St Peter's get up in a thriller

St Peter's School clung on to the Dave Hoskin Trophy in a nail-biting finish to their Waikato Secondary Schools Division 1A cricket match against Cambridge High School.

Saturday's local derby was fiercely contested, with St Peter's prevailing by just one wicket and also taking out the Town Challenge Trophy, played for when the sides meet for the first time in the season.

Cambridge won the toss and batted first, but St Peter's opening bowler Brenden Flegg picked up two early wickets. That brought Nik Boyle to the crease and he raced to 50 from just 38 balls, before the introduction of left-arm spinner Jono Whitley brought about his demise.

Opener Pat Tomsett held the innings together with a patient 48 (115 balls) and most of the middle and lower order made contributions, before Cambridge were bowled out on the last ball of the innings for 207.

They started well in the field too, with Northern Spirit seamer Brooke Kirkbride striking first, before Shaun Wilkie picked up two more wickets to have St Peter's in trouble at 36-3.

But a shift in momentum saw Matthew Kilgour and Tim Seifert combine well to put on a 100-run partnership in good time.

Seifert was dismissed for 53 and his side were well placed at 143-4 in the 26th over, but Kilgour (50) and others followed, with Ross Laidlaw (3-44) proving effective.

Suddenly St Peter's were 186-9 and tailenders Tom Smith and Sam Pulis had huge pressure on them, but they managed to knock off the required 22 runs in the 49th over to seal a dramatic win.

With a round remaining St Peter's are assured of facing St Paul's Collegiate in the final, with St Paul's surviving some early scares to easily get past Matamata College by 131 runs.

After winning the toss St Paul's were 73-6 after 23 overs but they were rescued by Angus Harris (70) and James Chenery (67), who combined for a seventh-wicket partnership of 147, breaking the previous school record which had stood for a decade, and got St Paul's to 229.

Matamata were in similar trouble at 53-6, but no-one was able to rescue them, as they were dismissed for 98, with Chenery capping a fine all-round day with 3-12.

In the other match, Hamilton Boys' High School Development made a whopping 292-9 against Hillcrest High School, with Vihang Alawat top-scoring with 70 and Mitchell Sklenars making 50.

Seb Curry (5-70) was expensive but finished with a deserved five-wicket bag.

In reply Hillcrest never threatened and slumped to 159-8 before big hitting from Joel Farnworth and Curry got them to 225.

There were large margins of victory in the three Division 1B matches played at the weekend.

Top-of-the-table St John's College beat Melville High School by 180 runs, thanks to Sam Cooper (83), Jude Cooper (65) and Sam Pritchard (5-15).

This weekend St John's face Morrinsville College and that will decide the top spot, with Morrinsville second after their convincing 120-run win over St Peter's School 2nd XI.

Jason Thomasen took five wickets for St Peter's and Jeremy Rout did the same for Morrinsville. Te Awamutu College's Clayton Stewart racked up 97 not-out as his team destroyed Hamilton Boys' High School Emerging by 235 runs.

- © Fairfax NZ News