Semifinal picture a little clearer
New Plymouth Old Boys (NPOB) have company atop of the table in the Taranaki premier two-day cricket competition, with New Plymouth Marist United (NPMU) joining them after their outright win against New Plymouth Boys’ High School (NPBHS).
NPBHS couldn’t add many to their overnight total, being dismissed for 98.
NPMU saw an opportunity for quick runs and a potential outright if things went their way, so they promoted Ryan Watson to the top of the order with the plan coming off perfectly. Watson got NPMU off to nice start, scoring a run-a-ball 55 before Robbie Yule chimed in with a half century of his own. NPMU declared at 243 for 9 after 53 overs with a lead of 145.
NPBHS openers Josh Gard and Hrishi Bolar put on 30 for the first wicket, Bolar top scoring with 43.
A valuable contribution of 24 by Callum Tito was not enough, with NPBHS dismissed for 132, giving NPMU the outright victory by an innings and 13 runs. Michael Blanks picked up the last five wickets to give him figures of 5 for 53.
As mentioned, NPMU join NPOB at the top after NPOB managed to get first innings points in a tight game against Inglewood. With only seven overs bowled last weekend it was always going to be difficult finding a result in the match – and with both teams fighting it out for a home semifinal, neither team was going to give an inch.
NPOB started the day at 14 for 1. The entire NPOB top order made solid starts, which gave them a nice platform to attack from, and it was their skipper, Mattie Thomas, who took advantage of it, making 101 off 89 balls. NPOB declared on 254 for 9.
Inglewood made a bright start to the run chase with Troy Chilcott and Aaron Taylor combing for a 63-run partnership. Taylor top scored with
69, with Hayden McIntyre making 66 in the middle order to have Inglewood
201 for 5 at one stage and looking to be in the box seat. However, the introduction of Davis Mills changed the complexion of the game as he picked up the prized wicket of McIntyre.
At 231 for 7 it was still anyone’s game but Mills had Jason Dombroski caught by Matt Shaw for 11 to give NPOB the upper hand.
With the next ball he trapped Matt Simpson in front and on hat-trick ball Richard Clough was caught on the crease and the umpire raised his finger for LBW to give Mills his hattrick and NPOB first innings points. Inglewood were dismissed for 231.
Inglewood remain third on the ladder and certain of a semifinal spot.
Stratford have moved into fourth spot after defeating Woodleigh.
Woodleigh fought hard on the second day to post 150 with Tyler Slingsby top scoring with 33.
The Stratford batsmen wasted no time in getting into their work, with Paul Lightoller and Kayne Dunlop putting on 75 for the first wicket inside
12 overs.
Dunlop only made 13 of them as Lightoller continued his charge, scoring his first premier century in 18 years and posting 100 off 76 balls.
Liam Muggeridge continued the misery for Woodleigh as Stratford picked up first innings points and Muggeridge clubbed 84 off 57 balls.
Stratford declared after 40 overs at
304 for 5 and a lead of 154. Woodleigh’s season then hit a new low as Grant Commerford picked up a wicket in the first over before Christopher Coombe picked up the next four as Woodleigh were dismissed inside 19 overs for just 55.
In the final match, Francis Douglas Memorial College (FDMC) put up their best performance in a number of years, taking first innings points and all but ending Ha¯ wera’s season.
FDMC posted 245 and had Ha¯ wera
68 for 3 after day one, which soon turned into 77 for 4 with the dismissal of Rob Northcott.
Nick Walker held Ha¯wera’s innings together with 56 but it was not enough as Ha¯ wera were bowled out for 198.
With time running out, FDMC tried for quick runs and, after a century in the first innings, Robson Chapman completed a good game with the bat with a hard hit 88 off 68 balls to allow FDMC to declare at 203 for 9. Liam Heibner picked up five for 79. Requiring 250 for the win Ha¯ wera got through to 73 for 3 after 22 overs when the game was called off.
A Kiwi scientist is helping to unravel the mysteries of how Covid-19 impacts the brain, including how it affects sense of smell.
Auckland University neuroscientist Dr Helen Murray joined forces with scientists at the United States government research agency National Institute of Health (NIH), to pore over samples of brain tissue from deceased Covid-19 patients.
While Covid-19 is primarily a respiratory disease, estimates show a third of hospitalised patients have neurological symptoms, including dizziness and headache. Stroke may occur in as many as 5 per cent of hospitalised patients, studies suggest.
Murray, a research fellow at the Centre for Brain Research in Grafton, was ‘‘surprised’’ by the severity of the changes in brain tissue in Covid-19 patients.
They looked at brain tissue from patients who died aged 5 to 73, between a few hours and two months after reporting Covid-19. Samples were collected in Iowa and New York City.
Murray’s involvement was because of her expertise in dealing with the olfactory bulb: the tiny part of the brain which enables smell.
This part of the brain is not routinely collected by brain banks worldwide but is collected from donor brains in Auckland.
The olfactory bulb is the only part of the brain connected – via the nose – to the outside world, making it vulnerable to pollutants and viruses.
Scans taken by the NIH scientists showed spots in the tissue of the olfactory bulb and brain stem in Covid-19 patients that resembled bleeding.
They examined this further by adding fluorescent antibodies to the tissue – binding to proteins to show where blood vessels were thinner than normal and where blood proteins had leaked into brain tissue.
Immune cells surrounded the leaks, indicating an inflammatory response typically associated with stroke, neuro-inflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and multiple sclerosis.
Pre-Covid Murray split her time 50/50 between Auckland and NIH in the US, where she previously looked at the role of the olfactory bulb in Alzheimer’s.
Unable to travel, Murray helped the team from her home in Botany, advising on preparations and examining high-resolution brain scans in microscopic detail.
The amount of inflammation and blood vessel damage was surprising, Murray said.
‘‘It was striking. I have looked at tissue from Alzheimer’s patients for years now but I have never seen changes as severe as these in the olfactory bulb.’’
Murray said she would be ‘‘very surprised’’ if the changes were not causing an effect, such as contributing to a loss of a smell ‘‘but we still don’t know’’.
She said it was not often scientists could look at brain tissue from a person who had a virus such as Covid-19, and they were looking to get more tissue to ‘‘drill down’’ into the specifics of what was happening and why.
‘‘We want to understand if the inflammation and the leaks from blood vessels are near these structures and contribute to the loss of smell.’’
Murray said the ‘‘key takehome’’ from the research was there were clear neurological effects happening to people infected with Covid-19.
Murray said there was a working theory that Covid-19 patients could have an increased risk of later developing Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or stroke.
Following the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic there was an increase in Parkinson’s-like encephalitis among those infected, she said. Given more than 120 million people had contracted Covid-19, these potential knock-on effects were ‘‘worth paying attention to’’.