Day 1 Match Report
South Canterbury played Southland Country in their first game of the South Island Primary School Cricket Tournament in Nelson.
Things started well with captain Toby Clemett winning the toss on a wicket effected by showers the previous day, he promptly chose to bowl.
Luke Slee set the tone with a wicket on the first ball of the match. A fine bowling and fielding display followed resulting in Southland Country being dismissed for 61. Leading wicket takers were Jock Rollinson (3), Lucas Histon, Harry Schmack and Dougal Gibson with two each.
SC started their innings brightly with 23 off the first four overs before losing opener Oliver Linton. A good partnership of 51 between Flynn Smith (21) and Clemett followed for the second wicket. SC declared on 192 for 4 after 30 overs with an outstanding knock from Clemett of 91 off 89 balls, including 13 fours. He was well supported by Fletcher Rhodes, 34 not out off 33.
Southland Country’s second innings was substantially better than their first, finishing on 133 for 5. This denied SC an outright victory but they did claim 5 points for the first innings win, which is a great start to this prestigious 14 team tournament.
There are no games on Tuesday as all teams are attending the Black Caps v Pakistan, with SC’s next game on Wednesday against the traditionally strong Canterbury Country side.
Day 2 Match Report
SC lost the toss with Canterbury Country opting to bowl, which was an influential part of the days play.
Our batsman worked hard in difficult conditions against a quality attack.
Heading into the field in improving batting conditions Canterbury Country battled against our opening bowlers. While creating a number of opportunities, which unfortunately didn’t stick, there were some memorable moments including 3 wickets for Eli Kerse, two great catches from Henry Scott and a screamer from Oliver Linton.
South Canterbury were asked to bat again, trailing by 113. Their second turn at bat was interrupted a number of times by rain with Country looking for an outright win. SC battled away and when play was finally called off in torrential rain at 7pm they were 66 for 6. Main contributors were Toby Clemett 27 not out and Fletcher Rhodes 18.
Day 3 Match Report
South Canterbury v Dunedin Metro – Abandoned due to rain
Day 4 Match Report
South Canterbury v Buller
SC started by winning the toss and choosing to put Buller in to bat on a good track with a damp outfield after heavy rain in the past 36 hours in Nelson.
What followed was a consistent and polished bowling and fielding display resulting in Buller being dismissed for 60 in 19.4 overs. Lucas Histon was rewarded for a fiery spell of fast bowling with figures of 4 for 7 off 5 overs. He was backed up by Dougal Gibson with 3 for 13 off 5 and Eli Kerse 2 for 4 off 2.
SC replied with 166 for 5, declaring after 27 overs. This was set up by an opening partnership of 108, from Fletcher Rhodes 50 and Jock Rollinson 78.
Buller were content to occupy the crease, with the threat of rain lingering, which halted play a number of times. They were eventually dismissed for 76 off 24 overs, not before some drama as the match was suspended with them 9 down and talk of the game being abandoned. The tournament director instructed the covers to be removed and play resume, amidst Buller’s protests. Henry Scott, 2 for 12 off 7, claimed the last wicket in the first over of resumed play.
Outstanding bowling from Kerse, 3 for 10 off 3 overs, gave him 5 wickets for the match along with Histon, 1 for 11 off 3. Other bowlers to contribute were Harry Schmack 2 for 10 off 3 and Rollinson 2 for 14 off 2.
SC finished the 14 region tournament 3rd, which was won by Canterbury Country.
Coaches Jaime Linton and Nigel Clemett were extremely happy with the performance of the team. Noting their outstanding fielding, a number of spectacular catches taken during the week, which backed up their bowlers and the consistent batting by their top order.
