The 12th Man: Cricket Wrap-Up 23 November

First XI vs MAGS 

MAGS 141 all out in 48 overs

King’s College 108 all out in 36.5 overs

The bowlers did a magnificent job to curb the in-form MAGS batsmen who were coming into this match on the back of 3 centuries accumulated in the previous three rounds of matches. When Hugo Hill had the visitors run-machine stumped for 37 runs by virtue of a classy effort by Tom Paranthoiene, the keeper, in the 31stover, MAGS were listing at 87/5. It was a minor miracle, assisted by conservative field-placements that allowed the visitors to scrape through to 141 all out in 48 overs. The opening attack of Louis Anderson and Muhammad Abbas was in scintillating form and at the end of their first spell the score was 22/3 in ten overs with Anderson picking up three of them. Nick Tapper and Patrick Maher replaced the opening pair. Tapper was economical enough to bowl 5 overs on the trot but Maher had to be replaced after conceding 3 boundaries in successive balls in his second over. He was replaced by Seb Macdonald who maintained the pressure adequately. It was a wonderful spectacle to see the spin duo of Hill and Cory Dickson in action for the first time this term and they controlled the middle overs superbly, picking up 4 wickets between them. Abbas and Anderson came back in the latter part of the innings and clinically wrapped up the tail. 

King’s chase of 142 for victory saw Abbas and Nathan Robinson opening the innings. At 18/1 Abbas was taken out of the equation but Dimithri Gallage joined Robinson and slowly rebuilt the innings. When Gallage was snaffled at first slip in the 12thover, MAGS lifted up their intensity and felt that they were just one wicket away from total control. Their three-pronged spin attack went into an all-out hunt and sensed blood as they were successful in creating doubts in the minds of the batsmen. Ojas Madaan joined Robinson and the scored reached a promising 63 runs before the former was beaten by a delivery that turned away from him at the last moment and he was another to be snaffled at first slip. Dot balls were on display as Robinson was starting to look uncomfortable as the runs dried up and he was growing in impatience. The pressure told in the 27thover when Robinson was beaten by the outstanding Aditya Ashok (Auckland U19 rep) and was the 4thbatsmen to succumb to a sharp catch at first slip. A procession followed as wickets fell regularly and Ashok picked up his 6thwicket with his penultimate ball and King’s was bundled out for a humiliating 108 runs in the 37th over. Patrick Maher offered some hope but coming in at the bottom of the tail, his cameo of four exhilarating 6’s was in vain. 

The 33 run loss was far from the ideal send-off for the veteran Hugo Hill who was playing in his final home game for the King’s College 1st XI. This was his 40th match, spanning 3 seasons and he has provided outstanding service to the 1st XI. He has been a very consistent performer from the time he made his debut and it was not unusual for him to always bowl the full quota of overs. His partnership with the other cog in the spin-attack, Cory Dickson, was instrumental in King’s qualifying for the Gillette Cup in 2019. 

King’s lost by 33 runs

 

2nd XI vs Westlake 3rd XI

King’s lost the toss and were asked to bowl. The boys didn’t need a second invitation and all bowlers chipped in to dismiss Westlake for 94 runs. In reply although early wickets fell, King’s were never in threat and easily reached the target 4 down inside 17 overs.

Bowling: Achindra 3-10 off 3overs, Charles 2-10 off 5 overs.

Batting: Louie Bennett 61 off 36 balls.

 

Colts 1 vs Auckland Grammar Colts 1

King’s won the toss and elected to bat, however it was Auckland Grammar who started off the strongest. They reduced our boys to 27-4, so late order resistance meant we were able to get ourselves to a below par score of 121 all out. Needing a good start with a low total, the boys bowled well for little reward and before too long, the need for wickets meant boundary balls were bowled. Auckland Grammar were able to to knock off the score in the 33rd over.

Batting: Karl Wallace 32 Tom Lindberg 26 

Bowling: James O’Connor 2-34.

Auckland Grammar won by 8 wickets.

 

Colts 2 vs Auckland Grammar Colts 2

AG batted 1st Got them all out for 117 

Our Bowlers did a great fielding and bowling effort this game. The openers used up nearly 20 overs for the spinners on tandem to come on and put the breaks on AG’s progress and 

Bowling Stats:

James B – 5/19 off 9, Corban – 1/14 off 9 Crook 2/20 off 6 Justin 1/23 off 8 

Kings replied with 120/6 -  Liam 31,ably supported by Josh, Will, Joe and Corban

AGS was top of the table and it was a great performance from everyone to get this win – Great Team effort

 

Colts 3 vs Kirstin College

Away game played against Kristin School at Kristin

This was a semifinal game with the winners heading to the finals the following weekend. 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.

The game was played in the artificial wicket and it was a bright sunny day. Kirstin won the toss and decided to bat and the posted a massive total of 334/6. The wicket was fast and it was clear to us that a good dedicated batting approach was needed to overcome this total. For Kings, Charlie Webb took 3 wickets as the pick of our bowlers.

Both Kings openers (Johnny Cole and Owen Toms) go us to a fantastic start with 45 runs made within 5 overs. Unfortunately the wickets started to tumble and the top order experienced a collapse. Only Owen Toms managed to get in the 20s after playing a diligent innings. At the end, Jeremy Ooi also made a wonderful 24. However, a better diligent and focused approach was needed by all the batsmen in order to have a chance of getting to their massive total.

Colts 3 Manager
Jacob Samuel

 

Junior B1 vs St Peters Year 10

Game versus Botany Downs on the 23/11

Botany batted first with King’s restricting them to 132 for 7 off 20 overs. There was good bowling from the King’s bowling attack. Ollie Woodhams picked up 3 wickets for 22 bowling at the end and with over front line bowlers of Sam Anderson, Will Phillips and Krishna Peddinti finishing with 1 for 9 off 3, 1 for 20 off 4 and 1 for 11 off 4 respectively.

Fine performances with the bat in the first 10 overs had us on 63 runs and the target well within reach. With Krishna having to leave early the runs dried up and King’s only manged to make 44 more runs to finish 107 at the end of 20 overs.

Win to Botany Downs by 25 runs.

 

Junior B2 vs De La Salle

The King’s side elected to bat first, with the aim of not throwing away wickets. This objective was achieved with the team losing only four wickets in the innings. Standout performances were Harry Meluish and Max Jacobson who both showed great patience to score 24 and 28 respectively. Although the mature performance was pleasing to see it came at the cost of a low run rate with Kings ending the innings 101-4. 

After a team talk the boys agreed a passionate fielding effort was required to protect this low total. King’s got of to a great star with Max Jacobson taking a wicket on the third ball of the innings. However De La Salles’s powerful batsmen put in a great performance, surpassing King’s total after 11 overs for just two wickets.

The side look forward to the final match of the season next week. They accept that some poor fielding let them down in the second innings and are keen to work on this next week. Player of the match was awarded to Harry Meluish for his much improved performance with the bat.