Huntley School fall short in Twenty20 tournament

CD Qualifier for the National Primary Schools Shield. Sacred Heart Girls (Taranaki), Palmerston Intermediate, St Matthews (Masterton) and Huntley at Huntley School Marton. Tuesday, March 10, 2020

St Matthews will represent the Central Districts in the National Primary Schools Shield in November later this year after a dominant showing at the Central Districts qualifying tournament in Marton this week.

They won all three of their games in the one-day Twenty20 tournament, securing their spot in the National Schools Shield tournament at Lincoln in November.

Huntley School hosted the Year 7/8 cricket tournament on Tuesday, with visiting sides St Matthews, Palmerston North Intermediate School, Sacred Heart Girls in New Plymouth fighting it out to see who would represent the region.

Huntley School were the only side from the Whanganui region to put up a Year 7 and 8 girls side, and were looking to capitalise on the opportunity.

Director of Sport and Coach at Huntley School Andrew Reynolds-Rowe was optimistic about how his team will go.

"A lot of people are playing for the enjoyment of it. They have only been involved with the game for 9-18 months."

Reynolds-Rowe was looking someone would break a school record over the tournament.

"If we were to get Huntley Schools girls first 50 or a five-wicket bag that would be awesome."

To improve the speed of the game and generate more interest in youth, overs were shortened to 15 per side, with nine players on the field on smaller boundaries.

Play looked like it was in jeopardy early in the day, with rain saturating the pitch and outfield. The weather slowly cleared up, with a strong wind help dry the surfaces. After a 45-minute delay, the four sides hit the field.

Huntley opened the day against defending champions Sacred Heart, hoping to start the day off on a good foot. Sacred Heart secured two early wickets, putting Huntley on the backfoot. They finished with a total of 53/8, offering Sacred Heart a competitive score to chase.

The score proved too small for the defending champs, chasing it down and winning by four wickets. Jamie Thompson was the pick of the bowlers for Huntley, bagging two wickets for five runs off her three overs.

Huntley School's Jamie Thompson and Meg Speedy running between wickets. Photo / Bevan Conley

They took on St Matthews in their second game of the day. Batting first, Huntley battled its way to 55/5 off their 15 overs, with Meg Speedy leading the way with 21 runs.

Francesca Wells from St Matthews was destructive with the ball, securing four wickets for two runs off her three overs.

St Matthews proved they were the side to watch out for, chasing down the 55-run total without losing a wicket.

With only Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School left to face, Huntley were desperate to get a result. Huntley sent them out to bat first, where PNINS batted there way to 67 runs. Captain Caitlyn McKelvie was the star for Huntley, with two catches, two run outs and two wickets for innings.

Huntley started the chase rough, losing a few early wickets. Maggie Pearce came in an steadied the ship, scoring 38 and hitting a four off the last ball of the game to win the match in stunning fashion.

St Matthews saved their best performance for last, where they took on Sacred Heart to determine the winner of the tournament. After losing four quick wickets, St Matthews settled in to post a very competitive 101/6.

Defending champs Sacred Heart struggled to chase the score, ending up all out on 40.

St Matthews won all three games of the tournament, and will go on to represent Central Districts at the NZ Primary Schools Shield later in the year.

Huntley, PNINS and Sacred Heart all shared second spot with a win and two losses for the day.