Overall the 1st XI cricket season of 2021 and 2022 was rather difficult as we did not go to the National Finals last December, and had all school exchanges and the Gillette qualifiers cancelled in Term 1.

However, there have also been many highlights and a lot of positives.

In January we had two exchanges with the first one against St Peter's School, Cambridge, which we won by 5 wickets in 25 overs. Logan McKay on debut made an excellent start to his cricket career, with 4 for 36.  In the second exchange, we won by over 150 runs over Auckland Grammar, with Chris Seel taking 5 wickets.

Prior to the school year beginning, it was an easy road getting through to the Super 8 final which was held in Gisborne.  On the first day, we took the win against Napier Boys' High School with 3 wickets to spare, chasing down 103 with Snehith Devireddy getting 4 for 13.  And again the following day, beating Palmerston North Boys' High School by 7 wickets, chasing down 151.  We went into the final against Tauranga Boys' College confident, but, unfortunately, failed to defend a solid score of 191.  A big thank you to Mr Miller, our fill-in manager, for his support in Gisborne.

In Term 1 red ball cricket this year we had a couple of close losses denying us a place higher up the table of the challenging Men's Premier competition. The highlights were, getting a first-innings win against Melville, Angus Henry scoring 129 against Old Boys', and our new import Sam Unternahrer taking 3 wickets in our final game against Marist.

The team trained hard in Term 3 and started the season by just missing the first T20 final of the Premier Hamilton Competition.  We then played in the Northern District Gillette Qualifiers.  In the first game, we had a solid win against newcomers Hauraki Plains with a number of team members contributing with bat and ball.  The team won through to the semi-finals, against St Peter's School, Cambridge.  After an outstanding opening spell from Ewald Schreuder and Chris Seel,we managed to bowl them all out for 77.  After losing 2 wickets in the first over, we chased it down comfortably in 16 overs for the loss of 4 wickets.  For the final, we travelled to Bay Oval to play Tauranga Boys' College.  After winning the toss and inserting Tauranga, our bowlers were not able to make any inroads into their batting lineup, and we allowed Tauranga to post over 250 runs.  Facing a big chase we started badly and were never really in the game.  Congratulations to Tauranga Boys' College, and good luck to them for the finals.

Alongside the 1st XI, there are 12 registered cricket teams in the school, showcasing the number of boys who want to play cricket, whether it be competitive or social.  Our Colts Red team, which was a mixture of Year 9s and 10s, won their competition defeating St Peter's Cambridge in the final.  A match highlight was Taine Grover scoring 98 not out.

Before I finish up on behalf of the boys, I would like to thank the Teacher in Charge of Cricket, Mr Dodunski, our new Manager Mr Lefson and coach Mr Kuggeleijn for all the hours, dedication, support, and advice they give us.  I know we don’t always get it right on the day, but that is cricket! We do, however, appreciate your guidance.