The 12th Man: Cricket Wrap-Up 16 November

1st XI vs Westlake

Westlake Boys’ High 241/8 in 50 overs

King’s College 224 all out in 48.3 overs

It had the hallmarks of a dream debut for Nick Tapper who picked up 4 wickets in 10 overs in an impressive performance with the ball. When Cory Dickson was unfortunately run out of a no-ball, Tapper joined the skipper Dimithri Gallage at 123/4 and together helped King’s into a commanding position on the back of a 59 run partnership with the Year 10 lad making a sound contribution. Unfortunately, Gallage got himself out and Tapper soon followed when he was foolishly run out for 34 by his new batting partner which brought Westlake back into the game that they eventually won. 

King’s will take heart from this performance as Westlake got off to a blistering start on winning the toss and looked to be heading close to the 300 run mark but Muhammad Abbas, Tapper, Seb Macdonald and Cory Dickson did well to put a rein on their charge. Tapper was introduced into the attack as early as the 6thover as the usually dependable Louis Anderson was having another off-day. He induced a thick outside edge with his first ball and sensationally, with his 2nd ball picked up the first wicket of the innings with help from Macdonald at point.

Macdonald replaced the indomitable Abbas who had bowled three maidens in his first spell without any success. Macdonald removed the captain and opening bat, JW Moore who was beginning to dominate the bowling. Patrick Maher and Hugo Hill were quickly dispatched from the attack as the Westlake #3 and 4 batsmen punished them for any inaccuracy. Tapper came back into the attack as both Anderson and Maher were being plundered and incredibly bowled through the death overs with Abbas. This pair bowled with discipline to limit the damage that the hosts were planning to cause. This was an incredible feat by the young paceman who was not only playing in his first match at this level but had to do so against the toughest team in the competition, notwithstanding that he had to shoulder a greater burden of responsibility than anticipated as two of his more experienced team mates were smashed out of the attack. 

After lunch King’s opened without Nathan Robinson who dropped down the order to give himself a break after a long stint behind the stumps due to Tom Paranthoiene being sick and not able to play in this key encounter against the championship leaders. Abass opened with Ojas Madaan who nicked the first ball he faced to the keeper. Dimithri Gallage joined Abass and together this pair set King’s on course for victory with a wonderful 92 run partnership before the latter was dismissed in the 24thover for a valuable 60 runs, after being in total control of his innings. This pair had seen off all the opposition bowlers and should have easily taken King’s to victory but needlessly lost their composure and got themselves out instead of being beaten by good balls.

When Gallage lost concentration and his wicket for 68 runs the scoreboard had King’s at 182/5 in the 39thover, with 59 runs needed at less than run-a-ball. The task was much harder, yet not out of reach but both senior experienced batsmen throwing away their wickets allowed Westlake back into the game and they were not going to easily give away this advantage as the lower-middle order and tail faced the full brunt of their swagger and chirp as they wrested control of the match and burgled their way to victory, a well-deserved one in the end. Mention must be made of the mature innings of Macdonald who was carefully positive at the crease and ensured that the strike was rotated at will but when he was the 3rdrun-out victim of the innings one felt that luck had deserted King’s once again.

Next week we host MAGS, who surprisingly beat us in Term One, which makes this encounter a mouth-watering one. 

 

 

King’s lost by 17 runs

2nd XI vs St Peters 2nd XI

St Peter’s batted first and were quickly on the back foot with Ben Dunlop & Ben McCutcheon to restrict them to 37 for 2. From there the spinners Toby and Achindra took over the middle overs supported by fast bowler Charles Cleal, from there they were able to pick up regular wickets and bowl St Peter’s out for 153 in the 44th over. In reply Achindra & Louie made sure the chase was under control with both scoring 46 and 47 respectively resulting in King’s chasing the score down in 35 overs.

King’s won by 4 wickets.

Bowling: Achindra 3-25 off 9 overs, Charles 2-29 off 9 overs

Batting: Achindra 46 & Louie Bennett 47

Colts 1 vs Sacred Heart Colts

King’s won the toss and chose to bowl on a nice sunny day at King’s G1. Their choice was rewarded with a sustained spell of accurate bowling from both pace and spin. Harrison Waymouth starred with the ball early taking 4 wickets, this was continued by our leg spinner James Wilson with 3 wickets and we were able to skittle them for 78 runs. In reply, we lost both openers early but Josh Olliver and Tom Stephson made sure there was going to be no more batting collapses and finished the game inside 25 overs. 

King’s won by 8 wickets

Bowling: Harrison Waymouth 4-18 off 6 overs & James Wilson 3-15 off 4 overs

Batting: Josh Olliver 25 & Tom Stephenson 17

Colts 2 vs Mt Roskill Colts

Mt Roskill won the toss and batted first. We bowled well at times, however 24 extras meant we could of restricted them to 140 odd, they ended up  making 167 off 42 overs.

This was a getable chase just under 4 an over in 45 overs. However with a few changes due to injury and unavailability with the batting line up, meant we couldn’t get the momentum early hand with wickets falling regularly, we couldn’t wrestle the momentum away falling 17 runs short.

Bowling Stats:

Charlie 2/11 off 4, Josh 3/32 off 8, James B 3/26 off 9 

Batting Stats:  James B 15, Joe 27, Josh 16 Corban 37

Colts 3 vs Auckland Grammar

Home game played against Auckland Grammar at King’s College Pitch G2

This was a quarter final game with the winners heading to the semi-finals. The importance of this game was made aware to the entire team and it was very pleasing to see a high level of positivism and encouragement by all the team members.

Auckland Grammar won the toss and elected to bat in the grass wickets with excellent weather conditions. They made 129 all out with our keeper (Freddie Brewis) taking 4 wonderful catches. This definitely set the tone for King’s reply.  It was important for King’s to have wickets in hand at the start of the innings.

Both King’s openers (Tani Henwood and Owen Toms) did an excellent job by staying in for almost 13 overs. This definitely set the platform for the middle order batsmen to play their natural innings. James Fulton and Will Smith did well in playing a matured middle order innings. 

However, at the end, the run chase became very tight and it was due to the cool head of Jeremy Ooi who steered the ball to covers for the winning runs in the last over of the game. Needless to say there were huge shouts of joy at the end with the team now making it to the semi finals.

Colts 3 Manager
Jacob Samuel

Junior B1 vs De La Salle Postponed

Junior B2 vs St Peter's

King’s came up against a year 10 St Peter’s side at home on Saturday. We were put into bat after losing the toss. King’s stayed in for the full 20 overs with strong performances from Thomas Williams and Finn Wallace. Unfortunately a number of our middle order batsmen threw their wickets away far too cheaply, but we did benefit from 70 runs in extras. With St Peter’s needing 114 to win the King’s team faced a tough battle in the second innings. St Peter’s got off to a comfortable start. But fell to 43 -3 after 8 overs, thanks to some aggressive bowling from Finn, Himnish and Milan. Suddenly the chance of an upset win became a real prospect for King’s. But unfortunately St Peter’s batsmen stayed strong weathered the storm and began to up the run rate. St Peter’s finished with 115 - 3 after 16 overs.

Overall King’s can be proud of their performance against an older more experienced side. Player of the match was awarded to Roman Featherstone for his consistent bowling performance and great work in the field. We play De la Salle next Saturday at home.