Premier Grade T15 Walker Shield, Round 6, Thursday, Harry Barker Reserve
Moshim’s Spice Horouta Te Waka 112-2 in 12.3 overs (Shubham Ralhan 36 not out, Gautam Sareen 33no, Harmanpreet Gill 24; Riker Rolls 1-15 off 3, Caleb Taewa 1-24 off 3) def Gisborne Boys' High School First XI 111-3 (David Gray 69no, Nathaniel Fearnley 29; Shubham Ralhan 2-9 off 3, Simarjit Basra 1-15 off 3) by eight wickets.
Bollywood High School Old Boys 73-0 in 7.1 overs (Rhys Grogan 35no, Carl Shaw 17no) def Coastal Concrete Old Boys Rugby 71-7 in 15 overs (Martin Worndl 29no, Jonah Reynolds 21; Dave Castle 2-8 off 2, Carl Shaw 2-29 off 3) by 10 wickets.
Well might Moshim’s Spice Horouta Te Waka pinch themselves.
But the fact is that the Jagroop Singh-led Waka, who beat Bollywood High School Old Boys to lift the Doleman Cup before Christmas, lead the pack in the longer-form DJ Barry Cup and T15 Walker Shield competitions.
Horouta, who defeated the David McDonald-coached Gisborne Boys' High School First XI by eight wickets in the last round-robin game of the Walker Shield on Thursday night, face Dave Castle’s HSOB in the T15 Final at 5.30pm at Harry Barker Reserve on February 20.
Meanwhile, Horouta took first innings points in their Round 2 DJ Barry Cup clash with Boys' High last Saturday, as did Coastal Concrete Old Boys Rugby, under Daniel Stewart, against HSOB.
Stewart won the toss on HBR No 2 and chose to bat.
“The OBR lads got the job done against tough opposition with quality players and the deep line-up they produce week to week,” Stewart said. “We posted 131 in 35.2 overs - a defendable total, with Jarrod Ormiston scoring 34 at No 2 - and knew we had to bowl and field well.”
Opening batsman Taye McGuinness and third man in Steve Lamb each scored 22, while new ball bowler Bekko Page took 5-68 off 11 overs and left-arm seamer Karan Solanki, bowling first change, got 4-23 off six.
One over turned the game their way, Stewart said.
“Bekko took three wickets, was on a hat-trick, and soon after Karan came around the wicket and hit Alex Shanks (18), batting at No.5, on the pads. The OBR boys went up and umpire Stu Patrick gave him out leg before wicket, at 113, the last ball of the 23rd over.
“We worked so hard for that win. Full credit to the boys for working hard and never giving up. Bekko and Karan were excellent and won us that game with tight bowling.”
Shanks took two wickets in two balls to close out the first innings and will start Saturday’s top-of-the-table round 3 clash with Horouta on HBR 1 at 12 noon on a DJ Barry Cup hat-trick.
HSOB opening bowler Connor Starck nabbed 2-13 off six overs against OBR while medium-pacer Anthony Boyder claimed 2-21 off six.
Gisborne Boys' High face OBR in Saturday’s other DJ Barry Cup game.
In Hope Cup senior B 30-over games at the reserve, GBHS Second XI are up against CPS Ngatapa while Chicking HSOB Pressies take on Breakers Horouta Te Waka.