Back to red-ball cricket for our morning grade sides, but work to do after disappointing Day 1s. Victories for Div 4, Div 7 and Masters, but less good days for Div 6 and our T20 side. A significant personal achievement to mark this week, and one that doesn't get knocked off every season! Read on below...

MPCC's first grade win of 2024/25

Huge congratulations to our Div 4 Doon Tigers, who finished top of the Division 4 grade after the completion of the round robin stages and thus claimed the Div 4 title. The Doon Tigers are a mix of some former T20 players for the club and some new recruits and have put up consistent strong results all season!

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 BBS Timber Div 7 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 Leo Spilsbury, who became the first MPCC player in four seasons to reach the 50-wicket season's tally for the club. Leo's 4-40 for the Sporting Edge Championship side vs East Shirley took him to 53 wickets this season, with another five weeks to try to break into the top 20 club season's returns of all time.

Congratulations to Burger Station Div 2 Black bowler, Dave Monger, who took 6-37 in the first innings of his team's game against Riccarton.

Congratulations to Masters all-rounder Shane Browne, whose 5/32 plus 33 with the bat drove his side to a good win a good win over Sydenham.

Congratulations to fellow Masters player Andrew Zwies, who scored 53* in the same fixture.

Congratulations also to Simon Bell, who added 51 to the Masters total in a good team performance.

Congratulations to Div 4 player Bharat Sarpal, who scored his first half-century of the season (57) vs OBC to help his side to a win after a large run-chase that confirmed his team's grade win.

Congratulations to North West Youth 1st XI bowler, Alex Guillemot whose 6-19 vs Shirley helped his side to another good win and claimed his second successive 5-wicket bag.

Congratulations to North West Youth Colts bowler Alexander White, who took 5/33 in his teams defeat against Christchurch Boys High.

Congratulations to North West Youth Colts batter Shan Desai, who scored 55 in the same game.

Congratulations to North West Youth 3rd XI Green batter, Lucas Roan, who hit 88 against Riccarton High in his team's victory.

Match Reports from Saturday 22nd February

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs East Shirley @ Burwood 1 (2-day - Day 1)

After a thrilling white ball season, it was back to the red ball, 2-day games for the boys. First up was East Shirley at Burwood Park number 1 and with previous games in mind we knew that the toss was going to play an important part in the game’s progression. Matt Ling unfortunately lost the toss and with East Shirley opting to bat first we knew we had to put in the hard work to consistently take wickets. We were able to get off to a very good start by keeping the scoring down to a minimum with Leo getting the first breakthrough in the 9th over for only 18 runs on the board. Harry kept it tight from the other end and struck twice in the 14th over leaving East Shirley on 3/30 after 14. Wickets kept falling at regular intervals that left East Shirley 5/59 after 27 overs, which was great going until then. What seemed to be a bit of a lull soon fell over the boys; energies dropped, there were a couple of dropped catches, bowlers missed their marks and East Shirley were able to inject 65 runs into their total without losing any wickets before Sammy G got a double breakthrough 2 balls in a row. We managed to dismiss the side for 148. 

With a quickly deteriorating pitch it was evident that this run chase was not going to be a straightforward one. Matt and Wez opened the batting for MP, with Matt falling victim to Rory’s trigger finger in the third over. Wez forgot he was actually playing red ball cricket and played in his normal aggressive style for a quick fire 26 before getting caught in the covers leaving MP on 2/37 after 8 overs. Harry came to the crease and knuckled down as he has done many times this season and while wickets fell around him, he continued to accumulate runs for a well-played 40. By this time East Shirley had put their spinners on and with the dustbowl pitch were getting the ball to spin a lot creating multiple chances and taking everyone by a master show in catching, proving that catches win matches. Rory and Leo chipped in with 19 and 16 respectively but that left MP all out for a meagre 138 in the 36th over. 

This meant that MP were back into the field for another 13 overs before the end of play and after a pretty shameful performance needed to lift their game to get the job done. 13 overs bowled, 18 runs off the bat, 12 extras (need I say more?). Not exactly what we hoped for but MP did manage to take 2 wickets so there is some light at the end of the tunnel. This Saturday’s set for resumption, it will be vital that the boys show up with a bit more pep in their step and a bit more fire in their rears and show East Shirley what we are really made of. Special mention to Leo on taking his 50th wicket for the season. Congratulations.

Wez Masterton

MP Sporting Edge Div. 2 Red vs Heathcote @ Edgar Mac 1 (Two Day – Day 1)

Div 2 red were back into the red ball stuff on Saturday, proper cricket, as some might say. The wicket was looking fresh, a great job done by Dakesy on the number 1 as usual. Heathcote called wrong and we chose to bat first. Tom Music & Shane opened up, Shane being the first to fall just as he was looking to accelerate, but the opening bowlers had been navigated, 37/1 after 15 or so overs giving us a good platform to score from. Caleb's return was swift, dismissed for 2. Sloaney and Tom then navigated us to the drinks break and well beyond, until Tom was made for his highest club score to date of 48, falling just short of an elusive club 50, but a good partnership of around 60 with Sloaney had us in a good position. With 10 overs to go, Sloaney set in the middle and us only being three down, we thought we were in with a shot of posting something really competitive. Heathcote's slow bowlers had other ideas though. Both Marsyle and Nouman bowling very well in the later stages, the latter ending up with figures of 7/35 in 8 overs to dismantle our middle and lower order. Sloaney's 34 the only other double-digit contribution, along with Shane and Tom. In the end we ended up all out for 138 - which we felt was a 50 or so short on a good wicket with little movement for the bowlers.

Russell Chapman and Beattie opened up, Russell being especially meagre in his offerings to Heathcote, bowling four consecutive maidens. Heathcote losing ex-MP player Jibin for 15 in the 12th over courtesy of a Russ LBW. George was eager for a long spell in the red ball stuff, started off a little loose but got us the second wicket in the 17th over with Heathcote 60/2. Russ still going strong, with a couple of dropped catches off his bowling rolling back the years to bowl 12 on the trot, with figures of 1/23, another day could have easily seen 3-4 wickets in the column for Russ. George picked up the third wicket in the 22nd to bring the drinks break with Heathcote 80/3 looking to accelerate, a very similar position to us. Alex MacLennan picked up the crucial wicket of Shannon Stone for a well made 42 (benefiting from a couple of dropped catches along the way) now 94/4. Heathcote put themselves in a bit of a hole from here, scoring only 25 more in the next 12 or so overs. Now at 109 after 35, looking to accelerate for the last 10. Beattie came back to take 4 wickets in four consecutive overs of his spell, but Heathcote ended up just getting ahead in the first innings and have a lead of 9 going into day 2. A pretty good bowling display to restrict Heathcote to a 9-run lead on a good track, some long spells for the bowlers (Russ 12, George 16) putting the squeeze on and keeping it tight for next week. 

Beattie 4/36 off 12 

Chapman 1/23 off 12 

Devine 2/60 off 16 

MacLennan 1/19 off 5

Mike Beattie

MP Burger Station Div 2 Black vs Riccarton @ Bishopdale (Two Day - Day 1)

What a week ,trying to find 11 players to play cricket!!!! Much appreciation must go to Glen Bellam and Michael Beattie for getting us a team. Playing Riccarton at "the Dale"' the first day of our final 3 2-dayers for the year. 3rd week in a row that the opposition captain has called wrong, and they were asked to bowl. Let's just say that we lacked patience and technical finese to be 20 odd for 6 plus Josiah retired hurt with another torn quad muscle before a little partnership between Dave Monger and Glen Bellam got us through to drinks with Dave's wicket causing drinks to be taken early. After drinks Josiah did return to the crease and with Glen, took us thru to 83 before Glen (well made 35ish), Jack and Reyvanth (very young fill in) all were out on that score, leaving Josiah 17* ( sorry Dad, but another game we didn't bat out our overs). 

Quick change of innings and Dave was soon opening up from the "highway end". First 3 balls all went for 4s, not quite what the skipper was hoping for. But good old Dave didn't give up and kept "steaming" in. Fortunately for us it was Dave's day. He bowled 10 overs on the trot and picked up 4 wickets with young Jack, who had already completed his goal of not being bowled (while batting), who chimed in with a couple, and Jase S making another for his MP Stat sheet. Riccarton on 50-odd. Unfortunately, Riccarton had two young players who started to get the pace of the pitch, and even with the pitch's curator (Craig D) bowling a couple of overs we didn't manage another breakthrough before they passed our score. Fortunately, the drinks break came for us with Riccarton 127/7. Not sure what Dave drank, but upon being thrown the ball to have another crack for his 5-ver, Dave snared a further 2 wickets, one being a screamer at square leg by the youthful Ross Hastings (who didn't want to be fielding as he was trying to watch his daughter Kate bat in her game (on his phone). Himanshu cleaned up the last wicket, Riccarton all out for 131. Good wee fight back. 

Still daylight and overs still needed to be bowled before our 6pm curfew. Pitch curator and I took on the responsibility of seeing the last half hour out. Unfortunately, one of Riccarton's young student fill-ins (who had picked up 3 wickets for not many in the 1st dig with his pace) snuck through the defences of both the curator and invalid Josiah before Mr Bellam called time at 6pm. MP ended the day 23/2. 

Interesting day next week, and more interesting to know who's available!!!!. Player of the Day , Dave Monger for his 6 wickets hall (12 overs, 6-37). 

Ps: it was really good to catch up briefly with Ross Groves as he was passing by the ground. Also, it was a real pleasure seeing Ray and Chris out and about visiting our games again. Take care Ross and Ray in your upcoming "adventures ". 

Darren

MP Div 4 vs OBC @Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

Doon Tigers were against OBC at our home ground. We won the toss and put OBC to bat first. As we had lot of experience of this ground, being our home ground, there was no hesitation in opting to ball first. 

We started well and got 2 wickets in the first few overs. It was a grass pitch but everyone played well although we leaked a few extra runs which resulted in OBC crossing the 200 mark. 

The target for us was 203, but thanks to the practice game which we played here, where we chased 270, we were confident that we would chase this total. Suraj and Akki opened the batting and Suraj put the opposition under pressure from ball 1. He smashed 18 runs in the 1st over hitting, 1 six and 3 fours. The 2nd over again went for a similar result. Even the opposition were surprised to see such hard hitting from ball 1. Suraj got out early on 36, hitting 2 sixes and 6 fours. Bharat hit his first maiden 50 of the season with a score of 57. Overall it was a good team effort where everyone contributed and we chased the total with 2 wickets to spare. We will be facing the same team next week for the EV knockout championship for 3rd and 4th place. Looking forward to the game.

Abhinav Jaswal

MP Div 6 Panthers vs Hornby @Denton 2 (Loss)

The Panthers played Hornby Hawks at Denton Park this week. On a hot day the Hornby captain won the toss and surprisingly decided to field first. Steve and Dean opened the batting and faced some sharp accurate bowling. While runs off the bat were scarce, the Panthers benefited from a generous helping of extras, with byes piling up on the scoreboard. Dean was the first to fall, dismissed for a duck, while Steve (6) and Max (2) took the shine off the ball before departing. The innings then took a dramatic turn as Sunny and Glen stepped up, injecting much-needed aggression into the Panthers' batting. Their partnership was marked by bold strokeplay and sharp running between the wickets, but it came to an abrupt end when Sunny was run out by a direct hit on 21. Glen followed shortly after, dismissed for 27 just before the drinks break. The Panthers' lower order struggled to build momentum after the interval. Andy R, Joel, and Andy A contributed little to the total, leaving it to Isuka, Roger, and Charan to scrape the team to a modest 134 in the 40th over.

Defending a below-par total, the Panthers knew they needed early breakthroughs to stay in the game. Andy A delivered just that, striking with an LBW in the third ball of the innings. However, the Hawks' batters found scoring relatively easy, and it wasn’t until Andy A’s fourth over—where he claimed two wickets in consecutive balls—that the Panthers regained a glimmer of hope. Both dismissals came from deliveries that popped unpredictably off a length, showcasing the pitch's tricky nature. Masood, bowling with his trademark precision, kept the pressure on at one end, while Andy A completed an eight-over spell, finishing with four wickets. In a bold tactical move, Andy R was brought into the attack to exploit the footmarks, but the gamble didn’t pay off. Max then stepped up, taking two crucial wickets—one courtesy of a spectacular running catch by Steve at mid-on, and the other a stunning one-handed grab off his own bowling that drew comparisons to basketball legend Michael Jordan. Isuka and Steve also chipped in with a wicket each, keeping the Panthers' hopes alive. However, the Hornby Hawks held their nerve, reaching the target with five overs to spare and two wickets remaining. Despite the loss, the Panthers can take pride in their fielding effort, which included five outstanding catches. The presence of several former senior players in the Hornby lineup also highlighted the quality of the opposition. Onwards and upwards for next week.

Andy Anderson

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

BBS Timbers Div 7 took on The Southbrook Warriors. Nana won the toss and we elected to bat on a grass pitch that we had played the week prior and knowing a couple of people were turning up later we decided that Nana and Liam would open the batting. Liam is new to the team and wanted to gives his all. He wanted to bat. (he did in my opinion look like the most unorthodox opening batter I've ever seen, but it worked). We had a stand of 48ish until I (Nana) as the week before didn’t learn of the popping ball and fell for 32. That brought Tim in, Liam didn’t last much longer and fell for 13ish. In came Muthu and got a wee partnership under way with Tim guiding balls while Muthu tried to hit hard. Muthu out caught for a nice 20-odd. Kieran, Ayan, Ravi and Karim came and went for single scores, Tim out bowled for a nice 20, in came Sam, Pav and David and between them added 25ish. We were bowled out in the 39th over on 155. 

Pav opened the bowling alongside Barrell after last week’s success. He was rewarded with a tight start, claiming the opener in the fourth over. But it was Barrell who stole the show, taking the wickets of batters #2, 3, and 4. He bowled eight straight overs, finishing with an impressive 3/24, including their two key wickets before they could settle. Ravi and Tim took over at the "spinners" end, both keeping runs in check aside from a couple of rank full tosses from Tim that were rightly dispatched to the boundary. Frosty was introduced at the "seamers" end but was taken off midway through his overs after struggling with consistency. Meanwhile, a dangerous partnership formed, threatening to shift the game. Tim struck a crucial blow at 5/117 (31), halting their momentum. With 39 needed off 9 overs and 5 wickets in hand, the Warriors seemed in control—until Kieran entered the fray. Despite missing a few weeks to "impress" the new girlfriend, he showed no rust. Kieran and Frosty (returning for redemption) combined brilliantly, taking 4/23 from 9 overs to seal a 16-run win. Kieran ended with 2/10 (5) and Frosty bounced back with 2/31 (8). 

Early breakthroughs, tight middle overs, and a strong finish summed up another quality performance. Merivale continues to topple the competition heavyweights, having now defeated 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in consecutive weeks. Next up: 4th-placed Wanderers. 

Cheers, Nana

MP Masters vs Sydenham @Barrington Park (Win)

MPCC Masters 181/5 beat Sydenham Hospital 160/10 at Barrington Park. 

This was a game that was seemingly planned out over a few pints at the local, plans that were solid while allowing for flexibility, which our wonderful choice of pastime invariably requires. The umming and erring started at the toss, P.K. calling correctly and running to the committee to ensure we were all on the same page (which I'm positive ending up in seven different views being aired and then ignored). Batting first was the result on a pitch that certainly didn't look particularly inviting for the batsmen, but had a feeling it wouldn't get any better and possibly turn to custard later on. 

Verma and Bell as per usual, opening up to combat Rahul and Jim, a circumspect first over with Verma not blazing, was he learning to respect the good ball? Second over, third ball in, back to usual transmission: boundary four, boundary six then playing on charging the fifth delivery, the ball from Jim just touching the base of the stumps, but bail off is out so welcome back to the sideline Rakesh 11 off 9, 13/1. Hume to join Bell, game started to turn into a bit of an attritional fest, Hospital tightening up the lines and making it very difficult to hit off the block, the odd boundary, a plethora of doubles and singles and a lot of dots dominating the first twenty overs. A bright spark in the fourteenth for Sydenham when the clearly frustrated Hume hit out only as far as Tristan fielding quite straight on the boundary, picking him out precisely for 13 (39), Jim collecting his second wicket. Zwies and Bell pushed on to the inning break hanging tough with MPCC 66/2. For once we didn't really have a curse of drinks as the pair knuckled back down against Hampton and Pettit. Simon was first to make a milestone bringing up a handsome half century then promptly falling for 51 (76) pulling Pettit to Crawford at square, team score 95/3 partway through the 28th. With run rate not particularly emphatic, Pickle was promoted to get things moving and with Zwies started to get it going in the right direction, overs of 4 then 6 then 8, triples being run before the introduction of Bruce Day bought this resurgence to an end SVG walking on a ripper 8 (10), 115/4. Blueprint updated, Browne continued the plan but is able to hit the ball a little harder than the preceding batter, was able to hit boundaries through fielders (dropped three times at current count) as the pair added 59 in 8.2 overs, Zwies continuing his good form to pass 50 for the second time in as many matches, Browne getting to 33 (27) before skying a return catch to Rahul in the final over. Gill coming in for the last few balls accompanied Zwies to the close of play, Gill 5* (3) and Andy solid at 53* (76), MPCC putting on 181 which we thought was well and truly in the ballpark of good scores. Jim 8/0/25/2, other wickets shared around. 

Second innings McKinlay and Suddaby opening up for Hospital, Richard seeing out the first maiden of the match from SVG before getting into his work. Sydenham progressing to 20 after 5.5 before Tim (7) turning blind, tried to take on Pickles arm for a second bye but was found short with Gill whipping off the bails before the batter could make his ground. Wrik replacing Tim, helped McKinlay get the team score to 45, when Mendis got through the defenses bowling him for 5. A chance put down gave Richard his only life but demonstrated a constant vigilance was required to make the most of the surface, a chance he took with both hands. When he and Tristan got together, they threatened to take away our options, playing responsibly putting away the odd bad ball and turning the strike over. Much like our own innings, the third wicket partnership consolidated well against the combined efforts of Cartmell and Kokiri, passing the innings break and taking a good chunk out of the target before the Browne factor was engaged. Initially Shane was a little loose and paid the price, Pettit being particularly brutal through point, but biding his time Browne struck in his third, broadsiding Tristan's stumps for 40, Hospital 118/3. Disaster struck in the same over when Bruce (coming off tournament and clocking a ton of fielding minutes) didn't judge a quick single well, hit to Hume at midwicket who fired in over the stumps for Browne to collect and effect the run out, Day unable to get off the mark, 118/4. A couple of middling partnerships, 19 between McKinlay and Bunz, broken by the Browne/Gill connection, Richard finally going down after a slick piece of glovework by the keep stumping him for 74. This was followed up with a 20-run stint between Bunz and Crawford, Browne again providing the right ball at the right time ripping through Mark for 14. Rahul in, Rahul out, Gill collecting a diving catch, P.K rewarded for persistence at the crease. A double strike in the next over, Browne accounting for Bunz, caught by Gill for 13 and trapping Gilling in front, Browne reward for his 8 on the trot being 8/0/32/5. Next over lasting only the one ball, Hampton (1) walking past P.K. and not bothering to return after hearing the bails being removed, Gill in great position for his second stumping. Match ending at 160/10 in the fortieth, but Sydenham in it right up to the 37th, pressure told with an all-round gutsy effort in the field from our lads. An amical get together around chilly bins dissecting the game and a group photo, set us up for the night, with promises made for next time we meet (in about five weeks or so). 

Cheers, Pickle.

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs Parklands @ Parklands (Loss)

Our guys put on 122/6 from their overs, which Parklands chased down for the loss of 5 wickets in the 18th over. Jay Patel took 3-35 to follow up his 28 with the bat.

North West Youth Cricket Results

NWY 1st XI vs Shirley Boys (Win)

With a couple very solid wins under our belt to start the 2025 campaign, we looked to go again. This week the North West 1st Xi were drawn against another of the higly fancied sides in Shirley Boys High 1st Xi, who had been playing a lot of really good cricket of late. With glorious sunshine overhead, Jordan lost his first toss for the season and we were inserted to bat on a brand new deck that looked brilliant, but until we actually began batting on it, we couldn't be sure of how it would play.

Jasper and Ollie opened up together once more and they started with positive intent, running hard to pick up singles, before a piece of luck fell our way as Jasper top edged a pull over fine leg for 6. Never mind that the ball never crossed the rope as the fielder settled under it to take the catch, the ball struck an overhanging tree branch and he was awarded 6 runs. They were looking so calm and steady in the middle together, completely untroubled, before a beautiful delivery did away with Jasper's edge. Ollie and Jordan built together for a while, Ollie in particular was looking in great touch and the pair were running really well between the wickets, until a misuced full toss saw the end of Ollie. Now in a bit of bother, Kaden had to help Jordan rebuild, both getting starts, but when Kaden fell, trying to take the spinner down the ground, it trigged a collapse of epic proportions. From 61/2 Kaden, Rory and Olly all fell before the score reached 70. Then when Sam W and Dilan fell in the space of 4 balls, Jordan was left batting with the lower end as we desperately tried to post any total we could while being 79/7. Zaak was the perfect partner for Jordan as while the latter was the aggressor. He blugeoned a couple of boundaries, including a huge 6 down the ground and they brought up our 100 together and we were starting to hope. How many could we get, what would be enough to help us compete? Of course, as soon as those thoughts started entering the mind, things took a turn. Jordan was bowled back through the gate by a brilliant spinning delivery, and when Alex went similarly first ball we were sitting ugly at 103-9, a collapes of 7-42.

That was when things started to turn. With us 9 down, all the fielders crept in to try and take the last wicket, but Zaak and George, they had different ideas. They set about blunting the attack, waiting for their bad balls and punishing them. With each over they batted, the score ticked upwards and they began looking in more and more control. Zaak hit 3 boundaries, smashing the short ones off the spinner, before playing a gorgeous flick off the legs. George was even more aggressive, hitting 5 boundaries, all around the ground taking the attack to the bowling, pulling out a slog sweep over cow, missing out on 6 by less than half a metre. They were brilliant, then finally Shirley began to push the fielders out as they kept scoring freely and just like that, the score reached 150. Finally, the partnership was broken, George caught at square leg, but he and Zaak had put on 48 off 74 balls for the last wicket and gotten us back on even playing terms. 

Knowing we had a competitive total, it gave us added enthusiam to start the innings and Dilan was right on the money from the start. Alex, fresh of his heroics last week with the ball was just as tight. Dilan found himself unlucky not to pick a wicket up early as he was denied an extremely close lbw shout and Alex had a chance put down at point, before an edge flew over the cordon. Nothing went our way early but they were tight as always, Dilan conceding just 6 off his first 6 overs. In his last Alex picked up his first for the game as he found the edge and it was snaffled behind the stumps. 2 balls later and he found the edge again, though this time it would go down leaving Shirley at 18-1 off 12. George and Zaak came on as Shirley looked to pick up the rate, but Zaak ripped a few past the edge to keep them in check and drinks was called at 30-1 off 17. Runs seemed to start flowing after drinks and Zaak bowled a rank full toss which was depatched for 6 as their opener was starting to look dangerous. Yet two balls later, a brilliant piece of work by Kaden at mid off, who dove desparingly to his left to stop the ball, then jumped to his feet and threw the ball in to Zaak who completed the run out. Sam W had their #4 dropped on 0, one of their best bats and it was starting to look costly as he plundered 6 bounadries in no time at all, 4 in an over off Sam W, who did manage to pick up his wicket in the same over, but it looked like a lot of damage was done at 74-3. Aroon replaced Zaak and had a couple edges fly through the vacant cordon, before he picked up a wicket of a rank half tracker to which he couldn't believe was spooned to point. Sam finished out his 6 overs without any more rewards and Jasper, who had taken the captaincy from Jordan who was off with a niggle, went back to Alex and it proved a brilliant tactic as he found the edge immediately, Sam snaffling a brilliant catch low to his right, just off the ground. Aroon bounced out another as we started to climb in ascendency and when Alex pinned their set batsman in front in the last over before drinks, we had taken 3-2 in 8 balls to take Shirley from 94-4 to 96-7 and it was our drinks that tasted all the sweeter. Plenty of runs to play with and still 19 overs to bowl to take the last 3 wickets. Dilan came back to replace Aroon and for the second and then 3rd times he had extremely close LBW's denied, sometimes things dont go your way.

Sometimes they do.

Alex found another edge and Sam took a spectacular catch, throwing himself aerially to his right, snatching the ball out of the air with a superb effort and Alex suddenly had 4 to his name again. Dilan beat the bat 6 times in a row in the next over as we closed in on the win and took another step forwards when Alex threw up an off cutter, decieving the batsman and hitting leg stump, giving him back to back 5 wicket hauls. As Shirley batted for the draw, having to survive 15 overs, who else would it be, but Alex. Kaden rushing forward at mid on and throwing himself forwards, diving through the air, he got his hands underneath the ball, giving us an incredible victory from a point where we shouldnt have been in the game.

George and Zaak put on a brilliant partnership to get us back into the game after we struggled to put a score up early, and then after keeping them quiet early, we were able to make a lot of quick breakthroughs throughout the latter half of the innings, spearheaded once again by Alex who bowled an insane second spell of 5.2ov 5-7 to finish with 6-19, taking his tally to 14 for the season in just 3 games. 3 from 3 to start the season, can't ask for more than that.

North West 1st Xi 151-10 46.1ov

Jordan Sim 39 (81) 4x4 1x6

George Grayling 28 (32) 5x4

Zaak Zaman 19* (47) 3x4

Shirley Boys 1st Xi 106-10 41.2ov

Alex Gulliemot 11.2ov 6-19

Aroon Deb 4ov 2-8

Sam W 6ov 1-25

NWY 2nd XI vs Ashburton College (Win)

NWY 226 (B. Liyana Waduge 49; L. Kerr 42; S. Carrell 41)

Ashburton 94 (L. Kerr 4/15; R. McKinnon 2/19; S. Carrell 2/33)

NWY Colts vs CBHS Black (Loss)

CBHS 225/8 (A. White 5/33; A. de Bock; 2/39; O. Calhoun 1/18)

NWY 162 (S. Desai 55; A. Perera 27; M. Haroon 24)

NWY 3rd XI Green vs Riccarton (Win)

NWY Green 230/6 (L. Roan 88; W. Brown 36; D. Walker 30)

Riccarton 203/8 (E. Findlay 2/10; W. Brown 2/44)

NWY 3rd XI Black vs Ashburton College 2nd XI (Loss)

Ashburton 136/9 (B. Johnson 3/15; O. Grace 2/16)

NWY Black 82/9 (K. Johns 20)

NWY Year 10 vs Rolleston College (Loss)

NWY 71

Rolleston 72/5 (M. Davanney 3/28; A. Herring 2/18)

NWY Year 9A vs Christ's College (Loss)

CC 198/9 (H. Innes 4/16)

NWY 103 (H. Innes 45)

NWY Year 9 Raiders (Loss by forfeit)

Article added: Wednesday 26 February 2025