King’s retain the Scott Trophy with a resounding win against Auckland Grammar

When Karl Wallace tapped the ball gently into the covers to steal a quick single at the start of the 33^rd over it brought James Nelson on strike. King’s was one run away from another morale-boosting victory on the back of the previous week’s win against Westlake Boys’ High. Nelson struck the next delivery crisply through the covers to take two runs, earning King’s a resounding 8-wicket victory to regain the Scott Trophy that was lost to traditional rivals Auckland Grammar a year ago.

King’s won a crucial toss when skipper Nick Tapper got lucky and did not hesitate to put AGS in to bat. In very windy conditions the opposition top order benefitted from some indisciplined bowling in the early overs to race to a score of 43/1 in the 10^th over.

The opening attack of Josh Olliver and Jonty Willis was dispensed with after four overs as Tapper brought himself on with Nelson, in an attempt to stem the tide. This worked marginally as the run rate dropped to 3.83 after a maiden 12^th over from Nelson.

Justin Nori was introduced in the 16^th over and he bowled his full quota without a break to demonstrate the impact he had on this match. He returned match figures of 3/18 and together with Olliver initially and then in the company of James Wilson followed by Willis, he led the attack as AGS lost 5 wickets during the middle section.

Willis and Olliver bowled a lot better in their second spells and the former was finally rewarded with his maiden wicket after being quite unlucky in previous matches. Tapper and Nelson returned to the attack and bowled superbly in tandem to peg AGS further back and set a fairly mediocre target. Tapper claimed 3/26 to be the pick of the seamers. Of great concern would be the 32 extras (24 wides) conceded in this match.

James O’Connor, playing in his second match was dismissed in the 4^th over whilst Tom Lindberg made full use of his leg-side strength to pounce on anything in his favourite area and gave King’s the platform they needed. This took the pressure of the rest of the top order who could settle amongst good bowling and not take chances.

Nelson was joined by Wallace in the 13^th over with the score on 51/2 after the dismissal of Lindberg. Together, these two slowly consolidated whilst manoeuvring a tricky period against the opposition spinners. Once they got a feel for the bowlers they profited with some glorious strokes with six boundaries coming in the last seven overs. The strike rotation between these two would have caused plenty of concern in the AGS camp. There’s was a magnificent partnership of 74 runs in approximately 19 overs with Nelson securing a well-deserved half century.

King’s win by 8 wickets