First XI Cricket Wrap-up: Saturday 28 October

Denny steers King’s to safety in a tense chase

Takapuna Grammar – 175/9 in 50 overs

King’s College – 177/3 in 48.4 overs

At 43/4 in the 22^nd over, Takapuna was in serious trouble of being bowled out for well under a hundred runs. The King’s pace quartet of Tim Hamilton (Year 12, Marsden) and Liam Denny (Year 13, Peart) with the new ball, followed by Finn Priddy (Year 12, Marsden) and Cooper Fenwick (Year 11, Peart) at the first change, restricted Takapuna to around 2 RPO for most of this period. Hamilton was most impressive, bowling six overs on the trot and conceding a mere nine runs. Priddy, who usually shares the new ball with Hamilton, relished this delayed entry into the attack and picked up the first wicket of the innings with his fifth ball. He was equally impressive in his first spell, conceding a mere nine runs in five overs. The skipper, James Bamford (Year 13, Major), resisted the use of spin and brought himself and Thomas Nelson (Year 11, Marsden) into the attack, with the latter bowling for the first time at this level. On a green strip, conducive to pace, the leg-spin of Samar Singh (Year 12, Averill) was introduced as late as the 31^st over. The Takapuna 5^th wicket pair injected some life into their innings, taking the score to 72/5 before the 7^th wicket pair added 68 runs in 87 balls, benefitting from numerous dropped catches to frustrate the King’s attack and set up a challenging target for the unheralded King’s batters. With two catches and one stunning stumping, Jack Hernon (Year 12, Selwyn) had a fantastic day behind the wickets.

After lunch, King’s opening pair of Denny and Nelson strode out to pursue the 176 runs required for the elusive three competition points needed to rescue the team and move them out of the relegation zone. King’s thrived against the opposition pace bowlers, and the openers raced off to 74 runs in 16 overs as the match was heading for an early finish. The main Takapuna spin duo was introduced into the attack at this point and bowled unchanged for the next 20 overs. From 4.58 RPO, King’s crawled to 126/2 at the end of the 36^th over and an RPO of 3.5 amidst mounting tension. In the meantime, Denny was playing the innings of his life and, at one stage, was on a run-a-ball 40 before the spinners slowed down proceedings. When he was dismissed for 71 runs (98 balls), reaching his highest score at this level of competition, King’s were still not out of the woods at 118/2. Bamford and Morgan Tapper (Year 12, St John's) combined for 16 overs to ensure victory was within reach, and when the latter was dismissed in the 48^th over, King’s needed just five runs for a long-awaited win after four losses in a row.

Batting:

 Bowling:

 King’s win by 7 wickets

Liam Denny top scored with 71 runs in 98 balls, including 9 boundaries