College sport: Young star's sporting talent runs in family

King's College opening batsmen Ben Horne has his sights set on a ton. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Ben Horne shows no signs that the weight of expectation is weighing heavily on his sporting shoulders.

The son and nephew of sporting internationals, Horne, who turns 17 on Friday, goes about his dual batting and bowling roles with the King's College first XI without any pressure.

Father Phil played four cricket tests and four ODIs and 53 first class games (mainly for Auckland). He also represented New Zealand at badminton at successive Commonwealth Games from 1982-90 where he was joined by his wife, Lynne, who played doubles and mixed doubles in the 1990 Games in Auckland.

Phil's younger brother Matt played 35 tests, 50 ODIs and 128 first-class games.

A more than useful fieldsman in his playing days for school, province and country, Phil is playing his part in encouraging his son to follow suit by taking the King's players in weekly fielding practices.

Originally set to go to Auckland Grammar - Phil and Matt had been to Rangitoto College - Ben received an academic scholarship from King's and is now in his fifth, and last, year and playing his third season in the first XI.

Yet to score a century at that level, Horne has his sights set on a "ton" before the season is much older after getting to 88 before being bowled in a match against St Kentigern last season.

Although primarily an opening batsman, Horne, who bats right-handed, has also shown out as a useful left-arm orthodox spinner, claiming a career best 4-15 a couple of weeks ago.

"I'm enjoying my cricket at King's after playing for Parnell when I was younger," said Horne who has been selected in the Auckland SS team for next month's two-week tour to India where they will play eight or nine one-day or Twenty20 matches.

He will be joined on the Indian tour by King's team-mates Harrison Nash, Mark Chapman and Luke Williamson.

Former Auckland Aces coach Tony Sail (MAGS) and King's coach Roy Goodyear will steer the team.

Horne, who used to play badminton but now chooses hockey as his winter sport, plans to go to university next year and return to club cricket at Parnell. "I would love to match what dad and Matt achieved but I will just take it one step at a time."

CRICKET

AUCKLAND

With their place in this month's final already secured, King's eased back slightly in their last pool match in the one-day championship but were still too strong for St Peter's, going through the round-robin unbeaten.

Only Temapare Hodson (a gritty 42) offered much resistance as St Peter's struggled against the tight King's attack to reach 163.

Captain Simon Hickey led the way with 3-40 which included two sharp catches off his own bowling.

In reply, the King's run machine again got a quick start from opener Ben Horne with a breezy 34 and despite losing a few more wickets a solid knock from Cam Gibbons (39) and 33 by Fa'asiu Fuata'i lower in the order got them home for the loss of five wickets.

With Sacred Heart and Rosmini locked on the same points at the start of this game a close match was predicted but that did not eventuate as Sacred Heart ran out winners by 86 runs.

Batting first, they posted their biggest score of the season thanks to a fine knock of 90 from Joe Greene with help from Jacob O'Callaghan (47).

Matthew Moxley, 5-47, was the best of the Rosmini bowlers as Sacred Heart reached 237.

Rosmini's reply was based around a knock of 48 from all-rounder Connor Ridge and when he departed so did their hope of victory. Spinner O'Callaghan completed a fine game, picking up 3-24 as Rosmini fell for 152.

Macleans won the toss and batted first on another hard and flat pitch at Westlake.

A wicket was lost first ball but the next wicket did not fall until 107 runs had been added. They got to 128 before a major collapse, sparked by Max O'Dowd who took 5-15 to destroy the middle order as the innings ended at a disappointing 146. David Winn batted superbly for 86 but he lacked the necessary support.

In reply, WBHS began poorly, losing two quick wickets, but then Simon Middleton (63) and Robbie O'Donnell (59) - both unbeaten - steered their team to an eight-wicket win with 22 overs to spare.

While pool A was clearcut, pool B was anything but and needed calculators to separate the top three teams.

With their one-day survival on the line, AGS produced their most complete performance of the season with a comprehensive victory over Rangitoto.

Batting first, the openers made a flying start, reaching 60 inside 10 overs. But two run-outs slowed down the run rate and brought Shawn Hicks and James Parslow to the wicket. They accumulated runs with quality timing, placement and some big shots as AGS reached 276/6, with Parslow's 106 the highlight.

Keen to match their batsmen with some penetrative bowling, the AGS attack wasted no time in skittling Rangitoto for just 76 inside 30 overs.

But anything AGS could do, MAGS were determined to do even better.

Led by twins Aditya and Amit Dhadwal, MAGS piled on 374/7 against the ineffective KBHS attack, with Amit scoring 101.

In reply Kelston were never in it as an excellent spell of pace bowling from Brett Randell, 4-13 from nine overs, steered MAGS to a huge 227-run win.

Despite sitting atop the table going into their clash with Avondale, St Kentigern knew they were in no way assured a final spot and had to make sure they won convincingly.

They succeeded, but still had a nervous wait despite winning by 95 runs after their innings had been anchored by 81 from Darshan Patel. In reply, Avondale battled manfully but could reach only 113 - 96 runs short.

That margin was enough to secure top spot for St Kentigern, who will play King's in the R. H. Marrayatt Cup final at Waikaraka Park on March 10.

The other one-day final clashes are: King's 2nd XI v AGS 2nd XI (premier B), Long Bay v Liston (premier C) and King's v AGS (premier colts).

WAIKATO

Cambridge High continue to set the pace in the 1A 50-over competition, their six-wicket win over neighbours Matamata College continuing their solid start to the term one championship.

Poor Matamata batting contributed to their downfall as they struggled to 128/9 with Jono Feast leading the Cambridge attack with 4-15 from eight overs. Mitch Kirkbride and Harley Overton chipped in with three wickets each as the batsmen found novel ways to get themselves out.

That was never going to be enough to test the leaders but even they lost four wickets in reaching the target as Brad McKenzie bagged 3-28.

It was a similar story for St Peter's as they rolled Morrinsville College for just 120 and then hit off the winning runs for the loss of three wickets.

Morrinsville started reasonably well but lost three wickets at 23 and apart from an enterprising 31 from Michael Wratt and 24 from Jarrod Hedley lower in the order failed to ever threaten a big score.

St Peter's lost an early wicket but were rarely under pressure as Sam Pulis (33) and an unbeaten 38 from Tim Seifert steered them to victory.

Jeremy Rout bowled well for Morrinsville, taking 1-9 from six overs.

Led by Chris Swanson's 69, St Paul's posted a handy 226/8, more than enough to get them home by 88 runs as James Chenery bagged a useful 4-19.

More runs were amassed in 1B matches, with Hamilton BHS Red on 311/6 to which Fraser High replied with 313/4 to win by six wickets.

Hamilton BHS Blue were also among the runs with their 287 in the end, enough to earn them a 172-run victory over St Peter's 2nd XI who managed just 115 in reply.

Hillcrest too won by more than 100 runs after scoring 202 and then bundling Melville High out for 90.

SOCCER

Just months after being recognised as ASB College Sports Footballer of the Year, former Avondale College prefect Nadia Pearl is taking her talents to the United States.

Pearl has won a full athletic scholarship to Fresno University from July/August where she will study English and journalism and play her soccer in a very competitive league alongside other universities such as Hawaii, San Diego, Berkeley and UCLA.

To gain her scholarship, Pearl scored more than 630 points in her SAT tests while studying for last year's NCEA examinations. Former school- and team-mate Betsy Hassett has also won a scholarship to a US university.

"I've wanted to do this since I was 12 years old," said Pearl. "I've never taken my eyes off it." She played for five years at Avondale under coach Ian Shaw, who played a part in her scholarship win after the Fresno coach saw a video of her playing for New Zealand at the Fifa Under-17 World Cup and then in person while playing at the Under-20 World Cup in Germany.

Pearl will not be short on advice on what to expect as her father studied in the US on a rugby scholarship.

SOFTBALL

MAGS upset one of the pre-tournament favourites KBHS with a last-ditch semifinal win to reach the division one final at the annual one-day tournament at Rosedale Park.

Despite going on to lose to defending champions Massey, who needed a tiebreaker to edge past St Peter's in the semifinals, MAGS joined Massey in qualifying for the division one nationals which were scheduled for Christchurch this month but are now likely to be played in Wellington.

Other teams keen to play at the national tournament can still chase a wild card entry.

One Tree Hill won the girl's title, beating Orewa in the final. They will be joined at the nationals by Green Bay who surprised many in finishing third, on the back of a strong effort from star pitcher Beth Stavert, after being promoted from division two.

The division two championships, which attracted 17 teams, were won by Avondale (boys) and Pakuranga (girls).WATER POLOWBHS got one over long-time rivals Rangitoto at the Millennium pool in their rescheduled premier match on Saturday.

It was tight for most of the match, with Westlake eventually running away in the final period to win 9-4.

Often regarded as a grudge match, there was clearly a great amount of feeling both in and out of the pool.

The game was enjoyed by what can be described as a colourful crowd, with several of the supporters painted head-to-toe in their school's colours.

After a scoreless first quarter, the teams exchanged goals twice to be level 2-2 at halftime.

Both teams missed penalty shots at the start of the third period, but Westlake scored two quick goals at the end of the quarter to lead 4-2.

Rangitoto scored early in the final quarter to get within one before four unanswered Westlake goals put the game out of reach.

The vocal WBHS supporters did not hesitate to remind Rangitoto of their teams' healthy lead, chanting: "Look at the scoreboard" and "This game is over."

Westlake coach Davor Carevic was particularly pleased with his team, attributing the win to the extra experience of his players.

Owen Chambers, Tamati Harris, and Ben Sanderson stood out with exceptional performances, according to Carevic, with Sanderson making several crucial late saves to assure Westlake's victory.

Carevic has high hopes for his team, saying: "The goal is to win the national championship like we did two years ago".

The North Island SS Championships are in Auckland from March 17-20 and the national SS championships from April 27-30 in Wellington.additional reporting Nathan Calis

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