Cricket Boys’ 1st XI
Weather and defaults played havoc with the 1st XI as it tried
to re-establish itself after a large clean-out from the 2013
team. On top of the normal departure of Y13 students, the
team also lost Vayun Rangnekar to Christchurch and Josh
Hannan to Hastings BHS. These two were the base that the
1st XI was going to be rebuilt on. The team was left with just
three players who had toured Australia at the
beginning of 2013. With just one game in late January,
and out of four to have been played, the team went into
the Gillette Cup knockout game against Hastings BHS 1st
XI, totally underdone. Unsurprisingly, they were outplayed
but they didn’t get their heads down and improved as they
gained confidence as the season progressed. They were
very competitive against the top team in the grade, Marewa, and had a big win over CHB 1st XI. They pushed a
strong Tawa team to the very end and finished the season
with a close but satisfying win over Lindisfarne 2nd XI.
Cricket Boys 1st XI
Back Row: Jarrod Lobb, Callum Bensemann, (Captain), Caleb Manning
2nd Row: Dan Fridd, Mitchell Keip, Liam Morgan
Front Row: Liam Reeves, Sean Morrison, Cameron Webber, Darcy Garland,
Harrison Algie
New captain, Callum Bensemann, didn’t really fire with
the bat as hoped, due to quite a few mitigating factors, but his innings of 50 against Lindisfarne was a
match-winner. When he bowled, he gave the attack a
bit of bite. Sean Morrison and Cam Webber often gave
the team a good start, with three opening partnerships of
over 30 out of five, but unfortunately, neither pushed on to
a really big score. Harry Algie is a promising batsman,
once again, another who is looking for a big score, with
his innings of 35 against Tawa showing what he is capable of doing. Dan Fridd, as a third year player, will want to
score more runs later in the year, while Liam Reeves had
some tidy knocks, with a 66no against CHB his best. His
ability to bowl nude spin was an asset, picking up wickets
often at a cheap rate. Darcy Garland, gained more and
more confidence as the spearhead of the attack, but is
an unlucky bowler, as he never seems to get the reward
he deserves. His batting was a real bonus, scoring much
needed runs in the middle order. Mitchell Keip came into
the team as a Year 11, and is still finding his feet. The big
left-armer can bowl the unplayable ball but he tends to
mix it with four balls.