The 12th Man: Cricket Wrap-Up 30 November

1st XI vs St Kent's 

King's buoyed by classy Gallage century

King’s College 239/6 in 50 overs

St Kentigern College 211 all out in 48.1 overs

After three successive losses King’s needed a bit more luck and it appeared at 10 am with the toss which was won for the first time in six matches. King’s batted first, after chasing in five previous matches. St Kent’s were desperate for a win in their final game, at home, which would have cemented third place on the table for them. The opening pair was dismantled in the 4thover when Nathan Robinson was caught behind. Ojas Madaan, playing against his old school was enduring an unpleasant time out in the middle and lasted just 16 balls before he was trapped in front. With the score on 19/2 in the 8thover, Dimithri Gallage had a massive responsibility on his hands as he joined the irrepressible Muhammad Abbas in an attempt to take King’s to safety. They put on a 40 run partnership before Abbas was bowled in the 19thover. With the score on 60/3 and two of the top batsmen already removed from the equation King’s was in a precarious situation and the middle order and lower-middle order had been far from impressive this term. Cory Dickson joined Gallage and this experienced pair, playing in their 3rdseason, slowly rebuilt and had put on a 76 run partnership when drinks was taken for the 2ndtime. They took this partnership into the 42ndover and it had ballooned to a mammoth 118 runs before Dickson, nearing a well-deserved and long-awaited half-century was stumped with the team on 178/4. The hard hitting Patrick Maher was sent in due to his clean hitting and he was followed by Seb Macdonald, ahead of the more cultured stroke-play of Nick Tapper. Maher and Macdonald were hurriedly packed off and Tapper joined the skipper Gallage at 199/6 in the 46thover. Tapper showed his class and composure to ensure that Gallage was given the best opportunity to post a long-awaited century after being dismissed in the 90’s twice when batting for King’s. Tapper was positive and Gallage recognised this ability in his young partner and stood strong in spite of being exhausted and also nursing a tummy bug. He reached his century to huge cheer from his team-mates and parents and both ensured that King’s had reached a relatively safe position, to make St Kent’s play out of their skins for victory. 

After a good quality lunch St Kent’s began their assault of the target in worrying fashion having reached 42/1 in the 10thover which was double the King’s score at the same stage of their innings. Louis Anderson was replaced by Tapper after one over and together with Abbas they tried to stem the flow of runs. Tapper began and ended his first spell with maiden overs and showed a lot of poise in the face of adversity. The run rate which was threatening to cause some discomfort was now brought back under control. Spin was introduced in the 20thover and the duo of Hugo Hill and Dickson, bowling in tandem for the last time in the maroon strip of King’s College applied a choke-hold for the next 20 overs as three wickets fell but more importantly the run rate dropped from 4.16 to 3.85 at the end of the 39thover. Hill had a memorable final match for his school picking up 3 wickets in his 10 overs – a great way to finish off his 41stmatch. Pace was back to continue the hard work of the spinners but the St Kent’s lower middle order had clear plans as they took the fight deep into this match as both Macdonald and Maher could only manage one over each before being replaced by the more reliable Tapper to bowl out the death overs with Abbas. The left-arm pacer was devastating in his second spell and complemented Tapper superbly to peg back St Kent’s and a clump of wickets fell to this young pair as the home team lost 4 wickets in 13 balls to be all out for 211 on the first ball of the 49thover, thereby handing a hard-fought 28 run victory to King’s.

Tom Paranthoiene was once again tidy behind the stumps and his management of the fielders and communication with the bowlers is getting better and better. 

Once again, we acknowledge the wonderful service of Hugo Hill to this team as he leaves a huge hole to be filled. There are at least four players in contention for this spot and it will be interesting to see who leads the charge when the Trans-Tasman Quadrangular takes place in Sydney in the middle of January 2020. This match was also a memorable moment for Jim Potts, our departing Head of Sport, who presented baggies to Seb Macdonald and Tom Paranthoiene. Furthermore, with the unavailability of coach Dipak Patel, who was overseas for family reasons, Matt Cowie did a wonderful job in putting the boys through their paces in not the easiest of matches, being the last one of the season. 

 

 

King’s win by 28 runs

 

2nd XI vs Rosmini

Rosmini batted first and King’s was able to take a steady stream of wickets to keep Rosmini to keep them to 172/8 off their 45 overs. In reply is where all the drama started, with King’s 131/4 off 35 overs needing 42 off 10 overs with 6 wickets left, it seemed King’s had it in the bag but tight bowling from Rosmini meant King’s needed 7 off the last over, and some good hitting and hard running meant it came down to 2 off the ladt ball, however it wasn’t too be and King’s only managed a run meaning the game finished off as a tie!

Bowling: Achindra  2-27 off 9 overs, 

Batting: Max 53, Louie 33.

 

Colts 1 vs St Kents

King’s bowled first and kept St Kent’s at bay for large parts of their batting innings. King’s were able to take regularly wickets and reduce St Kents to 155/9 off 45 overs. In reply our chase got off to the worst possible start losing 5 wickets for 25 including a hat trick!, to the boys credit they chipped away at the score and coming into the last 2 overs we needed 14 runs with 1 wicket left. However a great run out from the boundary ended our charge and we fell 9 runs shorts a great effort.

Bowling: James Wilson  4-23 off 7 overs, Jack Priddy 2-37 off 9

Batting: Liam Denny 40, Tom Lindberg 24

 

Colts 2 vs Rangitoto

We batted 1s tGot 154 all out

James Nelson with a well compiled 69no and carried his Bat in 2 sessions as he came off retired due to injury and returned as last batsman. 

5 of our Batmen were caught in the field and 3 bowled playing across the line as was last week – We didn’t learn from that lesson!

Rangitoto batted 155/6

Bowling Stats:

Josh H – 0/9 off 6, James B – 3/46 off 9 and Jack C – 2/30 off 9

We dropped 7 catches and that was the difference in the 2 teams – 1st over 2 dropped catches – as the adage depicts – “Catches win Matches” and it costed us this Game and the Championship.

 

Colts 3 vs Howick

Tough day for our Colts 3 boys, with a few late injuries and unavailability, the team could only muster up 9 players, however the boys who were there showed great determination and effort. We batted first and could only muster 45, in reply Howick were able to chase it down for the loss of no wicket. This new created team made up of mainly year 9’s  was able to finish 4th in a grade featuring a number of year 10 teams so they should be applauded for their efforts although the result was a tad one sided this time around.

Batting: Matt Chitty 23

Lost by 10 wickets.

 

Junior B1 vs St Peter's

Game versus St Peter's College on the 30/11

King’s won the toss and sent St Peter's in to bat. The King’s opening bowlers of Will Phillips and Sam Anderson were excited to be bowling  on a grass pitch for the first time this season and had immediate success. Will picked up 2 wickets in his first over then another with the first ball of his second. He finished with figures of 3 for 18 off 4 overs. Jack Cornish also starred with the ball picking up 2 wickets in his first over and finishing with figures of 2 for 4 runs off 3 overs. Rayan Ramanathan chipped in with 1 wicket at the end of his third over.

This left King’s with a total of 82 to chase down. King’s started badly and were reeling at 11 runs for 3 wickets before Max Liebmann and Oliver Woodhams steadied the ship and lifted the score to 43  off 10 overs for no further loss. Two quick wickets after drinks had King’s in a precarious position 60 for 6 before Oliver Woodhams (29 not out) and Krishna Peddinti 11 (not out) batted the team to victory.

 

Junior B2 vs Lynfield

King’s came up against a strong Lynfield side this week. Unfortunately it was a poor end to the season with King’s being bowled for a mere 24 runs from 13 overs. Despite this poor performance the boys have greatly improved over the course of the term with some great cricket being played. Good luck for next terms cricket.