Boyden and Parkes Lead King’s to Narrow Victory

• Sacred Heart College 152/9 (50 overs)
• King’s College 153/9 (46.1 overs)

Sacred Heart College (SHC) was in deep trouble at 59 for 3 in the 20th over when Jack Coman, their impressive skipper was dismissed by a peach of a delivery from William Boyden. It seemed like they would struggle to reach triple figures and an early finish was on the cards. The visitors showed great tenacity to use up the 50 overs as Caldwell, in the company of a strong tail, took the score to a defendable 152. Boyden had his best match in the First team to date and ended up with 4 wickets, including 3 in one superb over to rip the SHC innings to shreds. The fact that they recovered from this is testimony to the maturity and batting depth of this team. Apart from Boyden’s innings defining 4 wickets, Campbell Mabin was very economical returning 2 for 21 from his full quota of ten overs.

Nelukshan De Silva and Thorn Parkes combined to produce an enterprising 82 run partnership when the former was dismissed but the latter batted on to a half-century with the middle order and when Callum Douglas, the previous week's centurion, lost his wicket King's was 120 for 3 in the 30th over and cruising to victory. Middle order indiscretion and lower order lack of composure succumbed to smart bowling by SHC and King's hung on tentatively for a 1 wicket win as the visitors came so very close to stealing victory from the jaws of defeat. De Silva and Parkes ensured that King’s was well above the asking rate and one hates to think how the middle and lower order would have coped had this not been the case.

William St John joined Parkes at 127 for 4, with victory in sight and when Parkes departed two runs later there was no concern in the King’s camp with plenty of batting to come. The skipper and Fraser Hardy were put under immense pressure by the SHC bowlers, especially the spinners and runs were hard to come by. The ten run partnership saw Hardy depart, leaving his team a mere 14 runs from victory with 4 wickets in hand – still no concern. St John tried to hang around till the end but was dismissed by the wily Coman 2 runs later – 12 runs needed with Hayden Dickson and George Cory-Wright in attendance. These two should have seen the team home but pressure and indiscretion took charge. Cory-Wright fell at 147/8 and 6 runs were required with Dickson and Hari Kukreja entrusted with a small task. This pair seemed unruffled and quite comfortable out in the middle when a good stroke for 3 runs by Kukreja tied the scores with Dickson left to score the winning run. Two balls later the unthinkable happened as Dickson was snaffled, leaving Campbell Mabin the unenviable task of walking out into a cauldron to face the three remaining balls in the over. Fortunately he manoeuvred them safely and Kukreja, although under tremendous pressure, drove confidently through the covers for the winning run and an excruciatingly close 1 wicket victory.

An interesting contrast of fortunes and application is shown by how the teams approached their last 10 overs of batting. SHC scored 37 runs for the loss of 1 wicket whilst King’s scored 17 runs for the loss of 4 wickets, which further highlights the importance of the 82 run partnership at the top end and leaves plenty to discuss at the post-match briefing.