"I was sitting on a hattrick three times," said the softly spoken left-arm seamer before Hamilton Boys walloped Palmerston North Boys' High School in the final at the same venue yesterday.
Meadows claimed his hattrick with the last three balls of his seventh over, ending the game in 9.3 overs and leaking only 15 runs.
"You what?" was the reaction of his father but, needless to say, the adroit bowler still believes he should stick to his dot-ball philosophy.
His mother, Nicky Meadows, sent him a text message informing him she was aware he was "the man of the hour".
His hattrick of wickets were all clean-bowled.
In total, eight Rotorua Boys' High batsmen heard the death rattle while the remaining two were caught.
One was a feathered delivery to wicketkeeper Nick O'Sullivan, while Mattie Clarke snaffled another at mid-on to a bowler who can whip the ball up to 115km/h "with the wind behind me on a good day".
For the record, he was running into the shifting southerlies.
Troy Mitchell opened the bowling downwind with Meadows after O'Sullivan scored a century as the winners amassed a total of 274-9 in the 50-over affair when they won the toss and elected to bat.
Meadows was 12th man in the batting order, but the tail-ender had no qualms about "giving all the other boys a game, too" for a side Chris Kuggeleijn, the father of Northern Districts cricketer Scott, coaches.
"Sumo [Soumil] Singh came in at first change and got close to getting a wicket and there was almost a run out," said Meadows who deliberated with captain Paddy Carsons in executing the last over.
"I went over by over, but in the seventh one I really delivered. When Sumo got off and offered me the ball I felt I could do it [take all the wickets]," said the 1.87m tall teenager who didn't even have a five-wicket bag to his name before that.
"I was over the moon when I got five. I think we celebrated more with the hattrick then we did with 10 wickets."
Meadows, who played soccer and hockey as a youngster, only took up cricket when he started Year 9 at Hamilton Boys' High before making the First XI side at the end of Year 11.
Before that the 29-game First XI veteran played backyard cricket at home with his siblings and friends.
On Monday the Year 13 student enjoyed walking off the park with good mate O'Sullivan as players accorded them the customary applause and batting guard of honour.
"We didn't want to get too cocky about it [celebrating] because we had three games remaining."
Hamilton team manager/teacher Tim Aughton said the school would acknowledge Meadows' achievement at a general assembly when they return.
Hamilton Boys' beat New Plymouth Boys' High by 103 runs on Tuesday and ended hosts Hastings Boys' High's unblemished run on Wednesday with a four-wicket victory.
In the second match, Meadows didn't fare so well but got his line and length right in the third game for a frugal 1-14 from six overs.
Yesterday's final, which Hamilton won by seven wickets, was a repeat of last year's teams in Palmerston North.
In group B, Palmerston North Boys' High were undefeated with Tauranga Boys' High second and Napier Boys' High registering one win against win-less Gisborne Boys' High.
Hastings Boys' High beat Tauranga Boys' High by 15 runs in the playoff for third/fourth yesterday. Napier Boys' High beat New Plymouth Boys' High by two wickets to finish fifth.
Rotorua Boys won the battles of the minnows with a seven-wicket win over Gisborne Boys.
