First XI Cricket: Leavers Tapper, Hernon, Priddy, Hamilton, Kirkland and Singh Enjoy Fitting Farewell

Saturday 16 November 2024

King’s – 292 all out in 49.1 overs
Rosmini College – 202 all out in 37.2 overs

With nothing to play for and a mid-table finish, King’s had to work hard to get into the required mindset needed to farewell six leavers, playing in their final match for their school. Skipper Morgan Tapper (35 caps, debuted against MAGS in February 2022), five matches later Samar Singh (25 caps, debuted against St Peter’s in April 2022) followed by three players who appeared at the beginning of the 2023 season – Finn Priddy and Tim Hamilton against AGS, six matches later Jack Hernon debuted against MAGS and finally the batting superstar Francis Kirkland in October 2024 against AGS.

Struggling Rosmini chose to bowl, and the new ball was zipping around appreciably, causing openers Morgan Tapper (Year 13, St John’s) and Francis Kirkland (Year 13, Selwyn) some concern. With Kirkland being his usual belligerent self against anything wayward, the partnership slowly blossomed until Tapper was dismissed in the 10th over. A rejigged batting order to give the leavers a memorable final appearance saw perennial non-batter Finn Priddy (Year 13, Marsden) promoted to ‘first-drop’ much to the delight and amusement of his teammates. Priddy got off the mark with a single with the second ball he faced and stole the strike for the 11th over. He relished this rare opportunity and picked up a brace of boundaries in the 12th over. Drinks was taken at 78/1 and the 2nd wicket partnership grew to 35 – surprisingly dominated by Priddy (18 runs). When he was dismissed in the 21st over, his partnership of 45 runs with Kirkland consumed 10 overs, and the opening bowler, who hardly ever bats, contributed a memorable 21 runs, by far his highest score for the First XI. He has to be praised for not taking this promotion lightly and batting with maturity – making his parents, school, coaching staff and teammates proud. After Samar Singh’s (Year 13, Averill) short-lived spell, Priddy’s opening bowling partner, Tim Hamilton (Year 13, Marsden), was given the rare opportunity to bat at the top of the order. He batted on six occasions in his usual tail-end spot this season, being not out twice against AGS with a top score of 10. His most memorable stint in the middle was when he partnered Malcolm Barrow (Year 11, School) and watched the youngster destroy AGS with a towering boundary in the gloom to pilfer a win for King’s earlier this year. He joined Kirkland with the score at 91/3 at the beginning of the 22nd over and took his time to set his stall. At the 30th over juncture, the score was 131/3, with Hamilton going from 13 (21) to 25 (27) in the 29th over as calls went out for him to press on. At 2nd drinks, the partnership grew to 66 runs (Hamilton 32 off 35), and Kirkland was nearing his 3rd century of a short season for him. Kirkland unfurled two massive sixes in the 35th over before he holed out, going for another big one, scoring 16 runs in the over. This brought his aggregate to 366 runs at a mind-boggling average of 122 (92 strike rate), fully justifying the baggy he was awarded before play started. Hamilton was dismissed in the 36th over for his highest score for the 1st XI, 41 runs at a strike rate of 100. Tom Nelson (Year 12, Marsden) joined Jack Hernon (Year 13, Selwyn), who had yet to face a ball. Hernon got his eye in, and his radar tuned in, in the 37th over before he went into beast mode, scoring three sixes in consecutive balls in the 40th over. His dismissal for 34 runs was at a strike rate of 200. It was a watershed year for Hernon, who finished with an impressive aggregate of 336 runs, an average of 48, which included numerous match-winning performances. Nelson’s short and enterprising innings took King’s to 239/7, allowing him to surpass 300 runs this season for a healthy average of 30. It was left to Tom Boucher (Year 12, Greenbank) to hold the innings together and use up the remaining overs with Sam Bamford (Year 11, Major), Aekkam Sarao (Year 11, Parnell) and Barrow in attendance. Boucher kept a cool head whilst wickets tumbled at the other end in the hope of breaching the 300-run mark but was dismissed off the first ball of the final over for a quickfire 35 (25) and King’s finished on 292 runs, the highest in many seasons. 

In pursuit of 10 wickets and an early finish, King’s pace bowlers lacked their usual zip, apart from Priddy, who was more incisive in his first spell, picking up two wickets in the power play. The recalled Joel Gardner (Year 12, St John’s), who got an opportunity due to the injury Varnan Pasupati (Year 12, Greenbank) suffered in training, a few days earlier partnered Sarao through the middle overs and together claimed five wickets before Hamilton returned for this second spell in the 33rd over. Hamilton picked up his 2nd wicket in this over, with Rosmini 179/9 at the second drinks break, which was not taken by the umpires. The final wicket pair were hard to dislodge. Sarao was recalled to do the job, which he duly did, finishing off with a deserved haul of four wickets, taking his season tally to 19 at an average of 17 RPW. Hamilton was the season’s top wicket-taker, finishing with 20 at an average of 18 RPW. Priddy’s tally was 17 for the season, giving the opening pace attack a combined total of 37 wickets. These two carried the King’s attack for two years in a row and will go down in the annals of history like previous pace combinations – Johnston and Baker in 2013-2014, van Riele and Ratnayake in 2015, St John and Dickson in 2016, Dickson and de Heer in 2017, Abbas and Dickson 2018, Abbas and Anderson 2019-2021, Tapper and Willis 2022 and finally Hamilton and Priddy 2023-2024.  

Four baggies were awarded at the start of play for milestones achieved. Besides Kirkland, who was mentioned earlier – Barrow, Boucher and Sarao were also awarded the baggy maroon for their 12th appearance. I wish them well for their remaining years at King’s and would urge them to lead by example and be proud of representing their school whenever they don the maroon baggy. 

King's win by 90 runs.

Batting:

Bowling: