They'll have one eye over their shoulder at Civil Quarries Inglewood, who will be fighting to sneak into the fourth playoff spot if Hāwera drops their game this weekend, though they'll have to put Stratford away to do so.
At Western Park last weekend, Old Boys won the toss and elected to bat and would have been pleased with that call when a Davis Mills century led the way to an imposing total of 284/5.
Davis has been in good nick recently and struck 118 off 134 balls, sharing in a 118-run third-wicket partnership with Ben Mitchell, who hit 80 off 84. Charith Gajanayaka picked up figures of 43/2 off eight overs.
Old Boys' opening bowlers Jordan Gard and Jarrod Ritson made early inroads into the Hāwera top order, and the southern side's chase was soon in trouble at 18/4.
Young spinner Liam Carr picked up where Gard and Ritson left off, taking four wickets for just 12 runs off 5.2 overs to clean up the tail. Hāwera captain Shaun Fowler battled hard for a fighting 51 and was the last wicket to fall as Hāwera finished all out for 108.
Across town at Lynmouth Park, Marist were too strong for the Whitaker Civil Francis Douglas Memorial College (FDMC)1st XI. Former FDMC bowler George Boon had a day out against his former schoolmates, taking five wickets as Marist restricted FDMC to 127.
Opener Indusa Medagedara top scored with 29, while first drop Lenny Chapman made 27. Marist lost just two wickets on their way to the total, with Dean Robinson ending on 69.
Inglewood enjoyed their first outing on their newly laid wicket block at Karo Park, with a 70-run bonus point win against the New Plymouth Boys' High School (NPBHS) 1st XI. Sent into bat, the home side made 250/6, with captain Troy Chilcott making 54, and lower-order batsmen Matt Simpson (31) and Richard Clough (24) hitting out at the end to make a tough chase for NPBHS. Fianlay Barnes and Kip Harris each took a pair of wickets.
With NPBHS top order going cheaply, it was up to the middle batsmen to make a match of it. But from 30/4 the task always looked too steep. Joshua Gard (23) and Hrishi Bolar (27) began the rebuild before Barnes top scored with 37.
But it was too little too late and Boys High finished well short. Aaron Taylor (41/3) and Jesse Sabine (18/3) were the pick of the Inglewood bowlers.
Stratford got their double header weekend off to the best possible start with a commanding win over Stumble Inn Woodleigh at Victoria Park. Sent into bat, opener Denis Mihalijevic led the way with a run-a-ball 84, and he shared in a 102-run partnership with Liam Muggeridge (61). Muggeridge anchored the rest of the innings and Lachlan Drummond hit out with a quickfire 51 to lift Stratford to 269/6.
Woodleigh have struggled with the bat in recent weeks and while they put up a slightly better showing in this effort, they still fell 147 runs short. Mitchell Proffit top-scored with 35 while Chris Coombe and Clayton Floyd each took three wickets.
On the Sunday, Stratford hosted Francis Douglas Memorial College (FDMC) in their rescheduled third-round clash and made short work of the match.
FDMC were all out for 111 in the 32nd over with Jack Kelsen the only standout with the bat, hitting 34. Wickets were evenly shared with Coombe, Floyd, Muggeridge and Corey Bailey each striking twice.
It took Stratford just over 18 overs to hunt the target down for an eight-wicket win. Muggeridge made 31, while Mark Wales and Asher Ryan picked up wickets for FDMC.
Round 6 is this Saturday and Old Boys and Marist will both be heavily favoured to pick up wins, taking on Francis Douglas and Boys High respectively at the two schools' grounds.
Stratford has a tricky encounter against Inglewood to tackle. Inglewood finally has some winning momentum under its belt, after a slow start to the year and will not be easy to put away at Victoria Park.
In the final match, Hāwera can take a big step towards locking up the fourth semifinal position if they can travel north to Sutherland Park and pick up points against Woodleigh.
