Just a quick wrap on the two games today which made up the Northern Districts ‘co ed’ finals of the Gillette Cup (20 / 20 stage) held in Hamilton today.
Firstly versus St Johns College (Hamilton).
Sent in to bat Mitchell Fairweather and Jack Preston started incredibly with an opening partnership of 71 (in just 7 overs!)
Jack fell on 37 and Mitch eventually on 56. Bill Burnett also had a strong innings (34 not out). We finished our 20 overs with 173.
Our bowling attack saw St Johns lose 4 wickets quickly in the first 5 overs for just 29 and it all looked like plain sailing, however some stiff middle order resistance got us all a little anxious,
until we finally got their two big hitters out and quickly mopped up the rest. Bill Burnett was our best bowler taking 3 for 23.
St Johns posted 150 all out in the 18th over, and we progressed to today’s final.
The final was against Strathallan from Karaka. Again we were put into bat. In a slower start we lost two early wickets before hitting our stride.
Mitch Fairweather again featured with a fine knock of 40, with Patrick Davenport contributing a quick 65 not out and good cameos from Bill Burnett (25), Tom Rutherford (21) and Daniel Price (27 not out) we
reached a very strong 201 for 5 off our 20 overs.
With assurances that they knew a score of this size was not insurmountable and that heads were in the right spaces the boys went out to defend this large score.
Taking an early wicket unfortunately was our undoing. Their # 3 batsman (Simon Lal) came to the crease and commenced a demolition of our bowling attack, hitting 10 sixes and 8 fours he batted right through the rest of the innings
and with moderate support from his team mates Strathallan surpassed our total for the loss of just 4 wickets in 18 overs !. 405 runs scored in 40 overs …. Stunning to watch but gut wrenching at the same time.
Down hearted and with some emotion the BC boys came off the field totally exhausted (physically and mentally) only to learn that we had in fact qualified for the next stage of the Gillette Cup thanks to being the top qualifying co ed school from the BOP.
So on 24th March we join Tauranga Boys, Hamilton Boys, St Peters, Whangerei Boys, Strathallan (and a couple of others) for a 4 day 50 over tournament, the winner progressing to the National final’s later in the year.
A huge step for Bethlehem College Cricket, being the first time in the Colleges history that we have reached this stage.
Thanks for your help today John, much appreciated
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