PNBHS Junior NZCT Cricket v Saint Andrew's College
Day 5 Friday 23 March 2018
PNBHS played what was to be a thrilling encounter on the final day of the National Cricket Tournament. Bowling first against Saint Andrew's of Canterbury, the boys began tightly before quickly unravelling. Tight bowling lines were replaced with width, combined with inconsistent lengths and the normally high standards in the field dropped with several costly fielding errors. The boys weren't helped by a contentious umpiring call, but for the first time appeared to lack the fortitude to overcome it. An incredible catch by Callum Kennett in the deep just before drinks reduced Saint Andrew's to 3-86 in the 19th over and seemed to inspire an improvement in the team. It was more hard toil for the boys after drinks, but improved attitudes meant that when the fourth wicket fell at 134, the boys pressed hard bowling Saint Andrew's out for 174. Best of the bowlers were Lochie Avery 3-26, Jonty Fleck 3-32 and Josh Campbell 2-25.
A day of making life tough for themselves continued as the boys found themselves 5/2, 12/3, 28/4 and 32/5 before a 40 run sixth wicket partnership got the boys somewhere near parity. But it was the 70 runs partnership for the seventh wicket that gave the boys a chance. When Angus Lyver fell for 27, the onus fell on skipper Curtis Heaphy. Curtis, who had dug the side out of a hole, gave the boys a massive chance, but his wicket at 156/8 for a well constructed 73 left the boys a little too much to do as an unlikely win fell just 7 runs short. The boys set to rue run outs, a costly theme of their tournament.
As the boys had played so well in their previous games and earned a healthy net run rate along the way, PNBHS took the title comfortably. A subdued presentation followed, but the boys should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved. To win six games back to back and compete hard in each is a testament to the character of the squad. There were a number of excellent individual performances in some strong team showings. This was the second time the school has won this National Tournament - the other being ten years ago in 2008.
A special mention to Curtis Heaphy, the PNBHS skipper named MVP of the Tournament for scoring 271 runs across the four games at an incredible average of 135.5.
