Westlake Dominant in all Departments for First XI Cricket

• Westlake Boys' High School 160/5 (20 overs)
• King's College 130/7 (20 overs)

Heavy overnight rain resulted in a sodden wicket that was not ready for play at the official start time. By the time the match got underway, a drastically reduced 20 over-a-side match was possible. King’s made the perfect start when Jordan van Riele’s first ball resulted in a wicket – a full length delivery that uprooted the off-stump. Thereafter, the King’s attack was put to the sword and wilted as the Westlake Boys' High School (WBHS) batsmen muscled their way to a challenging total of 160 at 8 runs per over. O’Donnell was especially impressive as he punished the bad balls and some of the good ones, finding the boundary ten times as he almost notched up a well-deserved century.

In King’s turn to bat, WPHS further showcased their superiority as their bowlers were penetrating whilst maintaining disciplined lines, making it very difficult to pick up easy runs. At the half-way stage, King’s response ws only 55 runs appearing on the board with 4 wickets lost. It was too much for the brittle lower-middle order to chase but the likes of William St John, Mitchell Nash, Samuel Wilson and Fergus Salmon put up a good fight whilst falling 31 runs short of victory. Earlier on, Gray Hardy looked composed until he was a victim of an umpiring blunder and Tristan Payle briefly showed his class but was undone by the demanding run-rate as he was forced to take risks.

This was the first time in three seasons that King’s was outclassed so heavily by the opposition and credit must be given to the impressive outfit from the North Shore who is clearly in a class of their own in this competition as shown in a 20-over encounter. King’s would have had a better chance of winning in a longer version but will have to wait for another opportunity to find out.

     DNB:  C Mabin, M Ratnayake, J van Riele