Three GBHS wins in a row to end season

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Ted Gillies rose to the occasion on Saturday.

0ffspinner Gillies became an all-rounder batting at No.3 in the six-wicket victory by Gisborne Boys’ High School (2) over defending Senior B Grade cricket champions Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps on Nelson Park artificial pitch No.1.

Gillies, 15, made his highest B Grade score of 45 not out and figured in a match-winning 58-run fifth-wicket partnership with adult player Steve Whitaker.

An on-side single to Whitaker (30) off Caps spearhead Hoffman Haasbroek brought up the GBHS victory in 27.2 overs.

With three straight wins to finish 2023-24, and a win by default earlier in the season, GBHS were able to escape the wooden spoon. Campion College finished sixth of six teams with 12 competition points.

As against Rawhiti Legal Old Boys Rugby and Campion in the preceding two weeks, Boys’ High sent their opponents in to bat. Their captain, Jett Whitaker, won his second toss in a row, and his bowlers again responded.

First-change paceman Patrick McInnes (2-20 with a maiden), spearhead Brandon Fearnley (1-22), left-arm orthodox spinner Charlie Whitfield (1-21) and Gillies (0-19) all bowled six overs, while Fearnley’s new-ball partner, Raffaele Colucci, took 1-11 from two overs on his second-11 debut.

McInnes and Tarn Boyle both held catches, and Gillies ran out younger brother Archie — another cricketer of promise, batting at No.6 — for three.

Ted Gillies, McInnes and Alex Langford have consistently been among Boys’ High’s best in the field.

The eldest of the Gillies boys on show, George, batted at second drop for Ngatapa and played some classy shots for 41. His 51-run stand for the fourth wicket with Tim Fox (10) was of the type that broke Boys’ High before Christmas.

On Saturday, the Boys’ High attack showed more stickability as Ngatapa put up 122 in 30 overs.

Jett Whitaker (11) played out a maiden from Haasbroek first-up. GBHS had yet to score when they lost opener Charlie Whitfield, caught by Brent Gallagher at square leg off a pull-shot against the medium-pace bowling of George Whitehead (1-12 from four overs).

With the score at 17, Boys’ High lost their skipper to a brilliant catch — taken one-handed, running back at square leg by Joel Kirkpatrick from the offspin of Archie Gillies (1-7, three overs, one maiden).

At 21, they lost left-hander Jordyn Haley (10 balls for nought), before Ted Gillies and Alex Langford (13) advanced their cause to 65-4.

That much-improved pair put their team in a reasonable position, from which the middle Gillies and Whitaker Snr later got them home.

Gillies hit six boundaries on the day and was in the middle for the scoring of all 123 runs in the successful chase.

Jett Whitaker led the youngest team in Poverty Bay senior club cricket in a positive manner. It can be tricky to find a balance between giving everyone opportunities and being competitive, pressing for advantage.

Green Caps captain Charles Morrison said: “Ted (Gillies) kept a clear head, despite his brothers bowling well and challenging him. The Boys’ High bowlers did a good job; GBHS played a great all-round game and deserved the win.

“For us, it was a leveller and refresher ahead of the 2 v 3 semifinal against HSOB Presidents at 2pm on Saturday.”

The Ngatapa 12 for the 2 v 3 semi are: Charles Morrison (c), Simon Wilson (wkp), Isaac Thomas, Jake Davis, Ollie Jonasen, Hoffman Haasbroek, Mike Gibson, Brent Gallagher, George Whitehead, Tim Fox, Anish Shivdikar and Edward Nepe (injury dependent).

Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson is a great entertainer.

The wildcard in the pack for Horouta Te Waka ahead of their 1 v 4 semifinal showdown with competition leaders Chicking High School Old Boys Presidents this Saturday has the all-round ability to turn games upside-down.

At the weekend, he couldn’t pull it off. Horouta were all out for 41 in 14.5 overs and HSOB Presidents beat them by nine wickets in seven overs.

Ngarangione-Pearson rolled the dice against HSOB at the weekend with the same hearty Corinthian spirit he showed in his 110 retired – with 12 sixes and six fours – against Boys’ High (2) on December 2.

Horouta captain and gloveman Riley Horsfield won the toss on Nelson Park No.4 and took first knock.

Presidents medium-pacers Marshall Norris, Buddhika Kumarage and Blake Crosby each took two wickets and bowled two overs, for two, one and eight respectively.

Seamer Jonny Hardie took 2-11 in 1.5 overs. Wily left-arm orthodox spinner Tom Crosby was the only slow bowler to claim a victim. He took 1-4 from two overs. He, his son Blake, Norris and Kumarage each bowled one maiden.

But there was no tying Ngarangione-Pearson down. He got to the middle halfway through the fourth over, was beaten by the first ball he faced from Kumarage and then pushed a single to cover. He treated the next two balls he received from Crosby with respect before launching the third for six straight and almost into the Taruheru River.

He was caught — by Nathan Quimpo at mid-on — going for the pull-shot.

Later, he took the new ball. A left-armer, he is the quickest bowler in the B Grade and arguably as sharp as any in Premier Grade cricket. He went through Presidents opening bat Blake Crosby (7) with the first ball of the fifth over, and HSOB were 19-1.

Presidents opened their account second ball with five wides from the firebrand leftie and won on the same note to end the seventh over. It was a game best regarded as a mouth-watering appetiser for the semifinals this weekend.

The fifth-round meeting between the two at Nelson Park was cancelled due to bad weather and The Waka won the Round 10 boilover at the Harry Barker Reserve by one wicket, with one ball remaining.

Horouta and Presidents have produced two of the most memorable games in the grade, and Blue-and-Whites left-arm orthodox spinner and skipper Sean Moran was tickled pink that his men rose to the challenge.

“We shared the bowling around as much as possible and still got back to Harry Barker Reserve in time to support our Premiers as they bowled out Boys’ High twice in one day.

“We look forward to a tough semi with Ngatapa. Depending on the eligibility of some of our players, we’ll be fielding a very strong team for this 2 v 3 game.”

The HSOB 13 — of whom two won’t bat and two won’t bowl — for the semi against Ngatapa are: Ollie Needham, Matt Jefferd, Paul Jefferson, Marshall Norris, Jeff Chambers, Justin Kohere, Wayne Lanka, Hiren Bhatti, Nathan Quimpo, Davin Govender, Sean Moran (c), Buddhika Kumarage and Blake Crosby.

Batsmanship was on show in the OBR-Campion game.

Old hands who might be expected to make runs did and the next generation put their hands up as well.

OBR beat Campion College by 31 runs on Nelson Park No.3.

OBR captain and wicketkeeper Thom Berry won the toss, decided to bat and made 74 retired at the top of the order. Harvey Reynolds, a 13-year-old Year 9 student at Sonrise Christian School, put up 31 from 33 balls at No.5 before he was run out by Connor Starck.

OBR posted 178-4 in 30 overs. It was telling that the individual score by Reynolds was his team’s margin of victory.

He helped to put on 65 for the fourth wicket, a partnership that advanced the score from 88-3 to 153-4. It was a magnificent effort, proof that if a cricketer is good enough to play the game at senior level, then he or she is also old enough. Thorn Parkes of the Otago Volts and Kayley Knight of the Northern Brave are two more who showed at a young age they were good enough to play Gisborne senior cricket.

Campion skipper Hamish Swann bowled well (3-28 from six overs) but then, batting at No.1, was out caught and bowled by ever-dangerous left-armer George Reynolds (1-17, four overs) three balls into the run-chase.

Reynolds’ new-ball partner, Lloyd van Zyl (1-29, four overs), and Franco Ludwig (1-2, one over) were steady, but another leftie, Tama Wirepa, was OBR’s most successful bowler.

Wirepa took 2-28 from three overs. One of his wickets was that of Campion No.2 batsman Taye McGuinness, captain of the Poverty Bay under-16 team to play Bay of Plenty Lakelands at Whakatāne this Sunday.

McGuinness scored his maiden B Grade half-century — 50 runs off 78 balls — and hit three fours in the process. He brought up his 50 with a leg glance to the boundary, off Wirepa.

McGuinness and the unassuming Gagandeep Singh (41) put on 100 for the third wicket. They have both benefited from the time and care shown by a dedicated coach in Campion teacher and old boy Mark Naden.

With the loss of Singh and — five runs later — McGuinness, the young tail-enders did what they could but Campion were restricted to 147-6.

Berry said: “It was a good game, although we dropped six catches. Campion had a couple of fighters and a couple ended up in hospital, which can happen in sport. We are pleased to have 17 players to choose from ahead of our 1 v 4 semi against Horouta.”

The OBR squad for the semifinal on Saturday: Thom Berry (c), Mana Taumaunu, Tom Garrett, Harry White, Lloyd van Zyl, Mitchell van Zyl, Warren van Zyl, George Reynolds, Jonah Reynolds, Harvey Reynolds, Joe Reynolds, Matt McFatter, Tama Wirepa, Rongomai Smith, Jannie Jacobs, Amit Vyas and Karan Solanki.