First XI: Magnificent Boucher and Hernon 5th wicket partnership aces stiff chase

Saturday, 17 February 2024

Macleans College – 235/7 in 50 overs

King’s College – 236/4 in 44.4 overs

When Tom Boucher (Year 12, Greenbank) lofted the pace bowler over the cover fielders in the 45^th over, he had reached a glorious 84 runs (99 balls) and the partnership with the equally gorgeous innings from Jack Hernon (Year 13, Selwyn) who scored a run-a-ball 80 had reached a mammoth 167 (166 balls). Together, these two heroes of the day rescued King’s from a worrying 69/4 in the 18th over when skipper Morgan Tapper (Year 13, St John’s) was outfoxed by the talented Macleans leg-spinner, Sanjay. Tapper was forced into action as early as the fourth over with the scintillating Macleans opening bowler, Scordino, forcing the King’s batters into evasive action, ball after ball. He joined Thomas Nelson (Year 12, Marsden), who showed skill and smartness in coping with the opening attack. Incidentally, Leo Bamfield (Year 13, Major), who joined Nelson when his opening partner Joel Gardner (Year 12, Averill) was dismissed, suffered a broken wrist courtesy of a fast in-swinging rocket from Scordino.

Boucher and Hernon began with caution and understood that sensible and responsible batting was needed. Both picked singles in their first ten balls and continued the same way with the next 10. After that, Hernon picked up the pace as he felt comfortable with the bowling, whilst Boucher was quite happy to feed him the strike. Boucher’s first boundary, which was a magnificent six, came off the 40^th ball he faced, and he was now on 22 whilst Hernon had pummelled the bowling, picking up four boundaries at this juncture, scoring 33 runs off his first 40 balls. At the second drinks break, they were still together, and King’s had reached 144/4, 93 runs in arrears – still much work to be done, especially with Scordino and Sanjay having seven overs to bowl. The RRR was around 6 RPO. The tension was building. The King’s supporters were growing in belief but, at the same time, willing these two to take the partnership into the 40^th over, at least. Both took no chances against Sanjay and took the singles on offer, as the field was spread out. This was sensible, responsible batting – the best coach Dipak Patel had seen in a long time from his charges.

Scordino returned to the attack in the 37^th over and the tension mounted another notch. Hernon played and missed the first three balls and then mis-hit one through the covers for a well-run three. These two were starting to believe this was their day, especially Hernon, in his 9^th appearance. Having been through highs and lows, he was looking his most composed. In his second appearance, Boucher is a classy batter but needed a significant inning to prove to himself that he belongs. Both began playing Scordino with ease now as he conceded seven runs in the 39^th over. His opening partner in the attack was entrusted with the 40^th over. This was when the batting duo went into overdrive, hitting him for 19 runs, including three boundaries, one a massive strike for six by Hernon. At the end of 40 overs, King’s had breached the 200 run mark. Scordino responded with another testing over, which was dealt with calmly. Running out of options, the skipper replaced himself as keeper and joined the attack but was no match for Boucher and Hernon, who quickly ran the singles. In Scordino’s 9^th and final over, he was treated with disdain as Boucher launched him over square leg for a huge six. King’s were now in cruise control. When the winning runs were scored, King’s supporters and players were jubilant, especially after the mediocre batting performance of the previous week.

When Tapper won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling, it indicated this team's strength – bowling. However, Macleans did not seem concerned as they raced off to 58/2 by the first drinks break. Both the pace bowlers Tim Hamilton (Year 13, Marsden) and Finn Priddy (Year 13, Marsden) lacked their usual control, but Malcolm Barrow (Year 11, School), who was entrusted with the new ball, bowled a tidy spell of six overs for 15 runs, whilst picking up the first wicket. With the main pace bowlers having minimal impact, Tapper used his spinners fully from the 12^th to the 24^th. The dependable Aekkam Sarao (Year 11, Parnell) was entrusted with the bulk of the middle overs and did not disappoint. Tapper used himself as a spin option, to good effect. He also brought on Gardner for two overs but should have used him for a longer spell. The Macleans 3^rd wicket pair proved to be very effective against anything that Tapper tried and built a worrying partnership from the 9th over until they were separated at the end of the 33^rd, with 126 runs on the board. King’s would have been expecting to land a few more body blows now and pack Macleans off for a sub-180 score, but the opposition middle order showed their skill and durability by thwarting anything that King’s threw at them. The pace duo of Priddy and Hamilton came back at the end of the innings but had minimal effect on the Macleans batters, who would have gone to lunch high on confidence, having reached a very challenging 235/7.

Debut: Sam Bamford (Year 11, Major).

King's win by six wickets.

Winning batters Jack Hernon and Tom Boucher next to the scoreboard

Batting:

Did not bat: A Sarao, S Bamford, M Barrow, T Hamilton, J Robertson, F Priddy.

Bowling: