Christchurch and Palmerston North claim big wins

Christchurch Boys High School, with a 143-run win, and Palmerston North Boys High, who romped to a nine-wicket victory in their game, were the big winners on day one of the 2009 Gillette Cup tournament.

The tournament opened at Fitzherbert Park, Palmerston North, in warm, clearing conditions – ideal for the first day of the year’s premier secondary schools tournament.

The event features the eight finalists from the original 201 schools that entered the 2009 Gillette Cup national secondary schools competition.

The tournament sees the eight teams divided into two pools of four, playing a round robin contest over three days. Cross-over matches are played on day four to determine the final placings and ultimately the winner of the Gillette Cup for 2009.

Pool A

Westlake Boys High School v New Plymouth Boys High School

Westlake BHS 192 (O’Donnell 55, Charles Eton 32; McDougal 3/29)
New Plymouth BHS 162. (West 59, McDougal 35 n.o.)

Westlake BHS won the toss and batted first. Their innings tally of 192 was held together by a tidy half-century from Robert O’Donnell batting at six. Other useful contributions came from Charles Elton 32 and Elliott Herd 23. Bowling for New Plymouth, wickets were shared between James McDougal, John Dickson, Fraser Johnston and Mitch Brown.

New Plymouth were always under pressure to reach the required target. However Ben West with 59 kept them in the game but his dismissal saw the side at 124/7, which included three run outs. James McDougall (35 n.o.) tried to get his team through, but they fell short, being all out for 162. Ashley Martinus and Elliott Herd took two wickets each.

Hamilton Boys High School v Otago Boys High School

Otago BHS 178 (Rutherford 61, Soper 28, Collins 37; Thomas 4/16, Walker 3/37)
Hamilton BHS 180/9 (Thomson 48 n.o., Mitchell Santner 31; Blair Soper 4/27)

Hamilton BHS won the toss and put Otago BHS into bat. They lost wickets regularly and it was only an eighth wicket stand of 62 between Tom Rutherford (61) and Blair Soper (28) that helped them reach 178, the team failing to bat past their the 40th over. Earlier in the innings Michael Collins had scored 37. The destroyers for Hamilton BHS were spinners Matt Thomas and Joe Walker.

Otago BHS started steadily although left arm quick Blair Soper had the top order playing and missing frequently. With Hamilton BHS cruising at 130/5 Soper took three quick wickets to reduce them to 145/8. However Ryan Thomson, who came in at five, controlled the innings and was 48 n.o. when they reached the target with nine down. Peter Bocock and Mitchell Santner made handy knocks. Best of the Otago BHS bowlers was Blair Soper with four wickets and Tom Rutherford and Daniel Duke who took two apiece.

Palmerston North Boys High School vs Whangarei Boys High School

Whangarei BHS 57 (Adam Milne 4/13, Tim Richards 3/3)
Palmerston North 61-1 (Mitchell Renwick 30 n.o.)

Whangarei BHS won the toss and decided to bat on what looked like a green, well paced pitch. Palmerston North BHS opening bowlers Bevan Small and Adam Milne bowled with pace and accuracy and made it very hard for the Whangarei BHS batsmen to score. Wickets fell at regular intervals and eventually Whangarei was bowled out for 57. The stand out bowler from Palmerston North was Tim Richards who took three for three off 10 overs – of the three runs he conceded two were wides. In reply Palmerston North cantered to victory losing only one wicket in the process.

Christchurch Boys High School vs St Patricks (Silverstream)

Christchurch BHS 232 (Latham 51, Brad Gordon 35, Simon Calder 32)
St Patricks 89 (Edward Nuttall 4/19, Chris Burnett 3/43)

St Patrick’s won the toss and elected to field. From the very first ball Christchurch opening batsman Tom Latham was positive and compiled a very good 51 before edging a ball to first slip. Christchurch continued the momentum throughout their innings and compiled 232 off their 50 overs. In reply St Patricks struggled with the moving ball and were never really in the hunt. Left arm bowler Edward Nuttall was the stand out bowler taking four wickets.