Day two of Gillette Cup saw Christchurch and Westlake Boys’ recording dominant victories, while Wellington College and Palmerston North Boys’ engaged in a thriller.
Read all about it below!
COMPETITION CENTRE
ROUND TWO:
Palmerston North Boys HS 189/10 (J Last-Harris 43, R Samarasekara 3-31) beat Wellington College 176/10 (Archie Sims 79, L Henderson 4-41), Bert Sutcliffe Oval
Much to the dismay of their parents and fans, Wellington College found themselves in yet another close match – this time the opposition coming out on top.
After a slow but steady start with the bat, Palmerston North found themselves in trouble – losing three quick wickets and falling to 43/3. Jordan Last-Harris (43) again put his hand up for PNBHS – scoring a calculated 43 runs and combining with Keiran Gill (33) in a handy partnership. WC spin-bowler, Lucas Henderson (4-41), put together a fantastic spell for Wellington - taking the key wickets of Last-Harris and Gill, and putting his team back in the driver’s seat. Lower-order batters Daniel Lampp (28) and Max Culleton (28) played valuable innings’ for their side, seeing PNBHS to a defendable total of 189/10.
In response, PNBHS’ bowling unit came out firing – left-arm seamer Riveen Samarasekara (3-31), Last-Harris (2-49), and a run out seeing Wellington reeling at 53/5 by the 10th over. Opening batsman Ari Bonnar (26) the sole batter to reach 20 in WC’s top six. With his side in a desperate spot, enter Archie Sims (79), who looked cool, calm and collected while getting his team back in position to potentially win the match. Sims was well supported by Kavin Cumarasundaram (22) – the two compiling 68-runs for the seventh wicket, showing good temperament and ability to put away the bad ball. When PNBHS spin-bowler Alex Pringle (1-22) removed Sims LBW, PNBHS pounced on the opportunity. Captain Ethan Campbell (2-31) took the final wicket with just 13 runs required, securing his side a hard-fought victory.
Westlake Boys’ HS 325/10 (J Van Zyl 76, M Ross 4-30) beat St Peter’s Cambridge 89/10 (, M Mitchell 5-48), Lincoln Green
After being sent in to bat, Westlake Boys’ were able to put up a whopping 325 runs thanks to contributions from their top/middle order. St Peter’s saw some early success through opening bowlers Xavier Bell (2-65) and Max Mitchell (5-48) – both removing an opener apiece. From then on Westlake looked in control, with three of their middle-order scoring 20+ and Brandon Matzopoulos (42) backing up his form from the previous day. It was middle order batters Jordan Van Zyl (76) and Matthew Ross (71) who stole the show, however, blasting the ball to all areas and displaying some serious power. Max Mitchell was the best of the SPC bowling unit, picking up four late wickets to secure the first five-wicket haul of the tournament.
In response, St Peter’s batting innings struggled to get going. Matthew Ross (4-30) gave WBHS the perfect start - removing both SPC openers and completing a fantastic individual outing by adding a four-wicket bag. The spin duo of Luke Harrison (3-12) and Vikram Varadarajan (2-17) proved deadly – taking five wickets between them through the middle overs and bowling out SPC for just 89 runs.
Christchurch Boys’ HS 185/3 (T Robinson 81, N Smith 3-33) beat Otago Boys HS 184/10 (D Lawrence 97, Z Cumming 1-53), Lincoln No.3
Christchurch Boys’ got off to a dream start against Otago Boys’ this morning, securing a runout and taking three quick wickets to reduce the Dunedinites to 29/4 early in their innings.
OBHS batter Daniel Lawrence was not going to roll over - digging his heels in and scoring a very determined 97 runs, and in the process tallying more than 50% of his team’s runs. He was ably supported by Luke Marsh (25) and Will Thode (16), with whom Lawrence shared 50+ run partnerships. Unfortunately for Otago, CBHS continued to take wickets at the other end. Spearheaded by Nick Smith (3-33), all of CBHS’s bowling unit were able to pick up at least a wicket each, seeing OBHS bowled out for 184.
CBHS came out firing in response – openers Toby Robinson (81) Harry O’Loughlin (36) putting on a quickfire 90-run partnership before a sharp runout removed O’Laughlin. Robinson continued the onslaught with support from Callum Sansom (44*), swatting 14 boundaries in an innings of class. When Robinson was removed by a good Will Thode (1-32) bouncer, Callum was joined by his brother, Ryan (19*), who helped CBHS to a comfortable 7-wicket victory in the 27th over.
