What a term it has been for the boy’s cricket team so far! The first official outing was the CJCA 9-a-side tournament which was held on the 6th & 7th of March at Hagley.

The first official match against Redcliffs saw Cobham amass a score of 196 for 2 wickets. Cobham won the match with captain Thomas Vesty leading the charge with an unbeaten 102 and well supported by Thomas Stewart with 54 not out. The next match was against St. Andrews where windy conditions restricted Cobham to 127 runs to defend. Flynn Holdem led the batting attack with 74 not out. St. Andrews reply came via Carter Rhodes who looked dangerous with the bat and ball, taking 5 wickets and looking very comfortable on 48 before he was caught by wicket-keeper Zac off medium-pacer Jaeger’s bowling. From there the game was in the balance with STAC needing 11 off the last two overs. Reliable pace-attack Jonty bowled a tight second-last over conceding only 2 runs off his over with 9 required off the last over. Flynn bowled a classic-one-for-the-history-books over to take 2 wickets finishing with 3 for 14 guiding Cobham to the quarterfinals.

This excellent real team effort continued throughout the remainder of the cricketing calendar. First against Christchurch South Intermediate on March 19 at Cobham grounds where South was skittled for 102 runs which we comfortably chased to win in the 12th over with 4 wickets in hand. The next fixture was back at Hagley held on the 25th of March and the challenge thrown by Chinallwood Intermediate was met by some superb batting bowling, and fielding display by the boys in red. The win included an excellent batting masterclass on full display from Flynn who led the run chase with an unbeaten 52 built upon a quickfire 14 ball 26 by Thomas V. Our winning streak was crudely put to an end in the finals against Medbury where the tired team struggled to chase 134 runs under the sweltering 28 degrees heat in the peak of the afternoon. A middle order collapse saw Cobham concede defeat to an in-form Medbury team. A special performance from spin bowler Patrick Watts who had earlier bowled a wicket-maiden was the pick of the bowlers.

All wasn’t lost yet as Cobham was given a second lease of life against the LCC cricket team to find a qualifier for the regionals in the National Year 7 and 8 Cup. This was to be held on Tuesday 9 April at the Sefton Domain. We travelled there and marveled at the beautiful grass pitch, something our boys were not accustomed to much as most of the matches we play are on artificial turf. The Cobham team was put into bat and we scored 114 losing just 4 wickets. An almost run-a-ball (30) from captain Thomas V and Flynn (38) whose innings included 4 boundaries was helped by a quick cameo of 18 by Patrick allowing the boys to post a defendable score. The boys in red showed outstanding class by dismissing all the LCC batsman by the 19th over. They scored only 50 out of which 21 were in the form of extras. An excellent runout on the very first ball set the pace for the remainder of the match. It was an excellent bowling display from one and all with Wyatt Frew being the most economical conceding just 2 runs and grabbing a wicket in his 2 over spell.

Since Medbury School won the Boys Christchurch Competition and Cobham Intermediate won the playoff with the Districts runner up versus North Loburn School from Canterbury Country, both teams have qualified for the CCA final Tournament to be held in Term 4.

In between all of this, the CAIMS Summer Tournament was also held on Tuesday 12 March at the Polo Grounds, South Hagley Park. Cobham went on to win this tournament after knocking out Casebrook Intermediate, Hillmorton and Kirkwood in the preliminary round and winning against Casebrook Black in the semis. Cobham then defeated Breens Intermediate in the finals.

Earlier, Cobham had also played host to St. Francis of Assisi in a friendly match of cricket to start the season off. This was an excellent start to the calendar year and was played in the right spirit.

Thanks to all the parents who volunteered with transportation and to those who came out to support the boys in red. A special thanks to Mr. Marty Price and Mr. Steve Morgan for accompanying the boys to Hagley when I was on camp.

It is safe to assume the future of New Zealand cricket is safe in the hands of these awesome young players! Mr. Sebastian John

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