Year 9/10 Colts Boys conclude their Hawkes Bay Camp tournament

Special thanks also to Nathan Kinane for the awesome pics!

Read all about their on-field exploits below and full match scorecards can be found here at PlayHQ

Day 1 vs Wellington Wanderers

The first game of the tournament was a 40 over a-side match against Wellington Wanderers, played on an artificial at Lindisfarne. It was slightly overcast with a good breeze. Wellington won the toss and elected to bat. Brody and Liam D opened the bowling and were nice and tight and put pressure on the opposition. Liam K and Corrin continued this, with Corrin making the first breakthrough with a wicket in the 8th over. There was a change of pace in the bowling with Blake and Ethan coming in, Ethan picking up the second wicket for the team. The Wanderers settled in from there, before Jackson picked up the third wicket in the 25th over through a good catch in the field by Brody. The run rate then began to slow, before Liam D picked up the fourth wicket with another good catch by Brody in the 35th over. Wickets fell regularly from there, with Aidan, Carter, Liam K and Brody all picking up one and Jacob taking a great catch as wicket keeper off of Liam K’s bowling. The Wellington team finished their innings 156/8.

Taranaki’s innings started with an early wicket in the 2nd over, which saw Liam K come in. Between him and Blake, they put on a 39-run partnership before Liam was caught for 16. We lost three wickets in close succession before a 68-run partnership between Jackson and Brody steadied the ship. Runs continued to accumulate with the boys needing just 9 runs to win going into the 34th over. Wellington fought back with some good bowling, which saw us down to our last 2 batsmen before Michael and Liam D got us over the line for the win in the 38th over. This was a good first up hit out for the boys, with some learnings of how to play the longer game.

Day 2 vs Macs Cricket:

Day 2 saw the boys play their first 50 over match playing Mac’s Cricket (St Kent’s) on the grass at Frimley. Liam D won the toss and elected to field. This appeared to be the right decision with Liam K picking up the first wicket in the fourth over, although it was seven overs later before Corrin picked up the second wicket in the 11th over. Blake came in to bowl and bagged a double wicket maiden with two sharp catches by Carter and Jackson, to leave Macs Cricket 43/4 after 14. Macs slowly built up runs but lost wickets too regularly and were all bowled out for 149 in 42.3 overs. The other wickets went to Aidan, Carter, Jacob, Brody, Jackson and Corrin picking up a 2nd. Carter made the honours board with 3 catches and Corrin also made the board with 2 wickets and 1 catch. Macs cricket bowled well and had us a wicket down in the 3rd over. This brought in Jacob and along with Brody they put on a 27-run partnership. By the 16th over we were down 4 wickets with Liam D and Aidan at the crease. Together, they put on a handy 35 run partnership before Aidan departed in the 25th over for 8, when he was dismissed by a caught and bowled. The 29th over saw the entry of Carter, and between him and Liam D they saw us to the win in the 38th over. Liam D played a great captain’s knock, notching up 63 runs off 74 balls, with Carter hitting 23 from 25. It was a great team effort by the boys.

Day 3 vs Wellington Wasps:

Day 3 saw the boys return to Frimley to play on grass against Wellington Wasps, in their 2nd 50 over match for the tournament. Wellington won the toss and elected to bat, much to their coach’s dismay. Brody and Liam K opened the bowling and bowled nice and tight with Brody picking up the first wicket in the third over, and Liam K picking up the 2nd wicket in the 6th over, restricting Wellington to 17/2. Corrin and Liam D were the next pair to bowl, with Corrin picking up 3 wickets in his 3 overs for only 10 runs. After 11 overs, Wellington were 34/6. Carter and Blake were next to bowl and they both picked up 2 wickets each in their 2 overs. The final wicket came with Aidan bowling his first ball of the innings, with a great catch by Liam K at mid-on. Wellington were bowled out for 57 in the 21st over. With a small total to defend Wellington had a great start nabbing our 2 openers in the first 2 overs. Carter and Michael were next in, and Michael played a great supporting role to Carter, to see the boys to the win. Carter made a quick fire 40 from 36 with 5 fours and 1 six to clinch the win.

Day 4 vs Hamilton Marist and WBOP Wiggles

Day 4 saw the boys playing their first T20 of the tournament, playing at Napier Boys on the artificial. They had played Hamilton Marist in previous years and knew this was going to be a tough game. Liam D won the toss and elected to field. Brody and Liam K opened the bowling and quickly had the first wicket. Unfortunately, from there it was a hard day in the field for the boys, who were pretty flat and struggling for focus. Wickets went to Liam K, Carter and Blake with a runout to Corrin, with Marist underestimating the arm of our boys in the deep. Marist played extremely well and reached 172/4 in their 20 overs. The boys knew this would be a hard total to chase down and unfortunately it did not go our way, with Marist bowling well and taking wickets regularly. Liam D once again played a captain’s knock to bring some respectability to the score, reaching 52 not out from 42 balls on the last ball of the innings. Liam played extremely well and put away the bad balls, hitting 7 fours in his innings. This score saw him make the honours board for the 2nd time in the tournament. We made 94/9 in reply. It was good to see the boys not give up and kept fighting to the end.

The last game of the tournament was another T20, this time against WBOP Wiggles on the grass at Napier Boys. WBOP won the toss and elected to bat. We picked up wickets on a regular basis, with wickets going to Liam K, Corrin, Carter, Blake, Aidan and Michael. The bowling and fielding were much improved in the afternoon with only 7 extras conceded. Michael also ran out a player on the last ball of the innings. WBOP reached 128/7 in their 20 overs. Liam K and Brody opened the batting and put on a great opening partnership of 41 before three quick wickets in the 7th over saw us at 43/3. This brought in Jacob and Corrin who got them through to 64 at drinks. The game was evenly poised, as Jacob and Corrin put on a 34 run partnership. Following another flurry of wickets, Liam D came in and tried to hit us to the win, but we didn’t quite make it. We finished up at 118/9 in our 20 overs. Liam D (22), Liam K (21) and Corrin (21) were top run scorers for the game.

The boys put in a great effort and never gave up and should be extremely proud of themselves in the way they played and behaved, on and off the field. It was a successful tournament winning 3 from 5 games.