It was a glorious all-rounders’ weekend for veteran “tweakers” Blaker and Crosby.
Chicking HSOB Presidents finger-spinners Simon Blaker (38 not-out and four wickets for 13 runs off 3.5 overs) and Tom Crosby (37no, 2-11 off four) excelled in a tense 29-run Senior B Grade Twenty20 win against Horouta Te Waka.
Presidents captain Sean Moran won the toss at Harry Barker Reserve No 4 and chose to bat on a fair wicket.
Te Waka opening bowler Billy Morse took 2-2 off two overs in an inspired spell as HSOB were reduced to 5-30 two balls into the 12th over.
But as they had against Gisborne Boys’ High School Second XI a fortnight before, Moran’s resilient campaigners rallied.
Blaker and Crosby put on 86 for the sixth wicket, showing their skill and rising to the occasion.
Like his new ball partner Morse, Stanley Blake (1-7 off three, including a maiden) set a good example to the other five bowlers in terms of line and length.
Separating Blaker and Crosby was crucial if Horouta were to win the game – a task made harder with the absence of Horouta’s irrepressible left-arm paceman and all-rounder Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson.
In the chase, Blake applied himself for 24 in 19 balls at No 7, but opener Sandy Athwal (16 off 26) was the only other batsman to make double figures.
HSOB used nine bowlers and their spin attack took nine wickets with accuracy, patience and good field placements as Horouta were dismissed for 87 in the 19th over.
“Our spinners loved the prospect of bowling on a deck that gripped and turned, and they took their opportunities,” Moran said.
“Simon and Tom caused chaos, taking wickets at regular intervals and not allowing the batsmen to get the upper hand.”
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Patrick McInnes was superb on Saturday.
Having broken Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps’ great opening stand of 75 when he had Zac Borrie (35) caught by wicketkeeper Aiden Armstrong, the Gisborne Boys’ High School Second XI all-rounder later made his first Senior B Grade half-century.
McInnes took 1-10 from two overs and struck 12 fours in his unbeaten 70 off 58 balls – dispatching most short balls he received to the boundary.
His knock followed a fighting effort of 37 against Horouta the previous weekend.
“It was good to do that, but I want to keep working,” said McInnes, 14. “I was just happy to make a good score for the team.”
The Green Caps, under Charles Morrison, won the match by 36 runs.
Morrison won the toss, chose to bat and Ngatapa got to 157-5, due in great part to the opening partnership between Borrie and Jacque Davis.
Davis’s stellar knock of 73 in 55 balls, including 11 fours and a six, laid the platform for his team’s third win of the season.
Ngatapa and HSOB Presidents each have three wins, but HSOB lead the four-team competition on net run rate.
Their No 3 wicket had an emerald tinge, but while the Boys’ High bowlers did swing, seam and turn the ball, one bad ball per over cost them 21 wides and 19 boundaries.
The fielding standard was high overall. Tarn Boyle held a remarkable steepling catch over his left shoulder to dismiss Davis and left-arm orthodox spinner Charlie Whitfield picked up 2-18 off two overs at the end of the innings.
In reply, GBHS reached 121-5.
McInnes put on 34 with first drop Conrad Parkes (10) and 59 with Whitfield (12no) for the fifth wicket.
First-change bowler Bradley Carruthers applied the brakes to the students’ progress, taking 3-7 in four overs, including one maiden.
“That was a competitive game, and as for Paddy’s knock, he timed the ball really well off, both the front foot and the back foot,” Morrison said.
“That was a great innings.”