Trophy treble to Horouta in Poverty Bay premier cricket

Moshims Spice Horouta completed a Poverty Bay Premier Grade club cricket trophy treble on Saturday in beating HSOB in the DJ Barry Cup final at Harry Barker Reserve. Back (from left) are Jaswinder Basra, Nandan Shah, James Birrell, Yash Taak, Viren Patel, Harmanpreet Gill, Gautam Sareen, Simarjeet Basra and vice-captain Shubham Ralhan. Front: Babaldeep Singh, Gurishwar Singh and captain Jagroop Singh.

Poverty Bay club cricket scoreboard

Premier Grade – DJ Barry Cup Championship final

Moshims Spice Horouta Te Waka 191-7 in 24.3 overs (James Birrell 89, Shubham Ralhan 55, Harmanpreet Gill 23; Oscar McDonald 5 wickets for 42 runs off 7 overs) def Bollywood High School Old Boys 186 all-out in 50 overs (Alex Shanks 47 not out, McDonald 39, David Castle 25, Taye McGuinness 24; Ralhan 4-28 off 13, Baljeet Sandhu 2-39 off 10) by three wickets.

Senior B Grade, Hope Cup (30 overs) final

Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps 175-8 (Jacque Davis 54, George Whitehead 30, Hoffman Haasbroek 27, Zac Borrie 21 - Simon Blaker 3-24-6-1, Matt Jefferd 2-13-4) def Chicking High School Old Boys Presidents 109 all out in 24.5 overs (Blaker 34, Jefferd 22; Borrie 5-19 off 6, Mike Gibson 2-8 off 2, Ollie Jonasen 2-15 off 4.5 overs) by 66 runs.

One incredible turn deserved and produced another in Poverty Bay Premier club cricket’s DJ Barry Cup grand final on Saturday.

Moshims Spice Horouta, under Jagroop Singh, claimed a Premier triple crown with a three-wicket victory against defending champions Bollywood High School Old Boys at Harry Barker Reserve.

Their win – in a match which saw HSOB’s Oscar McDonald take a hat-trick – added the DJ Barry Cup silverware to the Walker Shield T15 and Doleman Cup titles they won earlier in the 2024-2025 season.

“Our match effort was outstanding all-round, with the pace bowlers capitalising on seam movement and bounce early, and the ball also gripping for the spinners later on,” skipper Singh said.

“Losing four quick wickets for 28 runs at the beginning of our run chase for 187 created some tension, but our batting depth shone through when it mattered most. The fifth-wicket partnership between Shubham Ralhan and James Birrell was crucial for us.

“Our resilience under pressure was a testament to the team’s fighting spirit.”

From the moment Singh won the coin toss and chose to bowl on the representative wicket, the final simmered and erupted at regular intervals.

HSOB were dismissed for 186, anchored by three partnerships – opener Taye McGuinness (24) and skipper Dave Castle (25), who put on 34 for the second wicket; second drop Pushpinder Kumar (15) and Alex Shanks (47 not out), who made 22 for the fourth wicket; and Shanks and Oscar McDonald (39), who compiled an excellent 74.

No 11 batsman Anthony Boyder (14 from five balls) was run out off the last ball of the 50th over, having struck the third ball and penultimate delivery for sixes.

Horouta vice-captain Ralhan had a match to remember. He held a low catch at second slip to dismiss left-handed opener Carl Shaw for seven and took a return catch to account for Scott Tallott (5).

Ralhan also nabbed four wickets for 28 runs in 13 overs, bowling both seam-up and off-spin.

And batting at No 6 in the chase, he hit three sixes and five fours in a 58-ball innings of 55.

His was one of three brilliant individual performances by all-rounders on the day.

The second was HSOB’s McDonald, who scored 39 from 45 at No 7, took 5-47 in seven overs of quality outswing – a hat-trick (Jatinder Kumar, Gautam Sareen, Viren Patel) to end the second over of the run chase, and two wickets (Birrell and Yash Taak) in two balls to end the 24th and penultimate over.

The third big wheel in the final was Horouta wicketkeeper Birrell. He completed a classic dismissal in stumping Connor Starck (2) off a cracker of a ball from Ralhan, then took the batting limelight in the second innings with a knock of 89 off 60 balls that featured three sixes and 12 boundaries.

His punchy strokeplay, strong bottom hand and keen eye saw anything remotely loose from the HSOB bowlers go the distance.

After offie Castle got Ralhan caught by Kumar at long on with the score at 174-5, followed by the quick losses of Birrell and Taak, Te Waka needed eight runs for victory with 16 overs remaining.

Sandy Athwal, at No 9, decided the contest in no uncertain terms by hammering the two balls he faced from Castle over the onside for six to complete the triple crown three balls into the 25th over.

It underlined Horouta’s fearless approach to their cricket all season. No matter what the situation or state of play, they were prepared to hit anything they could ... and hit it hard.

HSOB’s young Campion College brigade deserve mention. McGuinness, Starck and Rhys Grogan all played their part in getting HSOB to the big stage, and the three 17-year-olds have roles to play in the club’s future.

All-rounder Shanks, in his first year out of high school, also shone, particularly in the latter part of the season.

Castle, who led the HSOB to the triple crown last season, as Shaw had in 2022-23, said: “We didn’t score enough runs on a good wicket that only got better.

“It was excellent to see Oscar McDonald take a hat-trick in his five-for, but we couldn’t break a great partnership between Shubham and James.

“We give great credit to Horouta for being the better team and the best Premier Grade team all year.”