First Xl Cricket Willows/Blenheim trip
By Hunter Kindley | Posted: Wednesday October 11, 2023
During the second week of the holidays, the First Xl squad made the trip to Rangiora to play ‘the Willows’ cricket club.
The Willows is a prestigious place to play cricket. The standard of cricket is high while played in the spirit of the game and is a great day out for all involved whether it be players or spectators. The Willows, featuring six old boys; Ben McCormack, Chris Nicholson, Lance Taylor, Hunter Kindley, Ben Lockrose and Max Chu who captained the side won the toss deciding to bat. The team posted a strong total of 253 all out. Old Boy and current coach at OBHS, Hunter Kindley, top scored in the Willows batting innings with 98. Hamish Wilson 4 for 41 off 10 overs and Zac Cumming 3 for 46 off 9 overs were the pick of the bowlers. In reply, Ben Turnbull looked solid back in the top of the order and Zac top scored with 49 not out but ultimately ran out of partners at the other end. In the end, OBHS fell all out for 157. It was another fantastic day out at the Willows cricket club and the last hoorah for our Year 13 boys.
We then continued up to the east coast to Blenheim, playing in an awesome quadrangular tournament against Marlborough Boys', Christ's College and Auckland Grammar. This was a great opportunity for the boys to play new high level competition and make some awesome learnings in preparation for the Gillette Cup at the end of the year. In our first game, we played against tournament hosts, Marlborough Boys' High School. Hassaan Farooqi started the tournament with a bang, getting a wicket with the very first ball of the game. Jack Ussher joined Hassaan as the pick of the bowlers with three wickets each with other wickets being shared around the team. In the end, Marlborough Boys' were bowled out for 134 runs. In reply, Ben Turnbull (40) anchored the innings. He was supported well by younger brother Ollie Turnbull and Daniel Lawrence, in the end cruising to a comfortable win by 6 wickets and plenty of balls to spare!
Day two, we played Christ's College who are reigning national champions of 2022. Losing the toss, we were sent in to bat first. After losing three wickets in quick succession, we were reeling at 3/15 after 10 overs before Luke Marsh was joined by captain Hamish Wilson (45) at the crease together putting on 67 runs in a crucial partnership. Dan then joined Luke and together they put on an 89 run partnership. Luke, finishing with an outstanding innings of 71 and Dan looked great for his 41 runs. Unfortunately, the tail didn’t wag and we were all out for 196 in 47.5 overs. In reply, Christ’s got off to a fast start and we were never able to get control of the run rate. Hassan and Oliver Garden both got a wicket each, and Ashton Hansen claimed two wickets but a partnership of 123 meant that Christ's College won comfortably in the end.
On the final day, the boys played a strong Auckland Grammar side and bowled first. Ben Turnbull made an impressive return to the bowling crease, taking 3 wickets for 24 runs in his 8 overs. Luke Marsh was the only other bowler to take a wicket as Auckland Grammar made 212/4 in their 40 overs. In reply, the loss of early wickets hurt the run chase as we found ourselves at 45 for 5 off 15 overs. Hamish Wilson took the attack to the bowlers and played positively for his 46, ably supported by Daniel with 25. However, it was not to be as we were all out for 139 in the end.
Overall, the week was an awesome experience for our squad and gave great experiences and learnings against good competition as we head into cricket season. I would like to thank team manager/chef/motivator Kent Twaites, our second manager Mike Lawrence who took the photos and kept all the parents in the loop through the OBHS Cricket Facebook page and First Xl coach Nathan King for his organisation and effort that he put into making the trip a success.
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