1st X1 v King’s College
After a 6-month winter break, Cricket resumed for the 1st XI on Saturday, 21st October against King’s College, as Westlake began their defence of the Auckland Two-Day title. Ryan Quinn won the toss and chose to bat on a seemingly good batting track in overcast conditions. The lack of match practice was evident as the X1 got off to a slow start; 33-2 after 11 overs. Ryan Schierhout brought the game back and was playing superbly, racing to 36 off 34 deliveries before a smart catch at cover saw him walking back to the dressing room. After his dismissal, wickets fell at regular intervals and Westlake found themselves at 93-7 just after lunch. Jarrad Harford and Matthew Thornton did well to put on 50 runs for the 8th wicket but, like most of the team, weren’t able to convert their starts. Westlake ended on 162 all out after 52.2 overs.
The team knew they would have to bowl well to have any chance of securing first innings points. Despite some average bowling early on, they were able to take three early wickets and had the opposition 34-3 after 12 overs. However, King’s then gained some momentum and it was another 13 overs before Westlake secured their next scalp; Luke Ranson and Ryan Schierhout combining to complete a very impressive run out to dismiss the King’s captain, who was beginning to look very threatening. One more wicket fell before the close of play and Kings finished on 79/5. Pick of the Westlake bowlers was Jacob Waitai, with 2-14 in his 6 overs.
The game is still evenly poised, but Westlake know that these first innings points are very much there for the taking. A very interesting day two awaits us next week.
Colts 1 v St Peter’s College
Colts 1 won the toss and elected to bat first on a dull, grey and windy day at Wainoni Park. The batting opened well with Dylan Hamilton, who made some particularly strong hook shots, and Olly Chambers setting up the innings with a 73 run opening partnership. Once Olly was out, captain Tom Pleciak kept the momentum up with powerful driving straight and through the off side. When Dylan was out for an aggressive 52, BJ Jacobs marched to the crease and continued the rapid pace. Tom reached his first hundred off only 74 balls. Once he was out for 101, BJ took over and, with a series of sixes, also reached his maiden century in 97 balls in the last over. BJ was helped in the last few overs by Jesse Hohaia, who unselfishly fed the strike to him.
Facing Colts 1’s formidable score of 315/3 from their 45 overs, St Peter’s College played positively, but the task was too great and they were 78 runs short at the end of their innings. To cap a special day, BJ Jacobs was the most successful of the bowlers with 3/6.
Westlake: 315/3 BJ Jacobs 104 not out, Tom Pleciak 101, Dylan Hamilton 52
St Peters College: 237/7 BJ Jacobs 3/6
Win to Westlake by 78 runs.
Colts 2 v King’s College Colts 2
Playing at their home ground at Wainoni Park, Westlake Colts 2 bowled first against King’s College Colts 2. Westlake began well, with King’s 2 for 42 after 15 overs, but then several wides, dropped catches and poor bowling saw the King’s score climb, until they were eventually dismissed in the 44th over for 208. The bowling highlights were Cameron Gray, with 3 for 31, bowling well into the wind, and Jason Kay with 2 for 46.
Westlake began the run chase well with a solid opening partnership, where Samrath Singh dominated. Scoring at almost a run a ball, he was eventually dismissed for 47, caught on the boundary at deep square. At 15 overs Westlake was well positioned with 1 for 59. However, excellent bowling, loss of wickets and batters not looking for singles, saw Westlake bogged down and beginning to slip. At 30 overs, with the loss of Josh Samaraweera for 23, Westlake was in a precarious position at 4 for 120. The loss of a further four quick wickets saw them really in the deep end, at 8 for 132 in the 34th over.
There was then a dramatic turn around. Jake Scott’s left handedness threw the opposition and the quick running between the wickets by Jason Kay took Westlake to the win in the 44th over, when he smoked the ball to the boundary for 4 runs and an unbroken 9th wicket partnership of 88. Westlake had scored their runs at better than 8 runs an over. Jake Scott won player of the week, for his innings of 41 not out, a fine catch in the field and a ‘lucky’ wicket.
Win to Westlake by 2 wickets – 210 for 8 in the 44th over.