Horouta ended round-robin play in the longer-form championship with five wins from six games and 50 competition points. HSOB were second on 40, Coastal Concrete OBR, who defeated GBHS by five wickets on Saturday, were third on 28, and the students were fourth on four points.
Top returns from HSOB opening bowler Alex Shanks (3-22 off 8.2 overs) and first-change Nick Armour (3-38 off 8), along with spearhead Connor Starck’s 2-40 from nine overs, saw Horouta bowled out for 173 in 37.2 of their possible 50 overs.
Left-hander Baljeet Sandhu, at No.10, provided sting in the tail with 29 off 22 after Harmanpreet Gill - in at five - was the second of three Horouta batsmen to reach 20.
Gill was stumped by Campion College head prefect Taye McGuinness off the bustling medium-pace of Pushpinder Kumar (2-50 off 7) for 25, while Gurishwar Singh was the last man out for a lively 20 in 22 balls.
His 45-run stand with Sandhu for the 10th wicket was a beauty.
HSOB leftie Carl Shaw (23) and Kumar (26) made a fine start in their run chase, getting to 49 when Kumar was caught and bowled by Harmanpreet three balls into the 15th over.
No one else passed nine and when Armour was stumped for a duck by James Birrell from the bowling of Simarjit Basra (1-2 in three balls), eight-man HSOB were all out for 74 in 26.3 overs.
Shaw preferred not to comment on HSOB’s match effort but complimented umpire Stu Patrick on his accuracy and consistency.
Matt Cook of OBR was happy enough with his outfit’s win against the David McDonald-coached Boys' High.
“We had a good day,” Cook said. “Our bowlers kept to good lines and the wickets were shared around. We were tidy in the field, our first four batsmen all spending time in the middle. It was a confidence builder before the semis.”
GBHS captain Ryker Rolls won the toss, opted to bat and his team were bowled out for 103 in 28.4 overs.
Opening bowler Etienne Botes (3-27 off 7) and medium-pacers Jimmy Holden (3-14 off 7), Cook (2-10 off 11 balls) and Franco Ludwig (2-11 off 3) delivered the goods for OBR.
Left-hander Marcus Gray made an impressive 30 off 49 balls, including three boundaries, at No 7. Next man in, Jett Whitaker, held his own for 12 from 43 balls.
In OBR’s chase, opener Martin Worndl topscored with 37 runs, 20 of those in fours, before being bowled by Whitaker.
He and fellow opener Karan Solanki (19 off 21 balls) put on 40.
Opening bowler Nathaniel Fearnley, who continued his impressive form in his 1-18 off 6, dismissed Solanki leg before wicket.
Having made 11 runs at the top of the batting order, left-arm orthodox spinner Charlie Whitfield claimed two scalps for two runs in an eventful 24th over. He had Harvey Reynolds (10) and Liam Beattie (golden duck) stumped by Jordyn Haley off consecutive balls.
A boundary from OBR teenager Jonah Reynolds (28 not out, including three fours and a 44-run partnership with Worndl) in the 25th over ended the match.
DJ Barry Cup holders HSOB host OBR in the second semifinal on Saturday at the regulation start time of 12pm.
