Collegiate scrape home in cricket

St Paul's Collegiate kept up their winning run and successfully defended the Dave Hoskin Trophy in the fourth round of the Waikato Secondary Schools Division 1A cricket competition on Saturday – but only just.

Matamata College won the toss and elected to bat on what looked a good wicket, but they were soon in trouble, losing two wickets in the second over, and were staring at defeat when 53-6 in the 17th over.

Mitchell Green knuckled down and got through to 75 and, with St Paul's conceding 44 extras, Matamata were able to post a respectable 171.

Jono Sullivan took three wickets for St Paul's and left-arm spinner Scott Joblin was again miserly with 1-21 from 10 overs.

The home side's chase started poorly and they were soon shaky at 12-3, until Rhys McCarthy (72) and Patrick Wilkins (46) put on 113 runs for the fourth wicket.

But four wickets fell for just eight runs and St Paul's were 139-8, before eventually getting home with two wickets to spare.

Hillcrest High School slumped to their third loss, going down by 68 runs to Cambridge High School.

Tight early bowling from Hillcrest's William Kokaua and Brendon Flegg had Cambridge under pressure, and Jono Feast was run out by a sharp piece of work from Seb Curry.

Patrick Tomsett and Nick Boyle then put on a massive 157 for the fourth wicket.

Tomsett went on to make 60 and Boyle plundered 17 fours and a six to reach 103, with Cambridge ending their 50 overs on 296-7.

Hillcrest were two down early in their chase but Andrew Fowke and Kokaua posted a 50-run partnership and kept their side ahead of the demanding run rate.

But Boyle ripped through Hill-crest's middle order, finishing with 4-49 from nine overs and Feast recorded an impressive 3-9 from eight overs.

Hillcrest produced a remarkable 65-run partnership for the last wicket thanks to Joel Farnworth's 61 from 39 balls, but were all out for 228 in the 40th over.

In the other Division 1A match St Peter's School had a crushing 164-run win over Hamilton Boys' High School Development.

For St Peter's Tim Seifert and Ben Kittlety scored half centuries and Ross Fitz-John took four wickets.

In Division 1B, Te Awamutu College comfortably accounted for St John's College in the top-of-the-table clash, with an eight-wicket victory.

Spinner Sunil Singh did the majority of the damage for Te Awamutu with 5-16 from 9.2 overs and Josh Gibson hit an unbeaten 43.

Melville Cricket Club recorded their first win and kept HBHS Emerging without a win with their six-wicket victory.

James Dale made an unbeaten 62 to see Melville home.

Morrinsville College beat Te Aroha College by 98 runs.

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