Round Five
Final Tournament Points:
King’s School 10
Medbury School 6
Raroa Normal Intermediate 6
Huntley School 6
Medbury School 4
Tauranga Intermediate 2
Southland Boys’ High School 0
Tauranga Intermediate 122-6 (J Bidois 40, J Cocker 3-28) beat Southland Boys’ High School 100-7 (R Murray 30, H Patel 5-24), Lincoln No. 3
The final match to be completed was the clash between Tauranga Intermediate and Southland Boys’ High School. Both teams had battled hard all tournament but until this point neither team had achieved a victory. Southland Boys’ won the toss and inserted Tauranga. Early partnerships and an excellent innings of 40 from 36 balls from Jonty Bidois propelled Tauranga to their highest team total of the tournament with 122. In their reply Southland were deliberate and calculated in their approach but failed to stay with the required run rate and eventually fell 22 runs short. Reid Murray continued but strong form with 30 runs but Harsh Patel was the star of the show with 5-24. Remarkably all his five wickets were bowled showing the impeccable line and length Patel bowled. When the innings closed Southland Boys’ had also achieved their highest total of the tournament and despite not winning the final game played a big role in making it a successful week and was recognised with the Spirit of Cricket award.
Raroa Normal Intermediate 107-5 (P Martin 39) lost to King’s School 108-4 off 16 overs (J Willis 42), Bert Sutcliffe Oval
Everything was on the line for the final round match between King’s School and Raroa Normal Intermediate on the Bert Sutcliffe Oval. King’s the only remaining unbeaten team could still mathematically be caught if Raroa secured a large victory. Raroa won the toss and chose to bat and despite an early wicket built their innings around their captain Paddy Martin who scored 39 run and was well supported by brother Nick Martin with 31. Wickets were shared around the King’s bowlers with some tight economical bowling restricting Raroa. In replay the outcome of the match was never in doubt. Lead by an explosive inning from opener Jonty Willis who scored 42 off 27 balls including 8 boundaries. The target was achieved with 4 overs to spare and King’s were crowned the 2017 National Primary School Cup champions.
Huntley School 80 all out off 17 overs (O McVerry 45*, N Gibb 4-10) lost to Medbury School 84-4 in 13 overs (N Gibb 23), Lincoln Green
The final round saw Medbury School challenging Huntley School with both schools still in the running for a top two finish. Medbury won the toss and inserted Huntley, hoping to dismiss them cheaply and chase down their total quickly to improve their run rate in an effort to challenge for second place. Medbury were able to do just that, bowling Huntley out for 80. That could have been many less if it wasn’t for an outstanding innings of 45 off 34 balls from including 7 boundaries to Oscar McVerry. The chief destroyer were Nicholas Gibb who continued his excellent contributions with 4-10 off his 4 overs. Medbury made short work of chasing down Huntleys total with contributions from across their top order achieving 84-4 after just 13 overs. This strong performance helped Medbury secure second place on run rate with three teams eventually finishing on six points.
