sisam, from Kristin, who beat some much older boys. Sam Heslin and Scott Walden won the junior doubles for Sacred Heart.
CRICKET
AUCKLAND: After a washout the previous day, rivals AGS and Kings returned to Melville Park on Friday for the Hal Marryatt Cup and Auckland's spot in the national Gillette Cup final.
AGS won the toss and elected to bowl first and quickly claimed their first victim when opener Ben Turner departed for only eight runs.
Kings hit back with notable partnerships as Cam Gibbons (65), Luke Williamson (50) and Mark Chapman pushed the total to 162 before Gibbons and Chapman were both dismissed. Kieran Earwaker and Jacob Reilly bowled tightly through the middle stages of the Kings innings, which the Kings tail attempted to wag but further good bowling from Kyle Jamieson saw the innings end at 212/9.
AGS, attempting to upset the defending champions, were up against it straight away, losing a wicket before a run was scored. Shawn Hicks (48) and Jamieson (54) put on 107 for the second wicket to swing the advantage towards Auckland Grammar before both were dismissed within overs of each other.
Captain James Parslow (43) and Shikar Chaturvedi (34) consolidated the innings and then began to pile the pressure on the Kings bowlers. Harrison Nash was given the ball for the final over with AGS requiring 15 to win with four wickets in hand. Nash picked up a hat-trick, all clean-bowled, as he finished with 5-33 from his nine overs to seal the victory by 10 runs.
A day after their loss in that final saw further disappointment for AGS on the first day of their first match in the two-day championship.
Sacred Heart, batting first at home after losing the toss and facing a seaming wicket, struggled from the first over. The AGS bowlers knocked over wickets with monotonous regularity. Good fielding and tight bowling from Ganesh RatNasabapathy made it hard work for the batsmen.
The tail wagged slightly, but the highest score was only 15 as they were dismissed for 82 after 42 overs.
In reply, Auckland Grammar came out with a confident attitude with a small total to chase. But the AGS batsmen struggled with both the wicket and the tight bowling. The top order fell cheaply. The best of the bowlers, Tom Ritchie bagged 3-3 as AGS capitulated to be all out for 61 after 29 overs.
Kings fared a little better on the first day of their match against Macleans. It was business as usual for the defending champions as Luke Williamson recorded the incredible figures of 6-10 from 11 overs, as Macleans were bundled out for 80.
In reply, Williamson led the way with 40 as Kings secured the first innings with some hard work and finished the day on 125/8.
The low scoring continued at WBHS, where the home side were missing a few key bowlers - but it was their batsmen who failed to deliver as they were dismissed for just 105.
Auckland Under-18 bowler Brett Randell continued his exceptional one-day form, bowling 16 overs, eight maidens, and picking up 6-18.
In response the Westlake bowlers made MAGS work hard for their runs, and the innings is interestingly poised at 44/4.
It was a similar story on the first round of the plate.
Rosmini, attempting to defend the plate after narrowly missing a place in the top six, batted for most of the day against the winless St Kentigern scoring 226 with Dan Hilton Jones (60) and Josh Du Rand (50) giving hope of a decent total, but neither was able to push on. George Hollingsworth's seam bowling was a threat throughout his 14 overs as he bagged 5-39.
KBHS's innings was dominated by a maiden century for wicketkeeper Tristan Payle.
His 102 dominated the total of 184. Avondale captain Harshal Vyas picked up 5-34 with his off-spin.
Rangitoto's woes continued as they surrendered first innings points to St Peters.
Batting first, Rangitoto were dismissed for just 67, with George Hanham the destroyer, taking 4-14.
The St Peters batsmen also struggled but managed to claw their way to 71/6 at close of play.
WAIKATO: Teams batting first prospered in round five of the division one one-day championship. All four matches were won by margins of between 38 and 137 runs by the team batting first.
St Pauls won the toss and elected to bat on a superb batting pitch. Chris Fawcett (30) and Baxter Mackay (38) put on 64 runs for the first wicket against some tidy Matamata bowling. Lower in the order, Scott Finlayson (67) and Chris Swanson (56 not out) combined to add 96 before Finlayson was superbly run out by a direct hit. St Pauls went on to score a useful 277/5.
Matamata took up the challenge but were unfortunate to lose their captain Ciaran O'Malley early. Tysome Green (37) was their best batsman, but he lacked real support as they slumped to 77/7 before recovering to reach 140 - 137 runs shy of their target. St Paul's best bowlers were James Chenery (3-3) and Josh Malpas (2-34).
St Peters batted first against Morrinsville College with a number of batsman getting starts but only Ben Schilt (77) making it count. He was supported by Sam Pulis (29), Brandon Weal (26) and a patient 21 from Nathan Tweedy. Tim Taylor was the best of the Morrinsville bowlers with 4-54. Poor catching and 51 wides did not help, as St Peters reached 256/9.
Mixed fielding did not help St Peters either, though a good display behind the stumps by captain Tim Seifert with three catches and two stumpings helped keep Morrinsville under control.
Strong hitting from Jarrod Hendley (33) and knocks by Tim Taylor (26) and Brett Cameron (28) gave Morrinsville some hope, but with Jono Whitley claiming four wickets and young medium pacer Ben Richards three, St Peters won by 116 runs.
Batting first, HBHS Development XI started well. Aided by some wayward bowling from the St Johns attack, openers Danyn Stewart (50) and Nick Reddish (32) put on more than a century for the opening wicket. Further useful contributions from Paddy Carsons (28) and Jonathan Lush (32) carried them to 219/6. An excellent fightback from the St John's bowlers ensued, led by Damian Sun's off-spin as he claimed 1-27 from 10 overs and Joe Tourelle (1-27 from eight).
The St John's reply was hampered by the regular loss of wickets and finished 38 runs short. Sam Cooper (39) batted well with good contributions from Connor Clark (23) and Jayden Purcell (20). HBHS spinners Nick Reddish (1-28 from 10), Jonathan Lush (231 from 10) and Paddy Carson (2-35 from nine) applied pressure.
Cambridge HS won the toss and elected to bowl. The Hillcrest openers quickly showed they meant business, with James Ross (48) and Scott van Syp (24) compiling an 82-run partnership for the first wicket. Following Ross' dismissal, Huw Ellias took the attack to the home team, bludgeoning his way to 88 from just 56 deliveries. Hillcrest were looking to post 300 when Ellias was dismissed in the 33rd over with the score at 198/4.
Nick Bateman returned for his second spell to capture Ellias, caught behind, and then bowling Sean Rudman before he could make an impact.
The visitors kept pushing the run rate along and were still scoring freely at 244/7 with seven overs remaining, until Kieran Carling ended the Hillcrest innings with a hat-trick.
Chasing 254 was always going to be a stern test, and Cambridge started disastrously with Hugo Bothma caught at slip on the third ball of the innings. Mitch Kirkbride and James Bateman fought for the second wicket with a partnership of 51, before Kirkbride was caught chasing a wide delivery.
Several partnerships began to develop but the pressure of the climbing run rate began to take its toll and only Nick Bateman (31) was able to contribute from the middle order.
Cambridge were bowled out in the 40th over for 163, with Nigel Lim the chief destroyer taking 4-16 off 4.5 overs.
SOFTBALL
Defending NZSS champions Epsom Girls Grammar began strongly in the final of the Auckland division one championship but in the end were no match for Green Bay High who raced away to win 17-7 at Warren Freer Park..
Leading off for the Brett Iti-coached EGGS, Gabrielle Yerkovich slammed a left field home run off Green Bay pitcher Beth Stavert from the third pitch of the game.
Green Bay replied with 15 runs in their first turn at bat, led by some superb hitting from MVP catcher Sharelle Leota.
NZSS defending boys' champions, Massey High, took a 2-1 lead over MAGS in the bottom of the first innings. Massey pitcher Eurera Gage, later named the MVP, allowed only three hits throughout, taking eight strikeouts as Massey went on to win 9-1.
VOLLEYBALL
The Auckland SS championships produced many close, exciting matches before Mangere College (girls) and Orewa College (boys) emerged victorious.
The girls' final between Mangere and McAuley was won 3-1. Orewa beat AGS 3-0 in the boys' final.
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