UNDERPOWERED – 22 FEBRUARY 2025
The Electric Avenue music festival proved a major disruption for many Christchurch clubs over the weekend, significantly impacting squad numbers and strength. Sydenham and Heathcote were no exception when their top men’s teams faced off on Saturday.
One player who wasn’t underpowered, however, was Tom Agnew. The Championship bowler delivered a stunning performance, claiming 10 wickets in a day to put his side in a commanding position against Heathcote at the end of the first day’s play in the return to the 2-Day competition. Meanwhile, the Premier Men’s clash took a different turn at Heathcote Domain. Despite a promising start, Sydenham faltered, allowing Heathcote to finish the day 111 runs ahead on the first innings. It was another tough outing for Sydenham’s Division 1 side, as they ended the day against Sumner with their opponents already 141 runs ahead, still holding all 10 wickets in hand.
Tom Agnew
The Premier Women had an impressive 108-run win over Lancaster Park at Sydenham, led by Beth Dobb’s all-round performance with a 95 and 3-18. However, the Division 1 Women couldn’t back up last week’s win when they lost by 33 runs to Selwyn Wahine at Foster Park.
In the afternoon grades, the match of the day was the Division 4 Goats’ last wicket win against Heathcote after the last Sydenham pair, skipper Jon Bennett and Chris Douglas, sneaked the required nine runs to win it. The Division 5 Tamils won their match, unfortunately against their fellow Sydenham side, the All-Stars, in the derby clash, but there was little joy elsewhere with both Masters sides losing.
The Youth 1st XI made it two in a row with a win over CBHS, where spinner Henry Hood took his second 5fer in consecutive weeks. The other winner was the 2nd XI, unfortunately again in the other local derby match against the Sydenham 3rd XI. It was a match built on a solid batting performance from the 2nd‘s top order, lead by Sam MacDonald’s 60 and a 5fer from Bayley Gardner. Noah Green’s 59* stood out in the Colts’ loss to Christ’s College, but the performance of the day in Youth came from a maiden century, an unbeaten run-a-ball, 115 from Year 10’s Dylan Tullett
Some of the photos in this publication are also courtesy of Ash Hart’s Hartland Images.
Scott Insurance Brokers Insurance Premier Men
Sydenham ventured out to Heathcote Domain at the restart of the 2-Day competition, sitting mid-table in the competition and keen to move on from a disappointing 1-Day campaign. Heathcote won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first.
That decision proved to be the correct one despite the strong start from the Sydenham openers, who proceeded to put on 68 for the first wicket. Both openers, Jacob Cotter and Akshan Gulati, were making their Premier debuts, having only recently joined the club and impressed in their earlier second-team matches. It was a pleasure to see the two youngsters, 18 & 19, value their wicket and determined to see off the new ball bowlers to give their side a good start.
Jacob Cotter
With the ball doing a bit for the Heathcote bowlers, they started cautiously, and by the end of the 10th over, the score was just 15-0. From there, they quietly began to accelerate the score, which at one point saw Jacob down the track and striking spinner Hocquard for a straight six in his opening over. The partnership ended sometime later when he again took another two sixes off the early balls of the over before Hocquard got his revenge with a further attempted shot miscued and caught running back at deep cover. It had been an impressive debut from young Jacob, with his 45 off 67 balls signalling that a new talent has arrived in the club.
Akshan Gulati
It was 72-1, and the start of the 21st over, a position which should have formed the basis for a good score. However, the Sydenham innings unwound from there. Two wickets fell in the following over, the other opener Aksham, solid for his 21 off 56, then Ryan Wallace next, and momentum faded at 72-3. Matt McCall and Aarush Bhagwat tried to establish a partnership, one that saw a trademark majestic straight off drive for six from Matt, but when Aarush was out cheaply, and then Matt a few overs later, Sydenham’s good start had been foregone at 98-5. It got worse from there as the remaining five wickets fell for just another 13 runs, all out for 111.
The Heathcote reply saw Stanley survive a loud appeal for caught behind in Mitch Gardner’s first over and then given out in the following one bowled by Archie Goodrick. When Mitch trapped Lortan cheaply a few overs later, Sydenham was seemingly back in the game with the batting side 24-2 and later 35-3 when Mitch claimed his second. Heathcote wickets continued to fall regularly, and at 50-4, then 65-5, it started to look like any Heathcote lead could be held to a modest level.
Cullen Crowe
However, by mid-afternoon, there was little left in the wicket for the bowlers, and the home side’s batting started to take its toll as Boissevain and Hocquard batted very well to put on 109 for the 8th wicket. Wickets were lost as the side hit out towards the end, but Heathcote finished the day all out for 222 and in a strong position, leading by 111 runs. Archie Goodrick (4-72) and Mitch (3-44) were the leading wicket-takers, but another young debutant, Cullen Crowe, also showed promise with his off-spinners and certainly added a lot of energy in the field.
Thanks to umpires Matthew Hill and Kaushik Padmanaban
Birdwood Café Premier Women
Sydenham 257/7 beat Lancaster Park 149
Beth Dodd 95, Megan Meltzer 41, Rachel Davidson 26, Izzy Foz 21
Beth Dodd 3/18, Boadicea Lynch 2/12, Charlotte Clatworthy 2/10
Zoe Ellerton-Kelly premier debut, Kiyo Fujikawa premier debut
Sydenham welcomed Zoe Ellerton-Kelly and Kiyo Fujikawa to the team for their debut. Zoe is a university student from Taranaki and Kiyo visiting from Japan. Both had solid starts in the competition, and we look forward to watching them grow.
Beth Dodd
Losing the toss Sydenham picked their bat up and set about building some partnerships. Openers Izzy Fox (21) and Megan Meltzer (41) had the right idea and batted cautiously, accumulating a great platform for the team to build on with a 76 run opening partnership. Their departure brought Beth Dodd and Rachel Davidson (26) to the crease who put on another 80 run partnership. Beth had a standout game scoring 95, supported well by the lower order. Sydenham reached 257, 7 wickets down in their 50 overs.
With a solid score on the board Sydenham entered the field with confidence. Sydenham opened an end early with Boadicea Lynch picking up 2/12 while bowling her 8 overs on the trot with Elsie Duncan having excellent economy from the other end. Lancaster Park had a couple of good partnerships in the middle but soon got through to the lower order with Beth picking up 3/18 and Charlotte Clatworthy 2/10.
Julia Manton finished the job taking the last wicket with one ball remaining to give Sydenham a bonus point win.
Elsie Duncan
Thanks to umpires Mark Wood & Robert Hill
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/ev-power-premier-women/game-centre/8715a5d4
Scott Insurance Brokers Championship
Match report courtesy of Matt Bell
It was always going to be an important toss to win for the championship side after the rain that fell during the week, and fortunately, Tom McDonald won it and elected to bowl first. After a half hour-delayed start because of the dew on Sydenham Park, the bowlers got straight into their work. It was once again the experience of Tom Agnew 6-12 of 13 overs with 8 maidens and Carl Hooper 1-9 off 9 overs with 4 maidens, set the scene for what would be a dominant display with the ball throughout the day. Heathcote battled hard for the first half an hour, but once the breakthrough was made, Tom Agnew ripped the heart out of their batting and finished their innings with a fantastic direct hit from point. These two bowlers were backed up well by Charlie Finnie, who snared himself a double 2-8 off 6 overs, and Benji Bell, who had a crack just before the lunch break, bowling 3 maidens in a row. Heathcote were bowled out soon after lunch for 33 runs off 32 overs, an outstanding 1st innings bowling performance.
Tom Agnew
It was always going to be important to get off to a good start with the bat and set the right tone. Matt Bell 32 (60) and Eliyas Varghese 28 (61) did just that, putting on 50 for the first wicket, and they complemented each other well, with Matt being quick to pull and cut anything too short while Eliyas drove the ball through and over cover when Heathcote bowled too full to him. The real pleasing effort was the running between the wickets and the intent to rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard ticking over with ones and two’s on the slow outfield. At the tea break, the message was to try and push on with some quick runs to get a hundred-run lead so we could have a good 15-20 overs at Heathcote before the close of play. This was achieved through some positive, selfless play by the rest of the batters, with the standouts PK Bhagat 30 (40), and Shevon Perera, 17 (29). While being bowled out for 143, the team now had an important 110-run lead and a good 19 overs to try and repeat the 1st innings effort with the ball.
Eliyas Varghese
This time it was Carl Hooper 2-5 off 6 overs who started the demise of the Heathcote batting line up removing the two openers by knocking over their castle, and it allowed us to expose the demons of the 1st innings again for the rest of the batters. Tom Agnew sliced through them like a knife through butter and claimed another 4 Heathcote victims to finish the day with player-of-the-match figures of 10-18 off 21 overs. Heathcote ended the day struggling at 6-13 of 19 overs and still 97 runs behind Sydenham, who will be looking to claim an outright win and collect a few bonus points along the way.
Carl Hooper
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/mens-championship/game-centre/96815018
Division 1
Match report courtesy of Richard Howe
Sydenham played Sumner on Sydenham 2. The home side won the toss and decided to bowl on a pitch that looked a bit softer and greener than usual. We welcomed three debutants who – Sharavan Bhasker, Aaqib Sharif and Ronan Scott, and the return of Ivon Cheruvathoor (from getting hitched) and James Stackhouse (from cricket retirement/family tramping duties). Ivon and James opened the bowling with Ivon snaring one of the openers plumb LBW early. The ball was seaming around, so it was difficult for batters and there were a few “plays and misses” and LBW shouts, including at least one missing leg and off stump.
Isaiah Prasad enticed a flashing cut shot from his first delivery, and Cam Spriggs, keeping for the first time this season) took a lovely one-handed diving catch. Isaiah continued his good bowling form this year, beating the bat and creating chances, including an edge that could be on the bat, which was heard even at mid-on but was not enough to convince the umpire! Isaiah took 3-17 from 7 overs (but deserved better) before spin was introduced, and some medium pace. Gourav Jadhav bowled well without luck. Richard Howe and Aaquib Sharif (off spin) created chances and took the remaining 6 wickets. Sumner all out for 142 but probably should have been out for under a 100 as we did let several chances (literally) slip through our hands, and had yet another very good LBW turned down. Ivon ended with 7 overs 29 for 1, Richard 8-25-3 and Aaqib 7-32-3
Aaqib Sharif
While the wicket had been tricky, 143 was a realistic target for us. Manish Rawat and Sharavan Bhasker opened the batting with the ball still seaming about. Manish was out early, bringing Aaqib in. He was out for 9, and then Ajith Shetty and then Gourav both went within 5 balls without adding o the score, followed by Sharavan who had battled hard to 22. Ronan Scott and Isaiah got together with a plan to bat time and were doing well until Ronan’s 20-ball vigil for 3 ended, and we were 5 down, still around 100 behind. Isaiah was batting sensibly but still picking up runs, he needed someone to hang in with him, so that was the job for the remaining batters. Sadly we failed him as Cam, Richard, Ivon and James all fell meekly for ducks, leaving Isaiah stranded on 42 and a team total of only 80 – 62 behind.
We still had 17 overs to bowl and make an impact on Sumner’s 2nd innings. The plan was to find at least one of bowlers who could hit the right formula again. But while we managed some good balls (and to contain for periods) we couldn’t make a breakthrough as 6 bowlers were tried, in the hope we could find an answer. Unfortunately Sumner batted well and ended up on 79 without loss, leaving Sydenham plenty of work to do next week.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/mens-division-1/game-centre/db3126c8
Division 4 Goats – WON
Match report courtesy of Joe Taylor
The Goats turned up to the home of cricket, Bradford Park, in a must win match to keep our semi final hopes alive against Heathcote. Spirits were high after we spanked them on our last meeting. Another toss win and we inserted them into bat. We started strongly with aid of Heathcote’s approach, as if they were playing for rain. At the halfway mark we went to drinks having them 3 down scoring at around 1.5 an over. The intent only came from the opposition with about 9 overs to go after the captain stormed the field to instruct the batsmen to do more than block every delivery. This brought us more opportunities which we gladly took along with some quality bowling. Jake” Jonty Rhodes” Harrington showing his pure athleticism all throughout the innings in the field followed along with good catching throughout had us bowl them out for 95 in the last over. George Wigley 3/30, Jon leading from the front miserly as ever with 2/8 and Patty Wickes after telling each batsmen to please try and hit him as well as telling them what he was goíng to bowl with 2/22.
During the break Jon was quick to state “no Demons in this pitch boys” boy did Joe Taylor find out otherwise 1st ball of the innings getting a juicy half tracker which proceeded to roll and hit him on the shoelaces. This set the tone for the next few wickets as the pitch seemed to be playing the opposite from the 1st innings. At 15/4 after a miraculously quick return from a chipped bone for Andrew Douglas he proceeded to show no signs of discomfort as he spanked the ball to all parts with ease along with Dan Loughton for a 51 run partnership. However crickets a funny game. Dan fell then Dougy 2 balls before drinks for a well made 49 followed quickly by another 2 quick wickets it was squeaky bum time. 9 down with 11 still required enter Bob the builder like Jon Bennett.. could he fix it?? An early lbw shout which looked suspiciously good from the boundary wouldn’t deter as he and Chris Douglas showed us together they could fix it and steer us home with plenty of overs to spare. This takes us into 4th place at the end of the round as we await 1 result to see if we make the semi finals.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/mens-division-4/game-centre/6ecb1ede
Division 5 All-Stars – LOST
Division 5 Tamils XI – WON
Match report courtesy of Abe Atherton
In the much-anticipated Sydenham Derby, the Allstars faced off against Tamils at Centennial #1. The Tamils won the toss and elected to bowl first on a pitch that looked far from ideal—uneven, in need of a mow and roll, and challenging for the batters. Openers Jacob Koster and Tom Elliott faced a tough battle from the outset, with the ball staying low and the outfield slowing down shots before they could reach the boundary. Koster struggled to get going and was dismissed for just 3 runs. David Te Au, making a rare appearance this season, played a classy straight drive, only to be undone by the low bounce, bowled for a duck. Elliott, however, showed resilience, rotating the strike and working hard for his runs. Jason Ungerer got a start but fell for 8, while Elliott fought his way to 17 off 33 deliveries before his resistance was broken.
Gurinder Singh, playing in only his second match of the season, took an aggressive approach, hitting over the top and contributing a useful 13 runs. However, the Allstars were unable to build a substantial partnership and found themselves struggling at 54 for 8. Cameron Hatcher and Abraham Atherton then dug in under considerable pressure. Hatcher took 22 deliveries before scoring his first run, while Atherton took 11. The duo put together a much-needed 27-run partnership before Hatcher fell for 7. Atherton, holding his ground, remained unbeaten on 18 off 31 balls, guiding the Allstars to a final total of 86 all out.
The Tamils came out swinging aggressively, benefiting from a pitch and outfield that had improved as the game progressed. While the Allstars managed only five boundaries, the Tamils struck 13, taking advantage of the hardening surface. David Te Au provided an early breakthrough in his second over, with Sumedha Senaratha taking a brilliant catch. He struck again in his next over, but the Tamils had already put runs on the board. Cameron Hatcher and Tom Elliott then applied pressure, slowing the run rate and picking up crucial wickets. Hatcher finished with 3 for 24, while Elliott, bowling a disciplined line, was rewarded in his sixth over, ending with 2 for 12. Te Au contributed with 2 for 22.
Despite their efforts, the Allstars couldn’t quite hold the Tamils back, who chased down the target in 16.2 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Elliott, Senaratha, and Singh all contributed in the field with well-taken catches. A hard-fought match, but in the end, the improving conditions worked in the Tamils’ favour. The Allstars will look to bounce back in their next encounter.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/mens-division-5/game-centre/f1a95e1c
Cavaliers Cardinals – WON
The Cardinals won their match through forfeit
Masters Cardinals – LOST
Match report courtesy of Ammar Yousef
Yesterday we arrived at Mandeville with 9 players and the gallant super substitute fielder, Daniel Mckay.
It was a beautiful later summer’s day, and we were met by an extremely friendly & jovial Ohoka team, as well as one of the best wickets we’d seen all season. Reekers won the toss and sportingly chose to bowl first.
Batting
Our opening pair of Ammar Yousef & Paul Mathews were met with some very tight bowling with good variation. Just as they were getting settled Ammar played across a good yorker and was clean bowled, to make way for a swashbuckling innings of 27 by Phil Walker, before he fell to the ‘after drinks break mental lapse’ by lobbing a ball up to mid-off (one particular cover drive was magnificent to behold). Paul Mathews was into his customary work of swing/miss, swing/four before Ohoka started to set the field to bring down his boundary scoring shots to at most singles, and this started to slow down the scoring substantially.
Grant Ross was unlucky to pull one straight into square leg’s lap (a rare cameo by Grunter) before James (Skip) McKay came in to join Mathews. Mathews had compiled an impressive innings, however, on his final charge up the wicket he got an inside edge onto the stumps and he was gone for a classy 73. That brought Paul Rapley, who supported our Skip in a final effort to up the score to at least make a target to attempt defending, with our weakened bowling outfit. Skip soon delivered with an array of majestic legside shots that even had the fielding side gasping at times in awe to his fine display of pulling and flicking, and they got us to 161 for four, with Skip on 38* and Paul on 4*.
Pick of Ohoka Bowlers – Scanlon 40/2 & Pollard 23/2
Bowling
On a wicket (and outfield) deemed to have a 200 average/par score, we knew we were up against it.
Rapley & Winder started us off, however, it was soon identified that they should have started at opposite ends, and upon their return, they were swapped around.
With only 9 players, and a super sub fielder, we were always going to have gaps, and although most of the fielding matched the sense of urgency, there were moments of lapses in concentration (no names shall be mentioned here, bar Paul Mathews…), and Ohoka’s openers, Rico N and Pollard were soon mixing things up with boundaries & good running between the wickets. Phil (Weapon) Walker and Paul (Stumps) Mathews replaced our opening bowlers, with Mathews getting Pollard to attempt a pull shot on one that clipped the top of off stump, and Pollard was gone for a quickfire 21. The new batsman, Henry, carried on where Pollard had left off and the runs kept on coming at more than the required rate.
Eventually Skip asked Paul (Zulu) Smith to step in and have a go at the bowling, however, when it got to be obvious that the race had run its course, Skip gave the ball to Ammar, who started off with good line and length, but when his third ball had decieved the batsman and it was edged to Paul Mathews at gully, he made an absolute hash of his fielding exploits to let the ball spin past him. This sadly led to Ammar having a minor meltdown that affected the rest of the over that led to a 6, no-ball and a wide. Anak Lumb also rose to the challenge with an over of his own where he did not humiliate himself and the totally was easily reached and past for the loss of the solitary wicket, with Rico N on 71* & Henry 56*.
Cardinal Bowlers – Winder 36/0 after 7. Rapley 39/0 after 7. P. Walker 19/0 after 5. Mathews 23/1 after 5. Smith 13/0 after 2. Yousef 20/0 after 2. Lumb 6/0 after 1
The game was played in great spirit, and afterwards we enjoyed beers & some lovely local barbecued beef sausages with the Ohoka team who really were a joy to play against, even though we did not have the manpower to compete at the level we needed to.
Special mention to Daniel McKay for putting a great stint in, in the field.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/joes-garage-masters-top-8/game-centre/cd02dd22
Masters Hospital – LOST
Match report courtesy of Matt Gilling
Sydenham Hospital Masters faced MP Pickles at Barrington Park. Pickles winning the toss elected to bat and made a solid start being 66/2 after 20 overs. They then pressed on, scoring another 100+ runs to finish on 181/5 from 40 overs. Bell 51, Zwies 53* & Jim Simpson 8-0-26-2
Hospital’s turn to bat and they made a similarly solid start, being slightly ahead of the run rate, 78/2 after 20. Some tight bowling after drinks put the required run rate up and wickets began to fell, and this put the RRR up further. Hospital all out 160, 22 runs short of victory. Richard McKinley 74 & Tristan Pettit 40
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/summer-202425/joes-garage-masters-bottom-6/game-centre/f3a4cbd8
Womens Div 1 – LOST
Match report courtesy of Linda Pettigrew
Selwyn Wahine 155 beat Sydenham 122
Georgia Cartwright 3/41, Morgan Smith 2/9, Roxy Murfin 2/22
Emma Begg 3 catches
Morgan Smith 40*
Morgan and Isobel filling in
Div 1 were warmly welcomed by Selwyn Wahine to Foster Park. We were lucky enough to have Morgan and Isobel from Selwyn’s div 2 team fill in as well as welcome back Georgia Cartwright and Roxy Murfin for a match. All these players were absolute stars with Georgia picking up 3 wickets, Roxy and Morgan 2 wickets and Isobel did some amazing fielding to help keep the total down. Morgan also went on to top score with 40* runs, running out of batting partners at the end of the innings.
The other star of the show was Emma Begg who took three catches behind the stumps. Absolute legend.
Selwyn had a good win, putting on their biggest total for the season. Unfortunately, we couldn’t chase them down.
Thanks for the exciting match Selwyn!
Youth First XI – WON
Match report courtesy of Daniel Herd
Sydenham Youth 1st XI played Christchurch Boys High 3rd XI Blue at Boys High. Cadell Durdin’s run of good tosses came to an end and Boys put Sydenham into bat on a damp track.
The toss
The Sydenham top 4 weathered the toughest batting conditions well with Isaac Tutt (32), Sam Johns (20), Will Herd (21) and Jaxson Moynihan (13) all contributing to lay a solid foundation. Conway Andrews (8) fell with the score at 4-97, which was followed by a mini collapse to 7-117. Al Derry (28), joined by Durdin (31*), battled through a recovery period, before Durdin and Potiki Hamilton-Morrison (34* off only 22 balls) went at Boys High to set 209.
Isaac Tutt
Hamilton-Morrison (1-14 off 3) tipped things in Sydenhan’s favour with an excellent caught and bowled before Boys High got off the mark. Quinn Helms (1-6 off 4 on debut) bowled very well with the new ball. At 2-51, Boys High were playing positive cricket, but wickets kept falling from there. Henry Hood was once again the star of the show with 5-35 off 12 overs – his second 5 for in two weeks. This week he was more than ably supported by another spinner in Archie Nielson, who was also on debut and bowled an excellent spell of 2-17 off 9 overs.
Sam Johns
Boys were bowled out for 97. Another complete team performance from the Sydenham 1sts sees them on a winning roll.
Youth 2nd XI – WON
Youth 3rd XI – LOST
Match report courtesy of Paul Durdin
The 2nd and 3rd XI faced off in a Sydenham showdown at Barrington Park. The 3rd XI won the toss and sent the 2nd XI into bat on a surface that looked like it would assist the bowlers early. Cameron Fairhall (37) and Yayha Shasawar (17) started well for the 2nd XI putting on 37 before Yayha was trapped leg before by Reuben Williamson (2 for 50 from 10). Reuben, the most threatening of the bowling attack, could have easily had a couple more early on had some chances been taken. Liam Beck returned to form with a well-constructed 33. Captain Sam Macdonald and Thomas Wedlake put on an excellent 71 run partnership in the middle of the innings – scoring quickly and punishing any loose bowling. Sam dismissed by a fine diving catch on the boundary by Liam Kinzett for 60 from 59. Thomas Wedlake contributed 42 from 40 before being run out by Samuel Wild. Lucky Lasiyal (16 not out) and Jaxson Stove (15 not out) both scored at a run-a-ball to get the total through to 248 for 6 from 48 overs before Sam Macdonald waved the boys in. Zach Nicholson, Callum Walsh and Neil Thakar all picked up wickets during the innings.
Sam Mcdonald
The task for the 3rd XI quickly became very daunting after an excellent early spell from opening bowlers Bayley Gardner and Leif Kitto reduced the 3rd XI to 14 for 4. Three of the 4 wickets were bowled, the other an excellent catch by Louie Harris. Leif bowled exceptionally well in his first spell grabbing 3 wickets (finishing with 3 for 23 from 11). Samuel Wild (7) and Reuben Williamson (37) set about stabilising the innings and did a good job before Sam edged one from Jaxson Stove (1 for 6 from 2) through to the keeper. Liam Kinzett (26) joined Reuben in the centre and the pair batted very well putting on 44 before Liam edged one from Liam Beck (1 for 17 from 4) through to the keeper. Daniel Barclay (11) and Reuben kept fighting – putting bad balls away and keeping the good ones out. However, when Daniel fell to a sharp catch by Liam Beck at slip from the bowling of Bayley Gardner the writing was on the wall. Reuben fell to Bayley Gardner a couple of deliveries later for an excellent 37. Bayley then cleaned up the tail finishing with fine figures of 5 for 20 from 9.2 overs. The 3rd XI eventually dismissed for 109 in the 41st over.
The match was played in good spirits. For the 2nd XI it was good to see a different group contributing with the bat this week, and the bowlers bowled a much more threatening length. For the 3rd XI there are plenty of positives to take from the game.
Youth Colts – LOSING DRAW
Match report courtesy of Callum Green
Sydenham, after winning the toss put Christs College into bat on Christ College no. 4. From the first ball chances were available, but Sydenham weren’t quite able to capitalise. The ball flew wide and just over fielders and the Christ’s openers took their chances and put on 64 for the opening wicket. Sydenham were a bit flat in the field and this flowed through in their initial bowling efforts. Christ’s managed to score 228/5 with Noah Green taking 3 catches and pick of the bowlers being Benji Williams with 2-38 off 11. Notable mention to Austen Grant and Kahn Stanbury with excellent limited runs per over.
Chasing, Sydenham started solidly, but lost Zarnder O’Donnell with the score on 22. A solid 46 run partnership between Braithan Davies and Kahn Stanbury, ended when Davies was needlessly run out for a well compiled 30. The run rate was a bit slow and Sydenham were hoping to up this with Rupert Neilsen coming to the crease, but this wasn’t the case this week with Neilsen playing an aerial shot to be out very cheaply. In came Noah Green, and he looked comfortable from the outset and scored quickly. But the run rate was still climbing. Stanbury was then out to a superb caught and bowled for 17. A few more Sydenham players came and went and Sydenham couldn’t get the run rate high enough. In the end Sydenham saw out their 47 overs and scored 170 for 7. Green was not out on 59 off 66 and played some delightful cover drives and pull shots.
Overall, another solid effort from the boys with a losing draw vs a good Christs team. Our work on’s will be to penetrate a bit more with the ball early on and to lift our scoring rate through the middle overs.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/2025/cricket-express-colts-declaration/game-centre/298bd387
Youth Yr 10 – LOST
Match report courtesy of Pim de Monchy
The Sydenham year 10 boys batted first on a dry, slightly sloping grass wicket at Cashmere High School. At 20/2, Dylan Tullet and Benny Wilkinson crafted a good partnership that lasted almost until drinks. Dylan batted right through the remainder of the innings to post his maiden century, finishing not out on 115 from 117 balls. It was a classy knock that included 16 fours and 1 six, balancing respect for the good length balls with aggressive pulls to anything short and some lovely lofted straight drives to the half vollies.
Dylan Tullett
Everyone else struggled to get their eye in on the slow wicket where full and straight seemed the best bowling plan, with a number of our batters clean bowled. With a total of 187 all out in the 36th over, we had runs on the board to defend.
When CBHS came out to bat the first 3 wickets fell relatively quickly thanks to some tidy bowling from Vansh Sharma, catches by Nakul Singh and Benny, and a sharp run out from third man by Luke Griffiths. However, a big partnership followed with some of our bowlers dropping too short and getting hit to the fence. The boys had some hope when Dylan and Nakul picked up wickets, but CBHS scored the winning runs with 4 wickets in hand and 4 overs to spare. It was a good, if somewhat slow, game of cricket that could have gone either way. Congratulations to Dylan (pictured) on scoring his first ever hundred.
Full scoreboard: https://www.playhq.com/new-zealand-cricket/org/christchurch-metro-cricket-associationcjca/2025/cricket-express-year-10/game-centre/315a9a87
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