A dream start for Whangārei Boys High School at Kensington Park on Saturday turned to misery as they gave Onerahi Central their second win in round seven of the premier 50-over competition.
Onerahi won the toss and elected to bat which seemed the smart choice under the midday sun until opener Todd Beehre was caught off the bowling of Kurt Oldridge with the first ball of the game, also known as a royal golden duck, to give WBHS an early advantage.
Despite the early loss, Onerahi were able to steady the innings with fellow opener Austin Ryburn scoring a run-a-ball 55 which featured a variety of strong shots off the front and back foot. Ryburn and No 4 batsmen Cullen Lowe (48) got to 129/2 until Ryburn was dismissed in the 28th over.
An impressive cameo towards the back of the innings from No 8 Tom Herman who scored 57 off 31 balls, including four 4s and two 6s, pushed Onerahi to a competitive score of 242. The best of the WBHS bowlers were Michael Krige who took 4/60 off his 9.5 overs and left-arm spinner Kian Bird with 3/30 off nine overs.
In reply, WBHS were served a bit of their own medicine with opening batters Luke Trigg and Richard Stobart both having to depart for 0 in the first two overs of their innings. No 3 Kian Bird and No 4 Sam Sweeney then added 57 for the third wicket, both making 29 before they were dismissed in quick succession. Sweeney, who made two scores of 81 in the last two games, looked to have the measure of the Onerahi bowlers until he was caught behind off the bowling of Cullen Lowe.
