Zonta Awards last night.

Awarded to

Congratulations to Isaac Dunn who was awarded a highly recommended in the sports administration category at the Zonta Secondary Sports awards last night.

Cricket

On Thursday, 28 September, the 1st and 2nd Development Squads (made up of 27 of our students from Colts through to Year 13 students, Mr Boyle, myself, tour organiser Grant Bond and manager Mike Pentecost) departed Christchurch for a 9-day cricket development tour. Sunny Sydney was the destination and the aim was to prepare some of our most talented cricketers for the season ahead by playing college teams from Australia’s largest city. Conditions were perfect and pitches were good considering the time of the year.

St Ignatious’ College, a Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition, was our home for the tour. St Ignatious is located in the affluent suburb of Riverview and boasts breath-taking views over the city. It is home to 1,500 students, both boarding and day students. The campus is basked in 137 year-old tradition yet it includes all the modern trimmings and it was perfect as a base for our trip. Both the sporting facilities and the accommodation were outstanding. This allowed the team to bond over activities such as pool, table tennis and swimming in the indoor heated aquatic centre. The College also had superb dining facilities and the Chapel was very impressive.

The two squads played nine games over the nine days. The 1st XI Development team playing four matches against St Patricks (NSW), St Ignatious, Waverley College and Oak Hill College. The 2nd XI Development team played five matches, which included St Patricks Town (Wellington) and a Parramatta Cricket Academy. The rest of the days were spent honing skills across all disciplines of the game.

The sporting highlights for the 1st XI Development team were its batting performance against Waverley College and the bowling and fielding against Oak Hill College. The highlights for the 2nd XI Development team were the win in the final over against St Patricks Town (Wellington) at Rose Hill park and the two centuries scored by Dom Gardiner and Luke Gill against Waverley College’s 2nd XI development team. Off-field highlights of the tour included visiting the SCG (Sydney Cricket Ground) for a guided tour, attending the NRL Grand Final and the “7 Days” style comedy show put on by the students.

All of our students behaved superbly and a number of them achieved personal milestones (some of which are outlined below). A special mention to Cameron Jopson and Felix Bennie-Steel, the captains of the 1st and 2nd Development teams, who led their respective teams excellently throughout the tour.

1st XI 

• Friday SBC 184/10 vs St Patricks College (NSW) 250/4
  
• Wednesday SBC 183/4 vs St Ignatious’ College 179/10
  

Notable Performances by Matt Boyle 51* and Mitch van der Plas 2/25

• Thursday SBC 275/9 vs Waverley College 105/10
  

Notable Performances by Will Aynsley 81 and Matt Munro 4/28

• Friday SBC 174/10 vs Oak Hill College 83/10 and 117/12
  

Notable Performances by Joe Bradley 61

Development XI

• Friday SBC 231/10 vs St Patricks College (NSW) 2nd XI 192/10
  

Notable Performances by Dom Brankin 52 & 3/14 and Elliott Beattie 3/13

• Monday SBC 136/9 vs St Patricks College town 2nd XI(WNG) 131/11
  

Notable Performances by Dom Gardiner 54 and Alec Pentecost 3/16

• Wednesday SBC 165/10 vs St Ignatious’ College 2nd XI 187/9
  

• Thursday 468/9 vs Waverley College 2nd XI 91/12
  

Notable Performances by Luke Gill 100, Dominic Gardiner 108 and Alec Pentecost 51

• Friday 231/10 vs Parramatta Academy (Under 15’s) 130/7
  

Notable Performances by Felix Bennie-Steel 51

See photo below of the teams on tour.

By Mr Nathan Wooding (Teacher)