A mix of strong wins and disappointing losses to report this week. Congratulations to our Sporting Edge Championship side for reaching their one-day semi-finals – unfortunately, Heathcote proved the stronger side on the day. There are also a number of significant personal milestones to celebrate this week.

Big congratulations to our Div 4 team, who are 10 points clear in their grade with only one round robin game to go. The Div 4 guys are a new team at our club this season, and have been leading their grade for most or all of the season!

MPCC Trivia Night – Friday 14 February

Thanks to Glen Bellam and Sam Gillespie for organising a closely contested Trivia Night. After 8 rounds, three teams were equal first, with Sam Coughlan’s estimate of the Earth’s distance from the moon the closest guess for the tie-breaker, giving his Ambulance Chasers team (drawn mainly from the Div 2 Black side) the trophy!

Meat raffles at The Brewers

Every Friday evening during the season, MPCC is selling meat raffles at our sponsor, The Brewers, in Merivale. All teams will take a couple of turns doing the selling - this week our Div 6 Panthers side are on selling duty. All club members are encouraged to head down at 5.30 support the raffles and our sponsor and get in some pre-match predictions for Saturday's games.

Thanks to our sponsors

As always, a huge thank you to our club and team sponsors, Sporting Edge, BBS Timbers, Bombay Tandoor, The Brewers, Burger Station, ITM Dyers Road and VIP Trade for your continuing support of Merivale Papanui CC. Your generous help makes a massive difference to the cricketing experience we can provide to our junior and adult members this season.

Congratulations to Darren Leigh, whose 45 runs in his Burger Station Div 2 Black side’s victory over Sumner saw him become the first MPCC player to pass 15,000 runs for our club. Darren’s runs include 12 club centuries, including an equal-most 4 for Senior A, with his highest score of 180* in 2017 the second-highest total ever scored for our club.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Championship bowler, Sam Gillespie, whose 5/8 vs Halswell helped his side’s demolition-job of a victory. In the process, Sam brought up 200 Senior A/Championship wickets for the club, making him the 9th player in club history to do so.

Belated Congratulations also to Sporting Edge Championship skipper, Matt Ling, who passed 2000 Senior A/Championship runs for the club back in November. Lingy is the 20th member to reach that milestone.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Championship batter, Luke Piper, whose battling 57 vs Heathcote in the one-day semi-final was our highest score of the day.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Div 2 Red batter, Jamie Chapman, who hit 67 for his side in their defeat vs OBC.

Congratulations to Burger Station Div 2 Black’s Josiah Leigh, whose 51* in the team’s victory over Sumner was his first for MPCC.

Congratulations to Burger Station Div 2 Black skipper, Glen Bellam, who hit 52* in the same game vs Sumner.

Congratulations to Div 6 Panthers batter, Sandeep Kumar, who hit 66* vs Lancaster Park to bring up his second club half-century.

Congratulations to BBS Timbers Div 7 player, Ayan Bhandari, who also brought up his second half-century of the season with 62 in his side’s commanding win over Southbrook.

Congratulations to Masters skipper, Petros Kapralos, whose 5-21 vs Ohoka in his side’s tight 1-wicket victory was his first 5-wicket bag of the season.

Congratulations to North West Youth 1st XI bowler, Alex Guillemot whose 5-14 off 10.3 overs vs St Bedes helped his side to a good win.

Congratulations to North West Youth Colts batter, Jack Straker for a hard-hitting century of 122 off 86 balls vs St Andrews College. Unfortunately, not enough to secure the win but an outstanding individual effort!

Congratulations to North West Youth 3rd XI Green batter Akash Wijewardene, who scored his second successive half century (52) in his side’s derby victory over NWY 3rd XI Black.

Congratulations to North West Youth 3rd XI Black batter, Bryn Johnson, who scored 60 in the same game.

Match Reports from Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th February

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Halswell @ Halswell 1 (1-day - Win)

Saturday was the last round of the one-day competition away to Hawswell for the Champs team. After some mixed results over the previous couple of weeks we needed to win to ensure a spot in the coming semi-finals. After losing another toss we were set to bowl first on a wicket that looked pretty average to be fair. Solid performance for the bowling unit. Both Leo and Harry took two wickets a piece from 7 and 6 overs respectively. The bulk of the damage was done by Sam Gillespie who captured 5/8 off seven overs to see Halswell bundled out for 63.  

In the chase Wez did Wez things and whacked 35* of 26 balls. The total was chased down in 12 overs. So not much more to report.  

Luke

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Heathcote @Edgar Mac 1, Sunday 16 Feb (1-day - Loss)

We turned up to the Mac to take on former suburban rivals Heathcote. After 45 minutes of stretching and unknown litres of deep heat, the creaky bodies were ready to roll into the field after Lingy lost the toss and we were asked to bowl first. We got off to a hiss and a roar, with both Harry and Leo taking the top order apart, leaving Heathcote 8-3. This is where the good news ends as the inexperienced batting line up began to click. Aided by a tired bowling and fielding display, Heathcote began accumulating before hitting the accelerator through the middle and death overs to end up on 258. Pick of the bowlers were both Harry and Leo, picking up 3 wickets each.

We got off to the worst possible start as Swaziland powerhouse Wez was dismissed first ball; with Alex still asleep in the shed Harry was next in. This was quickly followed by Lingy tearing his calf. Unable to run between the wickets, Lingy whacked a quick boundary laden 30 odd with Harry in support. This run rate raise was interrupted by a quick flurry of wickets, Harry nicked off, Alex was out after a very solid looking start and Rory also nicked off. All the while Luke was playing a vintage knock, he was playing like a man with a large weight off his shoulders. Which may have been the case after 4 dates during the week. He and Leo compiled a very good partnership and gave us hope. Unfortunately, Luke was dismissed shortly after raising his bat. The lower order wagged a wee bit, in particular Sammy G. But eventually the lower order was also bundled out, leaving Leo stranded on a very well made 47*, which was more than deserving of a 50. We ended up falling 60 short.

A disappointing end to a campaign that promised a lot but had themes of incomplete performances in losing a couple of key and close games. All the best to Heathcote next week in the final! Always good to see fellow Suburban clubs doing well!

Roz

MP Sporting Edge Div. 2 Red vs OBC @ Edgar Mac 1 (One Day – Loss)

Seconds were at home against Old Boys on Saturday, looking to regain a bit of form after a post-Christmas dip in form. We lost the toss and were put in to bowl on a decent-looking wicket. We started off with Beattie and Nath, Nath striking in his first over as usual, and Beattie in his third, Nath again with a double breakthrough in his 4th and another in his 6th for the Columbus show, which left OBC 5 down for 46 after 10. Paul Knight strode to the crease for them and spirits were high, we knew Paul was a vital wicket to take in order to roll OBC quickly. However, OBC scored quickly throughout their innings, getting through to drinks still 5 down. George struck quickly after drinks to get their only top order batter who showed any intent of occupying the crease. We thought we had Paul just prior to the break, only to be denied by the adjudging umpire. When Jamie eventually snuck one through Paul's defences, he was dismissed for 76, a very well made one too at that. Jamie took another, Beattie brought himself back on to burgle the tail, and we had OBC all out for 172 in the 36th, a very getable total on a good wicket. Nathan was the pick of the bowlers with 4/24, Beattie with 3/19, Jamie 2/10 and George 1/50 the wicket-takers.

In to bat we went with the familiar pairing of Louis & Tom, but we lost Tom early for 0. Louis and Woolfy tried to consolidate before Louis was dismissed for 8. A moment of confusion saw Woolfy run out for 5 and Sloaney looked to be aggressive but chopped on for 3 - not quite the start we were after from our top 4. Jamie was the mainstay throughout the innings, but little support for him saw us lose Comet for 4, George up the order to 7 this week after some handy runs couldn't quite replicate, Beattie tried to run himself out half a dozen times before he finally was run out for 16, 0 for McBride before Jamie was finally dismissed for a well-made 67. Hopefully, we see a bit more of Jamie this season after the new addition to the family due Tuesday! This left us needing about 40 from our resident tail enders, Lyle and Nathan. Both played some really good shots but couldn't quite get the job done, Lyle the last man out for 6, and Nathan 6*.

The end of a quite dismal one day campaign for us, a format we've traditionally been strong in and had high hopes for, but not to be this season. Back to red ball stuff next weekend, with a chance to win the 2-day comp hopefully some good cricket to come.

Mike Beattie

MP Burger Station Div 2 Black vs Sumner @ Bishopdale (One Day - Win)

The Thirds were again at home this week at “The Bish”, this time taking on the lads of Sumner. The Sumner captain called wrong and Bellsy decided we should bat first on a new pitch and opened up with the dynamic duo, Shane and Ash. The pair started cautiously on the unknown pitch but got us through that vital first 10 overs until Ash finally feathered one and was out for 14. This brought club legend and newly promoted up the order Darren to the wicket. Darren got into his work early immediately by putting pressure on the fielders in his own unique way and was rewarded when with the change of bowling he managed to get a couple of free hits to get his and our innings moving. Although he lost Shane along the way he was joined by Josiah and the pair slowly took control of the game. A perfect combination of attack and defence saw us through to just over the 100 mark before Darren fell to the Sumner captain for 46. It was a typical Masterleigh display from Darren and we were all treated along the way to see him bring up a staggering 15,000 club runs which I'm assured is halfway to his career goal. Bellsy then joined Josiah in the 27th over and we never lost another wicket putting on an unbeaten 110 run partnership seeing us through to 222 for 3 after our allotment. Josiah batted beautifulleigh in gluing the innings together with his maiden club 50, ending 51* off 64.

To be honest we took to the field pretty confident to have some runs on the board which hasn’t been our forte this season. We opened up with a contrast in young Jack Farries and a one-legged Dr Dave and it was Jack who struck first. The Sumner top order never seemed keen on pushing a heap of singles which gave us plenty of chances, most of which were taken, and although they started at 7 or 8 an over we gradually chipped wickets out which brought it down to 5’s. Jack got 2 in his 5 over spell and the one-legged Dave got 1 but had to bowl through his 9 on the trot because no one knew how to restart him if he stopped. After Jack, young Sam Coughlan came on and had his best stint at the crease for us ripping through the middle order snaring 4-25 off 8 and we had a win by 126 runs.

Pretty good day at the office really and our first in the victory column this year. Great to set up a total thanks to the Leighs Darren 46 (61) and Josiah 51* (64) supported by their skip Bellsy 52* (49) and then with the ball Sam 4-25 (8), Jack 2-32 (5), Dave 1-30 (9) and Bellsy 2-5 (4.1) Really stoked with the W and all those who contributed but player of the day is Darren for bringing up his 15,000 club runs. Ever the gentleman, putting team before himself often to his own detriment and it’s been my privilege to have witnessed a small part of it.

Bellsy

MP Div 4 vs New Brighton @Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

No report, but a good win for the Div 4 side, who are 10 points clear at the top of their grade with one round robin game remaining and have thus won the grade. Abhinav Jaswal (45) and Suraj Khatri (29 off 12) were their main contributors to a successful chase.

MP Div 6 Panthers vs Lancaster Park @Woolston Park (Loss)

The Div 6 Panthers' unbeaten run in 2025 came to an end on Saturday in a hard-fought clash against LPCC Royal Rangers at Woolston Park. Despite a valiant effort with both bat and ball, the Panthers fell short by 20 runs in a high-scoring contest.

The match began with an unexpected delay as the Panthers arrived to find the pitch occupied by a junior game running behind schedule. By the time the youngsters cleared the field at 1:20 PM, the Panthers were eager to get underway. Skipper Andy A lost the toss, and the Royal Rangers elected to bat first. Openers Andy A and Isuka started with tight lines but struggled to break through. The first wicket finally came when Roger struck in his second over, but the Royal Rangers were already building momentum, reaching 79/1 by the drinks break. A bowling reshuffle saw Charan make an immediate impact, a loosener down leg side—pulled straight into the hands of Roger at short fine leg. However, the breakthrough did little to stem the flow of runs as the Royal Rangers' batsmen took a liking to the Panthers' spinners. Despite wickets from Sunny, Andy A, and a double strike from Max, the Royal Rangers posted a formidable total of 221 off their 40 overs.

Chasing 222 for victory, the Panthers began cautiously with openers Deano and new recruit Liam laying a solid foundation. The pair accelerated in the 10th over, but both fell in the 15th over—Deano for 25 and Liam for a well-made 35. Max and Sunny then took charge, with Sunny playing a blistering innings of 59, including a flurry of aggressive strokes. Their 80-run partnership kept the Panthers in the hunt, but Sunny's dismissal via a switch hit caught at point proved to be a turning point. Andy R provided a brief cameo, smashing a few boundaries before being bowled, while AJ and Max tried their best to keep the chase alive. However, the required run rate proved too steep, and despite Andy A and AJ's late efforts, the Panthers fell short, finishing on 199. The loss marked the end of the Panthers' 4 match winning streak, but the team remains optimistic and will look to bounce back in their next fixture.

Andy Anderson

MP BBS Timbers Div 7 vs Southbrook @Southbrook Domain (Win)

There was a wonderful match win against the Southbrook Blue team on February 15, 2025. Team captain Jamie O’Connor lost the toss, but the opposing team elected to field first, allowing us to bat first. There was a slight change in the opening batsmen; Nana and Muthu started the match. Unfortunately, Muthu was dismissed for a duck on the last ball of the first over, bringing Jason in at first down to join Nana. Things got worse when Nana was also out shortly after, scoring only 2 runs. Our number four batsman, Pav, came in during a critical situation. Both batsmen scored runs slowly, and soon the first down batsman was also out, bringing Karim to the crease to join Pav. They steadied the innings for a few overs. Pav hit a few boundaries but was run out after scoring 15 runs. Next, our star player Ayan joined Karim at the crease. Ayan boosted everyone’s confidence with his aggressive play, consistently hitting fours and singles. However, he struggled to build a solid partnership as wickets continued to fall at the other end. Karim and Tim were dismissed for 2 and 1 run, respectively. Then, the real excitement began. Our all-rounder Sam came in to join Ayan. Both batsmen scored runs fantastically, hitting boundaries and building a great partnership of over 100 runs. Finally, Ayan was out after scoring 62 runs with 11 boundaries, and Sam followed shortly after, scoring 43 runs with 8 boundaries. The remaining batsmen fell quickly, and we ended with a score of 153 within 37 overs.

In the second half of the match, we started bowling with Pav and Nick. They delivered an excellent spell; Pav took wickets in his first over, and Nick did the same shortly after. The opposing team really collapsed due to Pav's spell, as he continued to take wickets in every over. Nana introduced our new bowler, Ash, who also started taking wickets in his overs. The match ended quickly, with the opposing team playing just 13 overs and fielding only 9 players due to a few injuries sustained during the match. Pav did an outstanding job, taking 4 wickets and giving away only 12 runs, and he also contributed to one run out. Nick took 1 wicket, and Ash claimed 2 wickets. It was a wonderful match with a victory margin of more than 100 runs. This was one of the best matches for the DIV 7 team this season.

Cheers, Muthu

MP Masters vs Ohoka @Mandeville (Win)

MPCC 127/9 beat Ohoka Originals 126/10 by 1 wicket at Manderville 5?

P.K. lost the toss and was asked to go out into the field, simply put, Pickle knocked the top off the order bowling Thompson for 2, Scott for 13 and Jones for 3 before being stonewalled by Sutherland and Keyes senior on his way to 8 on the trot 2 maidens 3/19. Mendis took a little tap, anything on leg getting put away and when Frankie broke through bowling Keyes (20) in his second over, Originals were 44/4 after 14. Hume took up the cause and was also successful in his second (the 19th of the innings), bowling J Prebble for 16, which meant Sutherland and C Prebble made it to the drinks break with Ohoka at 72/5. Kokiri and Hume continued after for a couple each and the established pair of batters building a partnership of 35 which was when the "Janitor" Kapralos claimed his first wicket, Sutherland, who was looking the goods up to this point, with an inexplicable cross bat lobbing an edge to Gilly, acting keeper, pouched for 31, 103 on the board. 23 runs later the innings was over, Prebble playing on for 20, Powell (7) finding SVG at mid-off, McLean stumped by Gill for 9 and a caught and bowled of Hallmark (0) by the captain to finish up proceedings. P.K. mopping up the innings 4.4/0/21/5, while Cartmell kept it quiet at the other end, 126 the total to defend.

MPCC didn't get off to the best start, losing Bell (2) in the third over, Howell inducing a leading edge to point and Keyes accepting of the chance. Then Hume was back in the next over for 1 adjudged LBW off the bowling of Prebble of the Craig variety. Cue Verma to hit out, blitzing out multiple boundaries dominating the 27 run partnership with Gill. Ben started sensibly but fell to Hallmark down the ground, caught by McLean for 5 MP stumbling to 37/3. Pickle in and living dangerously, advanced the score to 50 with Verma before R.V. playing down the wrong line had the off stick tipped back by Hallmark for 38. Things really went pear shaped at this stage, as Aitken (1) was run out in a massive misunderstanding with SVG, Price (1) was miraculously caught by Jones at slip one handed bowled by J Prebble, Cartmell picked out someone on the boundary off Hallmark for 4 and then Steve totally mishit a cut to Keyes at point, dejected and departing for 8 off J Prebble, leaving the scoreboard in complete shambles at 64/8. Time for a moonshot, bring in Mendis and Kokiri. Riding some luck and combining it with some really nice shots the pair made a mockery of the situation and seemed to be playing on a completely different pitch, rotating the strike and putting away the odd ball. 55 runs between them and pushing the score to 119 before the luck ran out for Mendis, playing Howell on for 33. A new set of fingernails to alleviate the nerves got us the final 8 runs courtesy of Kokiri's unbeaten 15 and Kapralos holding his composure to strike 5*, the winning run being a bye as the pressure proved too much for the Originals...

The swings and round-abouts on this one was almost too hard to take, so the fact we got away with it set a few on a bit of a buzz which I'm still hearing about and probably will continue to right up to the next game. Thanks for your hospitality Ohoka, always a pleasure to make the trip...

Cheers, Pickle

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs East Side Cricket Collective @ Garrick 2, (Loss)

The T20 guys had a 1-wicket loss, with POD going to Jaggi for his 35 and 3 wickets.

North West Youth Cricket Results

NWY 1st XI vs St Bedes (Win)

With a steady performance to start the season last weekend, the North West 1st Xi travelled to St Bedes college to take on the highly rated St Bedes 1st Xi in a match that would test everything we had. St Bedes being one of the stronger teams in the grade, would pose a huge challenge for us and yet we were looking forward to what awaited us. It is a huge ground at St Bedes, massive boundaries in every direction and slightly long grass meant that before we even thought about doing a toss, we could tell it was going to be low scoring. Jordan won the toss for the second week running, this time opting to bowl first, hoping to make the most of the green wicket we were presented with.

Dilan and Alex opened up with the new ball as St Bedes took the game to us early on with some aggressive stroke making, but the outfield and length of boundaries, pushing 70m in some directions, meant boundaries weren’t forthcoming. Alex had a tough chance grassed at short midwicket in his first over and a close lbw shout turned down in his second before he finally made a breakthrough in his third over, Aroon taking a superb catch low down to the ground at square leg, diving forwards. Alex was then rewarded for consistently hitting the same areas and with his prodigious outswing, he took the edge, with Jordan taking another brilliant catch, diving in front of slip to his right, clutching it above the ground. Alex finished out his first spell with 6ov 2-8. With the openers done, Jordan turned to spin and Zaak brought about immediate results, tempting the batsman down the crease and beating his edge, Jordan doing the rest as he whipped off the bails. St Bedes weren’t getting away, but were making things tough for us and we had to be patient. Aroon, playing in his capping game nabbed a wicket of his own, drifting across the batsman and taking the edge, with Jordan taking another brilliant catch with the gloves. The brilliant fielding work continued as Sam W came into the attack and Alex, doing the fielding this time, held onto a tough low catch in the gully as we finally removed their stubborn opener to make it 59-5. St Bedes then strung together their best partnership of the game as we started to leak a few runs and they crept towards 100. Needing wickets, Jordan turned back to Alex and threw the ball to George at the other end. Alex was instantly impactful as an outswinger took a leading edge and flew skyward, with Rory settling comfortably underneath it in the covers. George then went bang bang. After bowling back to back maidens, he hit the stumps with 2 deliveries in row, the first hitting off stump and the second middle, before the hatrick ball was well kept out. Alex then grabbed his 4th wicket as he sailed one past the edge and took off stump. 9 down and needing one for 5, he started bowling his 11th over and was tonked down the ground for 4, but just one ball later Alex had his man. Bowling wider, the ball was skyed towards mid off where Dilan took a great running catch and completed Alex’s 5 wicket haul. We had taken 5-10 to finish the innings and St Bedes had posted a niggly total of 101, but we had 56 overs to chase, so plenty of time.

It was Ollie and Jasper who opened up, facing 2 of the top schoolboy bowlers and did well to get us off to a great start. It was slow, but they began building well. Jasper opened our account in the third over with a slash over backward point for 4. Ollie was a little jumpy around the crease, but got himself going with a drive through point. The field was making it tough to score, but they were running well between the wickets and slowly the score started to creep up. Just when they were starting to look set, Ollie fell, chipping one to short cover as he tried to flay it through the offside and when Jordan lost his leg stump first ball, suddenly 102 was looking a long way away as we sat at 17-2. Kaden and Jasper began rebuilding and did a very good job as they blunted the attack, before finding ways to score. It wasn’t with boundaries as they were few and far between, but through singles and twos and though it wasn’t happening quickly, the two of them brought up the teams 50.  St Bedes turned to spin and that caused things to happen. Jasper holed out to cow corner from a dragged down delivery after getting away with a similar delivery the over before. Rory and Kaden put on another 15 together as the target came down, but when Rory failed to clear mid off and Kaden sliced one to backward point in the space of 15 balls, a win was looking a long way away with still 33 required and just 5 wickets in hand. Olly and Sam W started bringing that total down, one run at a time, before Sam found the perfect time to pick up two boundaries nicked through the slips and brought that total down more. Then, with the runs required at single digits, Sam was bowled off a good yorker, but he had done a great job in getting us close. Zaak was busy at the crease and picked up a couple 2’s with some less than conventional shots, before Olly put the finishing touches on a tough game, guiding one through the off side for a single.

Considering the opponents, this was a really good win for us and one that was hard fought, so an incredibly pleasing result as we moved to 2 wins to start the season.

St Bedes 1st Xi 101-10 43.3ov

Alex Guillemot 10.3ov 5-14 (5 maidens)

George Grayling 5ov 2-9

Aroon Deb 6ov 1-9

Sam Waddell 5ov 1-21

Zaak Zaman 11ov 1-32

North West 1st Xi 102-6 40.1ov

Jasper Welford 28 (64) 3x4

Kaden Fraser 24 (54) 1x4

Olly Upjohn 13* (40)

Sam Waddell 12 (31) 2x4

NWY 2nd XI vs Christ's College Development XI (Loss)

NWY 106 (R. Siddiqui 30)

CC 107/4 (B. Jorgensen 1/11; A. Mateen 1/14; S. Carrell 1/22)

NWY Colts vs STAC Colts (Loss)

STAC 288/8 (O. Calhoun 4/40)

NWY 263 (J. Straker 122 (86); L. Bond 39; S. Desai 20)

NWY 3rd XI Green vs NWY 3rd XI Black (Win)

NWY Black 137/9 (B Johnson 60; K. Johns 27) (G. Miles 2/32)

NWY Green 139/2 (A. Wijewardene 52; P. Williams 45) (W. Brown 4/27)

NWY 3rd XI Black vs NWY 3^rd XI Green (Loss – as above!)

NWY Year 10 vs Shirley Boys (Loss)

SBHS 222 (T. Ellis 2/35; M. Devanney 2/18; J. Quinn 2/42)

NWY 89

NWY Year 9A vs Christchurch Boys High (Loss)

CBHS 189/4 (S. Burrows 2/8)

NWY 65

NWY Year 9 Raiders (Loss by forfeit)