Schoolboys close on semifinal spot
Palmerston North Boys’ High School have marched into a potential semifinal spot with a six-wicket win over Palmerston.
Boys’ High, who are competing at the national secondary schools finals in Christchurch this week, beat Palmerston at Manawaroa Park on Saturday to stay in third place with a round to go before the semifinal.
Marist are 21⁄2 points behind in fourth. The top-placed team qualifies for the final automatically, while second and third play the semifinal to decide who goes to the final.
The schoolboys bowled Palmerston out for 151 with a ball to spare in their match, then reached 152-4 in 44.3 overs.
Rob Sheary’s 37 was the best effort with the bat for Palmerston, and he and Corey Perrett (27) rescued them from 14-3.
But after those two were out, there weren’t any major contributions.
The Boys’ High bowlers shared the load as Levi Woolston, Fin Martin, Scott Davidson, Thomas Kirk and Bryn Wilson all took two wickets each.
Then in Boys’ High’s chase, they lost an early wicket before opener Rishabh De and No 3 Curtis Heaphy knocked off most of the runs.
De was out for 50 and Heaphy 35, while Wilson added 23. There were 27 extras. Russell Swindells took 2-22 for Palmerston.
United beat Old Boys by 92 runs at Manawaroa Park on Sunday to put the two teams joint on top of the table.
United were bowled out for 215 in the penultimate over, then dismissed Old Boys for 123 in 34.3 overs.
United’s first-innings total was built on Hayden Hill’s 73 at No 4, after opener Tom O’connor had scored 22.
There were three runouts, but then the United tail chipped in to get the score over 200.
James Guild-inder scored 22 at No 8.
Henry Boon took 3-33 opening the bowling and paceman Nick Stachurski picked up 2-36, while spinner Brynn Cleaver took 2-37. In reply, Old Boys didn’t fire with the bat and the top score was 23 not out from Jayden Richards at No 6.
Opener Robbie Laird scored 21 and Stachurski struck 21 from 14 balls at No 11, but no-one else scored above 12.
Experienced seamer Cam Harris took 3-25 early on, then Jack Harris, Hayden Hill and Nathan Hill all took two wickets apiece to dismiss Old Boys well short.
Marist stayed in the hunt too with a six-wicket win over
Freyberg.
Marist rolled Freyberg for just 119, with Floyd na Nagara taking three wickets, Connor Morriss four, spinner Nic Carter one and there was a runout too.
Marist then made short work of chasing it down, mindful of the dark clouds rolling in.
Dylan Gaskin hit 61 not out from 38 balls as they reached the target in 15 overs.
Na Nagara scored 28. Boys’ High lost on the opening day of the national secondary schools championships by five wickets against King’s College from Auckland.
Boys’ High scored 200-9 batting first, then King’s reached 201-5 in 42 overs.
The New Zealand over-50 team was beaten in the World Cup semifinal by home side Australia in Sydney on Monday.
Australia scored 273-6 batting first, then restricted New Zealand, including Manawatu¯ allrounder Dave Fulton, to 269-9 from their 45 overs.
In New Zealand’s other pool games they beat Wales by eight wickets, had a match against Sri Lanka abandoned, lost to England by 59 runs and beat South Africa by eight wickets.