Castle leads the way

Gisborne Boys’ High School batsman Nathaniel Fearnley, pictured playing for Poverty Bay at the Northern Districts under-19 age group tournament, and Alex Shanks ( 52 not out) will resume the students’ first innings at 105-4 against OBR in the DJ Barry Cup two-day premier club cricket competition this weekend.Picture by Paul Rickard

Richard Nixon said, “Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.”

So it is with batsmen for whom one ball can mean a week between opportunities, and the best of them make the most of good form.

Bollywood High School Old Boys captain Dave Castle made a run-a-ball century in the Blue-and-Whites’ first-innings win against Coastal Concrete Old Boys Rugby the previous week — and on Saturday he followed that up with 92 not out from No.4 against Breakers Horouta Te Waka.

His knock, supplemented by first-drop Scott Tallott’s 35 and left-handed No.7 batsman Keegan Jooste’s 20, saw HSOB rattle up 181-8 in 48.5 overs on Day 1 of Round 2 in DJ Barry Cup two-day Premier Grade cricket.

Put in to bat on Harry Barker Reserve No.2 by Horouta skipper David Situ, Castle’s outfit lost Glen Udall (for 5), with the score at 13 and fellow opener Jak Rowe (9) six runs later.

Four of the other batsmen to come were dismissed for single figures as Horouta’s Billy Morse took 5-37 from 17.5 overs — six of them maidens — as first-change bowler. Medium-pacer Morse gave a superb display of control, and bowled Nick Armour for an 11-ball duck to close the innings.

Castle acknowledged Morse’s achievement in taking Premier Grade cricket’s first five-wicket bag of the season.

“He bowled accurately on a pitch that was spicy early on, asked the batsmen plenty of questions across his spell and was tough to score from all day.

“We built a couple of partnerships that got us to a good score, 181-8, and our bowlers showed true character with an unreal performance. Jak Rowe (11 overs, four maidens) and his fellow left-armer Keegan Jooste (10 overs, four maidens) form an enviable new-ball duo.”

Rowe became the second Premier Grade bowler to take five wickets in an innings this season with 5-33. Horouta were 71-6 from 21.2 overs at the close of play. Day 1 ended with medium-pacer Anthony Boyder — with only his second delivery — bowling Billy Morse (4 off 29 balls faced), seventh man to bat.

HSOB lead by 110 runs, but No.6 Gautam Sareen is still in the middle on 54 not out, having cracked 10 fours off just 48 balls, and The Waka will have four wickets in hand when play resumes on Saturday.

HSOB had a hard start and Horouta the same.

“We were good for the first two hours,” Situ said. “Billy and Gautam were our best on Day 1.”

Matt Cook's crew and the Bekko Page-led Gisborne Boys' High School produced some great cricket.

OBR skipper Cook won the toss on the No.1 wicket and chose to bat against a Boys’ High unit with bowling options aplenty on a wicket that rewarded those who would toil.

The big four — the left-hand/right-hand opening pair of Te-Reimana Gray (36) and Kieran Venema (24), first drop Nathan Trowell (62) and long-hitting No.4 batsman Dane Thompson (60) — toiled.

OBR put up 242 in 53.3 overs. While the methods employed by their batsmen differed, they all made hay.

Trowell, who faced 101 balls, was patient. Thompson, with six fours in 67 balls, could at any moment have made the fielders irrelevant. Cohen Loffler, batting at six, foraged quickly for 21 off 23 balls in six overs.

A brief shower late in the second session of play slowed the wicket a little — and that played into the hands of crafty Boys’ High left-arm orthodox spinner Riker Rolls.

OBR, wanting to advance the game, found his line from over the wicket irksome.

With just his seventh ball, Rolls had Trowell caught off a sliced on-drive. David Gray ran back to hold the catch at point, a brilliant diving effort.

In his next over, Rolls had Nick Greeks (10) stumped off a similar shot attempt and two overs later, he had left-hander Herschel Barker (7) out, leg before wicket, on the sweep.

Rolls took 3-55 in 13.3 overs, one of them a maiden, as the fifth bowler used. Paceman Gray took 3-45 from 13 overs, two of them maidens, left-arm spearhead Johnathan Gray took 2-57 from 13 overs, and Akira Makiri — the sixth medium-pacer used — took 1-12 from three overs.

Page featured in the run-out that shut up shop for OBR 53.3 overs in.

Despite the loss of opening partner, Jarrod Ormiston (1), Page gave a glimpse of the positive intent required, with 26 from 24 balls.

OBR left-arm orthodox spinner Greeks may yet be a key figure in the match. He took 2-9 from five overs and has the ability to put pressure on his young opponents with accuracy and good shape.

Alex Shanks at No.3 continued his run of good form with 52 not out off 73 balls. Boys’ High need him to convert that into a century.

No member of this first 11 has scored a Premier or B Grade century.

Nathaniel Fearnley is on six not out at a run a ball.  The fifth-wicket partnership between Shanks, one of the team’s four Year 13 students, and the capable Fearnley is of vital importance to Boys’ High.

They were 105-4 from 24 overs at the close on Day 1.

Cook said: “We were happy with our score and also confident — with our bowling attack — that we could make inroads into the Boys’ High batting line-up, but they did well to be only four wickets down at the end of the day.

“The rain delays were frustrating, as it limited the number of overs we had to bowl at them. Looking ahead, Nick’s bowling could be a factor on Day 2 and we’re hoping to have Daniel Stewart, a good off-spinner, back as well.”