v Manukau: Results

Boys,

The weather wasn't very supportive of cricket today but you battled through it well.

Manukau turned up with two "even" teams so we adjusted Burgundy and Black before play to create two equally strong teams and you accepted those late team changes well.

Overall boys I think you had a good day. I thought the standard you played at was considerably higher than the inter-squad game - a good improvement - one of our main goals. Despite that, there is still plenty to improve on and learn, so read through the results below and try and learn from it.


Black's game

The Black team had an excellent all round day.

As with the Burgundy game, we batted first. The openers were solid and scored 30 off the first ten overs. By the 20th over we were on 70 with-out the loss of any wickets. Toby eventually retired for 40 off 84 balls, and Keegan scored 32 from 55 balls.

Benjamin batting at number three scored an excellent 41ret from 35 balls which accelerated the scoring. He was followed by Ashton 15n.o. (15) and Greg 22n.o (15) who produced an ideal last partnership leading to a very good score of 188/3 from 40 overs.

The batting learning points are that early in the innings we need to work on turning the strike over by looking for singles and we need to always be aware of the game situation and the fact that we need to change our play in different situations. For example, if our coach wants us to pick up the run rate and play more aggressively, that is what we must do, not worry about getting out.

The running between the wickets also needs work. We need more backing up and positively looking for any opportunity to turn a "dot ball" into a single and single into a two.

You bowled Manukau out for 102, a great effort with what was by then a wet, slippery ball. There was some top bowling from Travis, 3 overs, 2-8, Mitchell Bremner, 2 overs, 2-4, Jacob, 2 overs, 2-4.

The fielding appeared to be very good, you seemed to be concentrating well and you were rewarded with three run-outs and took some good catches. The team was well led by Travis and assisted by Benjamin.

I think at times we tried to bowl too fast and that resulted in us bowling too short, which gifted them runs. I would rather you bowl too full than too short. We'd like to see the pace bowlers trying to bowl a good length to a full length on our outside the off stump.

Before the game we talked about values, one of which was respect and the other sportsmanship. I was very pleased to see that in action today, for example, when you clapped Manukau's best batsman off the field after he was out and after he had batted well.

Overall this was a very good performance though and you should be proud of yourselves.

North Harbour Black 188/3 in 40 overs.
Manukau 102 all out in 27 overs.


Burgundy's game

Burgundy batted first and struggled early on in the face of some good, tight bowling. Generally speaking, 30 off the first 10 overs is a minimum target, but it took us until the 16th over to reach 30 and by then we were two down.

Ryan Schierhout came in at number four and scored an excellent 45 ret from 48 balls which provided some great momentum to the innings. Asher 20 (27), Kieran 22n.o. (54), and Nathaniel 23n.o (36) finished the innings well and we ended up with a very respectable 150 from our 40 overs, although I think we could have pushed it more in the final five overs.

The batting learning points, as with Black, are that we need to work on turning the strike over by looking for singles, particularly early in the innings, and we need to always be aware of the game situation and the fact that we need to change our play in different situations. In particular, we need to pick up the scoring rate when the game requires us to.

The bowling and fielding effort started reasonable well with Manukau restricted to 25 off ten overs. However,as the rain fell, and the ball got soaked, it made bowling very difficult. Manukau were able to both pick up their run rate and conserve their wickets. To give Manukau credit they batted well as they turned the strike over and put the bad ball away.

There were some very good bowling performances amongst our bowlers, Kieran 4 overs, 3-18, Asher 2 overs, 0-2, Jack 2 overs, 0-5, Ryan Quinn, 4 overs 0-7, Jonty 2 overs 1-3 however Manukau comfortable reached the target in the 35th over.

The fielding/bowling points: I saw too much short bowling, which was easily picked off. The same comments as for Black apply: pitch it up.

The fielding was reasonable, but I think that you need to make sure you are concentrating on the game and are staying fully "switched on" for the whole game. The conditions were difficult, but you need to focus on the job.

Overall though, again, a good improvement from the inter-squad and while, of course, we want to win games, it is the improvement we are looking for.

North Harbour Burgundy 150 in 40 overs.
Manukau, 150/5 in 35 overs.


A big thanks to the Coaches "on duty" today, Layne, Grant and Peter, to the scorers - Peter Robb - a full game, Matt Hawkins and Kelvin Stevenson with a half game each, and the umpires including Layne, Grant, Peter and Dave Vukets.