Defending champions Bollywood High School Old Boys started their 40-over Doleman Cup clash with Coastal Concrete Old Boys Rugby with nine players on Saturday, but defied the odds to win by four wickets.

In their third dramatic outing from as many matches so far this season, High School Old Boys (HSOB), under Jak Rowe, rallied superbly.

Old Boys Rugby (OBR) captain Matthew Cook won the toss and took first knock on Harry Barker Reserve 2, a good batting wicket.

Rowe – deputising for Dave Castle – and his depleted outfit had to work hard to make inroads.

Rowe (1 wicket for 33 runs off five overs) bowled Karan Solanki (4) with the score at 26, but his opening partner Daniel Stewart (49 from 47 balls) and Tom Garrett (64) put on 74 for the second wicket.

OBR were in a good position at 129-3 but lost their last eight wickets for 22 runs to be all out for 152 in 26 overs.

Carl Shaw, the fifth bowler used, took 4-3, including two maiden overs.

Another tall medium-pacer, Rhys Grogan, also bowled out, grabbing 2-24.

Anthony Boyder, a keen competitor, took 2-5 off two overs.

OBR took three huge wickets early – Glen Udall (3 runs), Carl Shaw for a two-ball duck and Rowe (1) – to have HSOB reeling at 9-3.

Udall’s fellow opener Taye McGuinness made a timely 21 before he was bowled by Jonah Reynolds (2-30 off five) with the score at 68-4.

OBR spearhead Jimmy Holden (3-10 off five) was a shining light for Cook’s crew, putting put the Blues’ top order under tremendous pressure.

But HSOB bat deep and showed steel when it was required.

Tough leftie Keegan Jooste, who had bowled three wicketless overs for 45 at first-change in the first innings, hit 10 boundaries in his 64-ball innings of 45.

Grogan whacked 32 off 18 balls at No 6 and Boyder made an unbeaten 26 in eight balls, including two sixes and three fours.

Veteran left-arm swing bowler George Reynolds went for 19 runs in the 32nd over as HSOB reached their target for the loss of six wickets.

“To win a game with nine players is a challenge,” said Rowe. “We were behind the eight-ball before we started, but we worked as a team with everyone – from young players to 46-year-old David Milne – contributing.

“Credit to our young players for stepping up.”

Horouta beat Gisborne Boys’ High

Johnathon Gray is the nuclear option.

The Gisborne Boys’ High School First XI paceman took 3-20 in six overs with two maidens after a phenomenal opening to the second innings of the students’ duel with Breakers Horouta Te Waka.

Gray bowled a triple-wicket maiden to start.

The Waka recovered to win by one wicket, a fitting margin with the tough nature of the game on Harry Barker Reserve 3.

The modest size of the boundary and hell-for-leather nature of Horouta’s batting meant the clash would never make for mundane viewing.

Horouta skipper Jagroop Singh (1-28 off five overs) won the toss and elected to bowl. His foil with the new cherry, Harmanpreet Singh Gill (3-24 off 5.2), was the best of a bowling unit that consistently asked hard questions.

Jatinder Kumar (2-6 off three) and Viren Patel (2-21 off four) were excellent fourth and fifth options.

First-drop Nathaniel Fearnley struck eight fours in a 57-ball 45, their only individual score of consequence.

He and Alex Shanks (11) put on 68 for the third wicket, the second-largest partnership of the match, before Boys’ High were dismissed for 150 in 26.2 overs – 40 wides helping their cause.

Gray turned the contest upside down when he had James Birrell chop a delivery on to his leg stumps two balls into the run chase. Himanshu Bhargav survived the next ball, but he and Simarjit Singh Basra lost their middle stump in consecutive balls.

Te Waka were three wickets down without a run on the board.

Fearnley rounded off a strong performance with 2-11 off three overs while left-arm orthodox spinner and captain Ryker Rolls took 2-21 off 2.5.

A couple of dropped catches proved costly although Akira Makiri held a brilliant catch as cover sweeper to account for club cricket’s most feared hitter, Teghbir Cheema, who smashed four sixes and eight fours in his 64 from 37 balls.

Patel contributed 23 off 20 before being bowled by Fearnley.

Left-hander Baljeet Singh (7no) hit the second ball of the 19th over for six for 151-9 and the win.

SCOREBOARD

PREMIER GRADE DOLEMAN CUP (40 overs)

Bollywood High School Old Boys 154-6 in 31.5 overs (Keegan Jooste 45, Rhys Grogan 32 not out, Anthony Boyder 26 no; Jimmy Holden 3-10 off 5 overs, Jonah Reynolds 2-30-5) beat Coastal Concrete Old Boys’ Rugby 152 all out in 26 overs (Tom Garrett 64, Daniel Stewart 49; Carl Shaw 4-3-5, Anthony Boyder 2-5-2, Rhys Grogan 2-24-5) by 4wkts.

Breakers Horouta Te Waka 151-9 in 19.2 overs (Teghbir Cheema 64, Viren Patel 23; Johnathon Gray 3-20-6, Nathaniel Fearnley 2-11-3, Riker Rolls 2-21-2.2s) beat Gisborne Boys’ High School First XI 150 all out in 26.2 overs (Nathaniel Fearnley 45; Harmanpreet Singh Gill 3-24-5.2 overs, Jatinder Kumar 2-6-3, Viren Patel 2-24-4) by 1wkt.

POVERTY BAY SENIOR B 20-OVER PRE-CHRISTMAS COMPETITION

Breakers Horouta Te Waka 166-7 (Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson 54 no, James Craig 33, Chris Collier 28; Zac Borrie 3-41-4, Bradley Carruthers 2-20-4) beat Civil Project Solutions Ngatapa Green Caps 119 all out in 18.4 overs (Hoffman Haasbroek 28; Jack Williams 2-13-3, James Craig 2-21-3.4, Ethan Ngarangione-Pearson 2-22-3, Tony Bucheler 2-25-3) by 85 runs.

Chicking HSOB Presidents 140-8 (Jeff Chambers 35; Jack Holden 3-15-3) beat GBHS Second XI 69 in18.4 overs (Bjorn Botma 12; Matt Jefferd 2-4-2, Michael Francis 2-7-1.5, Thomas Crosby 2-25-4) by 71 runs.