Christchurch Boys High impressive in first match

The New Zealand Community Trust Junior Boys Finals got underway in Palmerston North today with eight year nine and ten school teams from around the country competing in the tournament.

The first round of the four day competition saw defending champions Christchurch Boys High pick up a convincing win against St Peter's School and once again look favourites to take out the competition. Hutt International Boys and Otago Boys High also won by considerable margins, while St Kentigern College had a late scare against St Paul's Collegiate before securing a four wicket victory.

Blake Buttar Skurr of Otago Boys High was the star player of the day, helping his team via a knock of 61 with the bat and picking up figures of three for seven with the ball.

Christchurch Boys High School v St Peters School

Christchurch Boys High won the toss and elected to bowl first against St Peters.

St Peters though got off to a solid start at 70 for four after 20 overs and looked capable of kicking on to a big total.

After the drinks break however, Christchurch Boys' players Matthew Hay and James Sheehan both made inroads into the middle and lower order, leaving St Peters all out for 90 in the 29th over.

Christchurch Boys High made short work of the run chase and brought up the required runs in the 14th over for the loss of just two wickets.

St Peters 90 all out (28.4 overs) (B Weal 33, M Hay 2/27, J Sheehan 3/20) LOST to Christchurch Boys High 96/2 (14 overs) (W Jordan 33, M Hay 20*, A Garyton 2/13)

Result: Christchurch Boys' High School won by eight wickets

Otago Boys High School v Hastings Boys High School

Hasting Boys' High opted to bowl first and found success early against the Otago top order.

At 27 for two after 13 overs the Southerners were in danger of collapsing, but got back on track through brothers Blake and Dylan Buttar Skurr. The two put on 72 runs for the next wicket and helped their team reach a very healthy total of 143 for six at the end of 40 overs.

Hastings Boys never really got started in their run chase, losing their first wicket before they had a run on the board and continued to lose wickets on a regular basis. In the end they managed to put 67 on the board before being all out in the 34th over.

Otago Boys High 143/6 (40 overs) (B Buttar Skurr 61, D Buttar Skurr 29, J Mcleod 2/2) BEAT Hastings Boys High 67 all out (33.5 overs) (B Buttar Skurr 3/7, T Bayly 4/9)

Result: Otago Boys' High School won by 76 runs

St Kentigerns College v St Pauls Collegiate

St Pauls were put into bat by St Kentigern and struggled for momentum from the first delivery. They never managed to get going and failed to get their run-rate above two at any time during the innings. Their final total of 76 was always going to be difficult to defend.

St Kentigern were looking comfortable for the first 15 overs of their run chase, but St Pauls fought back with vigour and give themselves an outside chance to defend their small total.

At 60 for six the St Kentigern lads were looking very concerned, as St Pauls started to get their tails up. A couple of much needed boundaries eased the pressure for St Kentigern, as they went on to secure victory by four wickets.

St Paul's Collegiate 76 all out (37.4 overs) (Extras 31, A Thapa 2/9, S Patel 2/3) LOST to St Kentigern College 78/6 (32.3 overs) (Bede Higgins 2/12)

Result: St Kentigern College won by four wickets

Hutt International Boys School v New Plymouth Boys High School

New Plymouth Boys won the toss and opted to take first crack with the ball against Hutt.

After being put in on a greenish deck the Hutt team made an outstanding total of 188 for seven, mainly due to two very fine knocks of 48 by Troy Johnson and 25 by Ben Sears.

The New Plymouth Boys were always behind the run rate and the pressure of this finally told with the team being dismissed for 92 runs.

Hutt International Boys (40 overs) (188/7 T Johnson 48, B Sears 25, B Northcott Hill 4/13) BEAT New Plymouth Boys 92 all out (35 overs) (T Johnson 4/17, O Smythe 3/19)

Result: Hutt International Boys' School won by 96 runs