‘
The girls’ 1st X1; NZ champions for the 2012 calendar
year! This emulated the School’s 2007 team which also
won the national title for secondary school girls’ cricket.
It also went a long way to easing the hurt for the girls in
missing the 2011 finals.
The girls play weekly in the boys’ Hastings junior A cricket
competition which toughens them for the national NZCT
competition. The girls beat all the teams in the boys’
competition with the exception of Lindisfarne. The boys
clearly do not enjoy being beaten by girls, so the reaction
of opposing teams, coaches & supporters is always
interesting!
Having qualified for the NZCT finals in term 1 of 2012, the
team went to Palmerston North full of confidence. We won
our first 3 games against Waikato Diocesan (6 wickets),
St Hilda’s (13 runs) & St Kentigern’s (49 runs). We were
then solidly beaten by Palmerston North GHS (28 runs).
Fortunately PNGHS had stumbled earlier, losing a game, so
the final day came down to the team with the best run rate
over the tournament. We smashed New Plymouth GHS by
136 runs to finish with a far superior run rate to win the NZ
title.
The first term of 2013 saw us continue to compete
successfully in the boys’ grade. A highlight was an
“international” fixture against the NZ Combined services
women’s team at school. We lost by 3 wickets in a very
tight match. We also beat Tawa in an inter-school
exchange by 28 runs. Holly MacDonald scored a
magnificent 101 not out.
The “business” end of the first term saw us beat HGHS by
6 wickets to win the HB girls’ title for the 8th consecutive
year. That qualified us for the 4 team Central Districts finals
in Wanganui in late March. First up was New Plymouth GHS
who were bowled out for just 12 runs. A win by 9 wickets.
On the other side of the draw Palmerston Nth GHS beat
Wanganui HS to set up a final against our old foe. We
made 93, then dismissed PNGHS for 59 ; a win by 34 runs.
So December 2013 will see us back at the National
finals in Palmerston North to defend our NZ title.
Champion sides like this one do not just happen ; this
team is very committed and works very hard to be the
best, training for 8 months in the year. It is difficult to
single out individual players in a team like this where all
players have made significant contributions. However,
Bhamini Rangnekar, Caitlin King, Neesha Johnson and
Erica Sinclair were all super consistent with their bowling
efforts. Holly, Caitlin and Tammy Welsh were the backbone of the batting line-up. Olivia Addis, Natalya
Taylor and Monique Yule promise much for the future,
while Ella Richardson, Cheyenne Welsh, Grace Fulford
and Sophie Pyott all contributed significantly.
The team was named HB Cricket Team of the year (for
all grades, men and women included) at the 2012-13
HB Cricket awards.