OBHS v SBHS Interschool
1st XI Cricket
The final inter school for 2019 took place on an immaculately presented Littlebourne this week. A chilly start did not detract from the excitement surrounding the game.
Winning the toss, the visitors opted to bowl first on a wicket block that has seen scores consistently above 220 all season. Openers Jacob Cumming (82) and Xavier Chisholm (41) showed Southland no mercy with a punishing opening partnership of 56 in just a dozen overs. The momentum was maintained by Tommy Wilson (28) and a whirlwind 48 not out from the in-form Charlie Marsh. The declaration was made with the total at 251/6.
Michael Ruske picked up an early wicket before Southland launched a counter-attack scoring at better than run-a-ball to bring up 50. A crucial bowling change brought immediate results with speedster Shaedon Miller (3/20) breaking the partnership and dismissing the next two batsmen without further addition to the score. The visitors were then faced with the daunting prospect of avoiding the follow on. The introduction of Xavier Chisholm's leg spin (4/39) and the return of Michael Ruske (3/22) meant that the visitors were dismissed for 136 with five minutes of play remaining on the first day.
SBHS were asked to bat for a second time and while they survived two overs on Monday evening a fast bowling onslaught on Tuesday saw wickets fall in rapid succession. Southland were dismissed for 65 with all of the OBHS bowlers contributing to the sustained pressure. The bowlers were well supported in the field with no catches dropped. In a great team effort Michael Ruske took 4/7 and Jacob Cumming 4/5.
A convincing win to OBHS by an innings and 50 runs.
Ken Rust
Colts Cricket
Winning the toss we elected to bat first in our ‘battle of the South’ two day fixture against Southland Boys'. Despite losing a wicket early, we made an encouraging start with Jack Small and Zac Cumming batting well. Jack was unfortunately dismissed for 49 and despite some solid batting by Tom O’Connor, Daniel Lawrence and Oliver Thode we ended up limping our way through to 210. While this was a highly respectable score, we really should have made more as at one stage we were 115-3. For this to happen, we really needed someone to kick on and make a big score. 210 however, would prove to be plenty for Southland Boys'. Southland lost regular wickets and were dismissed for 143. Bodhi Keiller was the pick of the bowlers with 2-22. Aided by a strong wind at his back, Bodhi bowled with real pace and hostility and was simply too quick for the Southland batsmen. William Thode also bowled extremely well to finish with the impressive figures of 3-18. Zac Cumming contributed by securing two wickets with his fast leg breaks. Tom O’Connor, Ben Turnbull and Jack Small also picked up a wicket each.
With a 66 run lead we rejigged the batting order to try and get quick runs. This was a success with the boys putting on an outstanding batting performance. Jack Small backed up his 49 with 32 and Tom O’Connor and Zac Cumming both made 50’s. By the time we declared the innings closed, we were 185-4 off only 32 overs.
Set a highly unlikely 266 for victory, Southland made a terrible start losing two quick wickets to be 20-2. Wickets continued to tumble but a solid 6th wicket partnership looked like securing the draw for Southland. With only another 17 overs to bat, captain Thomas O’Connor came on to bowl and immediately made things happen. Tom got two quick wickets and Southland were on the back foot. Thomas’s actions really lifted the boys and some great catches were then held, after dropping several earlier on in the innings. Thomas continued decimating the Southland lower order to finish with the excellent figures of 4-17. We eventually dismissed Southland for 153 for a 112 run win.
The team should be proud of its efforts. It is never easy winning a two day game outright and there were several times where Southland’s determination looked like it might prove too much. The boys never dropped their heads and showed that the future of OB’s cricket is in good heart.
Matthew Markham
Golf
The interschool golf was played in blustery conditions on the Otago Golf Club course. Otago Boys' had a very young team but they applied themselves very well and a 2-2 draw was a fair result of the days play. Lewis Harper narrowly missed out on winning his match with the result only being decided on the last hole. Joseph Hancock and Jack Kennelly had good wins and Willis McNaughton had a days play that gained him plenty of experience for the future.
Peter Odgers
Tennis
On Monday the OBHS senior and junior tennis teams played Southland Boys' High School in a traditional inter-school.
The OBHS senior team consisting of Angus Faulks, Axel Pekkari, Daiki Handa and Luka Mandich battled out a 4-2 victory and the junior squad of Ben Sinclair, Hamish Faulks, Robbie McCaw and Sam Sherburd overwhelmed their opponents 6-0. With all players contributing positively, this was a satisfying finish to the summer inter-school programme.
Andrew Swan