With the morning grades into the T20 phase there were lots of games over the weekend, although Div 4 made do with the unwanted win by default. Read all about the last games of November.

Subscriptions for the 2024/25 season – subs increase now in effect.

Senior club subscriptions for the 2024/25 season have now increased to $360 ($230 for students/apprentices) for those who have not got their payments organised before the end of November. You are welcome to get in touch with the Treasurer, Michael Beattie, by speaking to him at the clubrooms, via a Facebook message to him or by email at beattie852@hotmail.co.nz if you need to make an arrangement around payments.

Players joining the club from high school in their first season are not required to pay a subscription.

As always when paying your subs by Internet Banking ...

• The club's bank account details are:
• Westpac 03 0866 0269318 000
• Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc
• When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Thanks to our sponsors

As always, A huge thank you to our club and team sponsors, Sporting Edge, BBS Timbers, Bombay Tandoor, The Brewers, Burger Station, ITM Dyers Road and VIP Trade for your continuing support of Merivale Papanui CC. Your generous help makes a massive difference to the cricketing experience we can provide to our junior and adult members this season.

Meat raffles at The Brewers

Every Friday evening during the season, MPCC is selling meat raffles at our sponsor, The Brewers, in Merivale. All teams will take a couple of turns doing the selling - this week Div 7 are on selling duty. All club members are encouraged to head down at 5.30 support the raffles and our sponsor and get in some pre-match predictions for Saturday's games.

MPCC Golf Day - save the date

This year's golf day has been scheduled for Sunday 26 January - further details to follow, but keep the date free!

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Championship batter, Harry Meehan, whose 55 off 45 balls vs East Shirley helped set an imposing total in his side’s first T20. This was Harry’s first half-century for the club.

Congratulations also to Luke Piper, whose 60* off 50 balls vs East Shirley was the other major contribution to his team’s total in that game.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Championship skipper, Matt Ling, whose 65 off 58 vs OBC set the platform for his team’s second T20 win of the day.

Congratulations to Div 6 Panthers batter, Glen Allpress, who scored 54 vs Lancaster Park to help set his side a strong platform for victory.

Congratulations to Masters batter, Mark Hume, who hit 59 in his side’s defeat vs Burnside.

Congratulations to Bombay Tandoor T20 batter, Jay Patel, whose 54 for his side wasn’t quite enough to chase St Albans’ large target of 180 in his side’s game.

Congratulations to Akila Walikumbura, of the NWY Year 9A side, who scored an excellent 113* vs Christchurch Boys’ High.

Congratulations to Daniel Mead, of the NWY Year 9C side, who continued his fine form from last week with 97 in a derby vs the Year 9B side to help guide his team to victory.

Congratulations to Sam Beatty, who hit 51 in the same game.

Congratulations to NWY 1st XI batter, Austin Earl, who scored 65 in his sides defeat vs St Bedes.

Congratulations  to Muhammad Haroon, whose 53 in reply wasn’t enough for his Year 9B side to reach the 9C score.

Match Reports from Saturday 30th November

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs East Shirley @ Burwood 1 (T20 - Win)

After a good win last week in red ball cricket the MP Sporting Edge Champs were feeling high spirited and ready to go with the first white ball T20 game of the season. East Shirley won the toss and elected to bowl first and that was probably the only thing that went their way in this game. MP Sporting Edge opened the batting with Alex and Wez. Wez decided that the East Shirley clubrooms had one too many windows and proceeded to send the ball through the scorers box window off his first scoring shot for a 6 (sorry to Louis and LCJ that were in the box scoring at the time). Wez made a quick fire 30 runs with Alex and Matt contributing around him. Harry and Luke were left in the middle to do their thing and both played really good innings, running hard between the wickets and scoring freely. Harry making 55 off around 45 balls and Luke 60* not out off about 50 balls saw MP Sporting Edge post 161/4 off 20 overs.

East Shirley went into bat and never really got started. Great opening overs from Leo and Harry put them on the back foot from start and wickets kept falling at regular intervals with Beattie, Alex and LCJ keeping on the pressure when called on. MP were going along that well that the Captain Matt Ling decided to have a bit of fun and allow a rather choice bowling option of Luke Piper (Yes that is not a typo), well let’s just say in that over East Shirley finally got their first boundary and that was that, time to get it done and get our feet up before game 2. East Shirley were dismissed for about 67 runs. Great Start to the day for MP Sporting Edge boys. On to the next…

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs OBC @ Elmwood 1 (T20 - Win)

With game 1’s win under our belt, spirits were high going into game 2 but we also knew that this game would be a little more pressing than the earlier game. OBC won the toss and once again MP were sent in to bat first. Wez and Matt opened the batting and continue the positive stroke play, 14 off the first over set the platform and they continued to add runs freely all around the ground. Wez eventually cued a ball straight up and was caught by the keeper in the 8th over for 43 runs off 24 balls. MP were 76/1 off 7.4 at that point. Alex was up next and continued to score with Matt at more than a run a ball making 12 off 10 balls. OBC’s spin attack started to hit their spots and made scoring a little more difficult, but Roz knuckled down scoring 14 at around a run a ball. 123/3 off 16.1 overs meant we needed to try press on and inject as many late innings runs as possible to give us a total that would be defendable. Leo & Harry went in quick succession making 1 & 4 respectively which brought Luke to the crease. Last over and pushing Luke stretched Matt on a 2 and Matt was run out on a really well batted 65 off 58 balls. MP set 155/6 in 20 overs.

With OBC’s batting order MP knew they needed to be on point and sharp in the field. Leo opened the bowling with a maiden and Harry from the other side struck with his first bowl dismissing Ben Hanrahan. 1/0 off 1.1 overs, dream start for any team, but that then brought Tom Swift to the crease. With Ben Smith picking up singles and farming the strike to Tom, Tom started teeing off. Lachie Cameron James got the breakthrough in the 7th over with Wezley catching Ben at backward point (after calling box ball to note) 2/35. Michael Beattie took a wicket in his next 2 overs, which sent Oscar & Flynn packing cheaply 3/38 & 4/42. Tom Swift and James Freddy opened up their arms and scored regularly with boundaries keeping the game at reach for OBC. With our bowlers keeping it tight it brought out some manufactured reverse sweeps which were working well until James missed one that went through Matt keeping and was tracked down by Wez on the boundary. Wez got the ball in the air quick, on target and with a direct hit and some lazy running James was caught short of his crease 5/98. Sam G knocked over Ashwin the very next ball 6/98 and a win was looking promising here for MP if we could take care of Swifty. Tom teed off on Leo’s next over with 15 off it and that left OBC 115/6 with 3 overs to go. Sammy G’s magic arm was too good for Swifty’s reverse sweep, and the ball crashed into the stumps 7/117. Leo and Harry bowled the remaining overs for not much, Harry picking up his second caught by Louis (getting him off the TFC) and that left OBC 129/8 after 20, 26 runs short. Harry, Beattie, Sammy G all picking up 2 sticks.

Wez

MP Sporting Edge Div.2 Red vs Heathcote @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20 – Win)

After losing the toss and being invited to bat on a flat looking #1 wicket, the new look aggressive top order were met with some tight bowling in the early stages, making it through to 37 for 3 after the powerplay, Sloane and Gill each making 16 at better than run a ball. The innings was teetering at 68 for 6 in the 11th but Caleb Cottom (29 off 30) partnered with the cousin of, George Devine, showing some fine genetics to go with his flowing locks with 29 off 23, the final total we progressed to of 130 did look defendable.

With McBride, Cupido and Robertson taking the bowling reins in the powerplay, Heathcote was held to 21 for 2 after 6 overs, the fielding backing the bowlers well. From there, Alex Maclennan (wicket off his second ball) and Devine (5th ball) continued the squeeze, and by the 15th over the asking rate was up to 9.4 an over. George would take two wickets in the 16th over to finish his spell with 3 for 17, one of those a nice outfield catch by Sloane. Next over, Heathcote learnt not to take on Sloane’s arm for two from the boundary, a pinpoint throw leaving the batsman miles short and their team 92 for 8 needing 13 an over. Alex Mac would take two wickets in the final over to finish with 3 for 27, Heathcote 20 runs short. Robertson’s 1 for 18 in the early stages also helping set the tone towards a good first up victory MP 130 /8 C Cottam 29 (30), G Devine 29 (23) beat Heathcote 110 all out G Devine 3 for 17, A Maclennan 3 for 27)

MP Sporting Edge Div.2 Red vs Burnside @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20 – Loss)

BWU took the opportunity to bat after winning the toss, however Jack Farries, promoted after his heroics the previous week, took a wicket with his second ball in the Red division. BWU steadied the ship somewhat to be 46/1 after the powerplay. Our next breakthrough would not be until the 11th over with the score at 70, Hamish snaffling a well taken catch. Unfortunately, before and after that point, the fielding effort included several dropped chances and misfields, as we struggled to back up our morning effort. BWU would go on to total 169 / 3, with 50 off the final 4 overs reflecting the base that they had built. Farries, Cupido and Devine taking a wicket each, Gilly getting his first stumping this season for good measure.

We set out to be enterprising with the bat in the chase, Sloane with a quick 14 early on as we got to 43/2 after 6 overs. The score was at 70 / 3 after 10 overs, Music (32 off 27) the only loss in that period, Reddy and Cottom trying to continue the momentum against an efficient Burnside attack. While maintaining 7 an over for most of the innings, it would ultimately prove not enough as we weren’t able to get the scoring the boost needed. Cottom (37 off 38) was run out by a good piece of fielding, Ash Reddy finished unbeaten with 32 off 32 but ultimately we would end up over 30 runs short. Lots of lessons from the game, we understand we need to up our fielding effort but on the positive side some good signs with various players contributing as times leading into three matches over the next week.

BWU 168 / 3 (L Cupido 1 for 26) beat MP 135 / 5 C Cottam 37 (38) T Music 32 (27) A Reddy 32* (32).

Tom Music

MP Burger Station Div 2 Black vs Riccarton @ Bishopdale (T20 - Loss)

Burger Station Div 2 Black got our T20 campaign under way against the top two sides in the grade. We started off with our first home fixture of the season, at Bishopdale (though we were disappointed to find Riccarton playing two games on our home deck while we had to head over to Richmond for game 2!). Riccarton won the toss and chose to field, despite being a couple of players down to start, and we opened up with Ranjith and Himanshu. Ranjith was soon back in the hutch after being turned down for a single and nearly running 2 on his own, while Himanshu (16) bashed a 6 and 4 in succession before chipping up a catch. We continued ticking along OK with Basa (8) and Darren (23) returning, leaving us 66/4 about halfway through our innings. We struggled for boundaries a bit after this. Callum (7), Sam Hall (11), Bellsy (14) and Jase Swensson (2) all came and went. Sam Coughlan, on debut, knocked the ball around nicely with Bellsy. Dave (0*) struggled to get bat on ball and, when he did, in the last over, ran Sam out for 9 trying to get things going. Jack (1*) picked up a single off the last ball to leave us at 112-9 off our 20 – a bit disappointing given a couple of missing fielders for several overs.

We opened up the bowling innings with Jase and Dave and got off to a strong start, with Dave picking up an LBW early in his first and second overs to reduce Riccarton to 15-2. Hassan Abdullah batted well for them despite ramping a ball into his own face, before Jack (1-11) cleaned him up, leaving Riccarton 38-3. However, a couple of Riccarton batsmen got together, batting sensibly and scoring lots of singles, as we struggled to make further inroads. Sam C (0-17 off 4) bowled nicely and kept things tight, Bellsy was also economical, while Dave (2-22 off 4) induced a catching chance off his last over that unfortunately went down, and Riccarton got to our score in the 19th over.

MP Burger Station Div 2 Black vs Richmond @ Richmond (T20 - Loss)

Off to Richmond for game 2, where we were put into bat again. Jack and Basa moved up to the seconds for game 2, while Anil and Mario joined our group. Thanks to them, as well as Jase, for helping out during a difficult week for selections. We lost Mario (1) and Himanshu (5) early on to leave us 12-2, but Anil and Darren put on a good partnership, including a beautiful cover-driven 6 from Anil before he was caught on 32 off 31 with our score at 64. Ranjith came and went before Callum joined Darren, with the pair batting through the rest of the innings, with Callum 10* and Darren 48* off 47 (not bad for a batter who dislikes T20s!) to bring our innings to a close at 115-4. Richmond bowled and fielded efficiently, but we’d have liked a few more runs on the board.

However, things got off to a perfect start with Dave’s first ball of the innings drawing a false shot to Bellsy diving at point. With Richmond 2-1 after the first over, things looked promising, but Dave then got carted for 20 off his second over while Jase also got hit around a bit, putting us on the back foot. Himanshu (1-34 off 4) replaced Dave and got our second wicket with the score at 54 in less than 10 overs, while Sam C (0-18 off 4) again bowled very tightly at the other end. Bellsy got a ball past top scorer van Zanten (56*), with about 40 left in the chase, but the stumping chance unfortunately went begging, while we also put down 3 catches in the innings. In the end, Richmond got home comfortably in the 17th over.

Both games reminded us how easily T20 games can turn. A couple of key opportunities in the field were missed, while we might have accumulated a few more runs in each game. Nonetheless, there were some promising signs, most particularly Sam’s very solid overs of spin in both games. We have 3 more games in the next week to look to get the combinations right with bat, ball and in the field.

Dave

MP Div 4 vs OBC @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win by default)

Unfortunately, the OBC opponents decided not to field a side. Our Div 2 lads are equal top of the grade, despite the disappointment of missing out on a game!

MP Div 6 Panthers vs Lancaster Park @ Hagley 3 (Win)

While Hagley Oval hosted the NZ vs Eng test match, the Panthers battle with the LPW Southern Strikers took place at the adjacent Hospital Corner. With the first challenge of finding a car park out of the way, next came the toss, with stand in captain Andy R losing the toss and being sent into bat on a deck with a good grass covering. Andy and Dean got off to a fast start and were delighted to find that the pitch was rock hard underneath and coming on consistently. Dean got a couple of 4s away with his trademark pull shot before edging one behind for 17. By now the bowling had tightened up and Andy and the incoming Max were made to work hard for their runs, with Andy getting run out right on drinks for 36 and with the team total at 67/2. The platform had been set for some fireworks in our second set of 20 and Joel got things rolling in typical fashion with a huge 6 over long on. Unfortunately, he was caught on the boundary trying to replicate it, making a quickfire 12. Max was next to go for a well made 27 as he started to try lift the run rate. Sunnie met a similar fate to Joel trying to clear the boundary. Glen and Conner then came together at 112/5 as things looked to be in danger of unravelling but a combination of quality cricket shots and hard running rewarded the pair with a 63 run partnership. Glen hit five 4s and two 6s as he posted his first fifty of the season with a better than run a ball 54, while Conner masterfully kept the score ticking over before getting caught and bowled for 25. Harsha initially walked out to bat forgetting to wear pads but thankfully it wasn't a foreshadow of his innings as he struck it out of the middle from ball one with a quick 10 not out to cap off our highest total of the season at 192/8 off our 40.

The fiery pace of Sunny and the suffocating control of Steve opened the Panthers bowling efforts and worked well in tandem to frustrate the Strikers opening batsmen. Harsha (2-11 off 5) came on as first change and immediately cashed in with some dangerous bowling outside off stump, getting an edge to Steve in the slips and then getting the other opener with a feather through to keeper Dean. Isuka at the other end was his usual persistent self and was rewarded with bowling the no.4 batsman and finishing with 1-13 off 5. Spinner Charan came on the over before drinks and registered his first wicket for the club, removing the last recognised batsman out caught to Harsha at backward point and finishing with figures of 1-24 off 5. At 65/4 at drinks we still had plenty of runs to play with but knew they still had some hitters to come. The strategy to hold Max back from opening the bowling to mix it up on their openers paid off after drinks as he was able to come in and hold up one end with his usual clutch bowling, finishing with 2-22 off 8. A quickfire 42 from their no.7 got them within striking distance, 155/7, needing 10 an over from the last 4 overs, however Steve came back and closed out his 8 overs with 1-35 while Andy snuck in a couple of miserly overs, before Isuka closed out the final over at 167/9. A 25 run win courtesy of a great team effort and a collaboration as persistent and in harmony as the tones we were treated to from the Barmy Army in the background of our game. The win marking our fourth consecutive victory and lifting us to 3rd place on the ladder.

Andy R

MP BBS Timbers Div 7 vs Woodend @ Gladstone Park (Loss)

The BBS Timbers Div 7 made the longish trek out to Gladstone Park to take on the dastardly Woodend team (well, really, only one of them, but he’s enough of one to taint the whole team, so...), hoping to continue our newly found form and run of wins. It’s a rubber ducky out there, so naturally we’d have wanted to win the toss and bat first. Equally naturally Nana lost the toss and Woodend chose to bat.

And, well... bat they did. Once Kieran got rid of one of their opening batsmen in the first over (who was actually their #11 who was on a pair and they wanted a triple to earn the team a keg – which we duly obliged), it was somewhat one way traffic. They have a reputation of being  a naturally aggressive batting team, a reputation which they soon lived up to. Scotty was brutal, as well as living up to his own reputation by launching a foul mouth rant at Kieran for a short pitched ball which, wonders of wonders, bounced a bit. More words were exchanged, Nana came in to defend Kieran’s honour, and we then carried on. Kieran bowled well, but Barrel was struggling after a hard and (very late) previous night, and got a bit of pasting from Scotty. Ash, our celebrity fill in, finally removed Scotty in the 12^th over, 72/2. And he dismissed the other opener (who had been determined to play as few shots as possible) in the 16^th over, 87/3. Woodend went into drinks well and truly on top on 114/3. Blake came on after drinks and immediately struck, 118/4. Unfortunately for us the runs (and dropped catches and misfields) continued after that. Indeed, the run rate only increased. It took until the 32^nd over before Goutam (also in his first over) took the next wicket, by which time they were on 222. When Goutam had the next batsman out stumped in the 34^th over, and Kieran had another in the 35^th,  we had them 244/7, with hopes that we could at least bowl them out. It was not to be, and Woodend finished on 277/7 in their 40.

They had obviously been stung by the pasting they had received from Swannanoa their previous game. We didn’t help our cause much though, by (in the main) an average bowling effort, and disappointing fielding performance. There were a number of dropped catches and misfields, and while it didn’t quite drop to the depths of our first few games, it was certainly a step backwards compared to our efforts over the last couple of weeks. Kieran was the standout bowler for us, with an impressive 2/29 from his 8 overs. Ash returned 2/45 from 8, Goutam 2/14 from 2, and Blake 1/24 from 2. Frosty was 0/59 from 8, Barrel 0/57 from 7, and 0/41 from 5. We also gave away 35 extras, including 23 wides. 

So – 278 to win. A mammoth task, which would require at least one batsman to stand up and deliver. It sure as heck wasn’t me, out for 2 in the second over, 4/1. Ash was next to go for 5 in the 5^th over, 21/2. Nana came out and was his normal aggressive self before being caught for a rapid 22 in the 10^th over, 57/3. While all this was going on, Kieran was at the other end smashing it to all corners. When he was bowled for a fine 48 from 39 balls in the 13^th over, that was pretty much game over. There was then somewhat of a procession, with Ayan and Sam out for blobs, and Amen for 3. Goutam hit a couple of lusty blows before going for 16, and Blake was out for 5. There was then a pretty good partnership (32) for the last wicket between Karim and Frosty, but the game was done and dusted when Frosty was out for 14 in the 29^th over, leaving Karim 19*, and us all out for 145. So with a defeat by 132 runs, our derrieres were well and truly handed to us, well done with lashings of plum sauce and sides of roast potatoes, broccoli and carrots, all served up on grandma’s favourite crockery. Other than Kieran’s bowling and batting, there were few highlights for us, which is reflected in our scorecard:

Bowling: C-. We generally just didn’t get it right, giving Woodend plenty of opportunities to smash the ball with the wind to the boundary (7 sixes and 25 boundaries illustrates that up nicely). 23 wides and 4 no balls also didn’t help.

Fielding: C-. We did in fact take some catches – but we also dropped just as many. Plus gave away runs from some average fielding. Just not up to the standard we had set for ourselves recently.

Batting: C. Hard to judge really – when needing 7 an over from ball one we were never going to bat as we normally would. Our run rate was pretty good, thanks in main to Kieran. But we just couldn’t stick around to threaten the score at all.

Hoping for a real reversal against Kaiapoi Gold next week.

Cheers

Richard

MP Masters vs Burnside @ Hagley Nursery (Loss)

Cheered on by the steady trumpeting and howls of delight of the Barmy Army over the fence at Hagley Oval, the Burnside Foxes beat Merivale Papanui by 9 wickets on a flat and lush Nursery Oval. MP Skipper Petros Kapralos called correctly and chose to bat, but they were soon in danger with 3 back in the shed within the first 9 overs. Mark Hume and Simon Cartmell steadied the innings with a mixture of defence and attack to add 64 for the fourth wicket, but when Cartmell fell for 27, a steady procession of wickets saw MP limping to 146 all out in the 37th over. Seven of the 10 wickets were bowled or LBW and Hume's 59 was the only other real resistance.

In response, the Foxes were measured, and made it to 20 over with half the required tally in the bank (74 for 1). Stefan Pienaar (16) the only batsman dismissed, deceived by a Steve Van Grunsven slower ball. Matthew Everest and Chris Kennedy raised the tempo after drinks, with a mixture of clean hitting and questionable running between the wickets. Both eventually finished unbeaten in the 60s - and the Foxes emerged as the comfortable victors by 9 wickets, and with 10 overs to spare.

MP 146/10 Hume 59 Cartmell 27 Cross 3-35 Kember 3-11 Burnside Foxes 147/1 Kennedy 60* Everest 62* Van Grunsven 1-14.

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs St Albans @ Polo 1A (Loss)

The T20 side put up a good fight trying to chase down 180 against their second successive St Albans side at the Polo Grounds, going down by 25 runs, with Jay Patel hitting 54 and Jaggi Bhupal 45.

North West Youth Cricket Results

NWY 1st XI vs St Bedes 1^st XI (Loss)

NWY 136 (A. Earl 65)

St Bedes 137/8 (J. Sim 2/2; T. Vesty 2/24; D. Wijetunga 2/12)

NWY 2nd XI vs Christ’s College Development XI (Loss)

NWY 159 (O. Fifield 25; B. Liyana 23; A. Guillemot 20*)

CC 161/5 (J. Milne 2/13; S. Waddell 2/49)

NWY Colts vs Sydenham (Loss)

Sydenham 296/8 (J. Moore 3/33; L. Kerr 2/49)

NWY 121 (L. Kerr 31)

NWY 3rd XI Green vs NWY 3rd XI Black (Win)

NWY Black 120 (T. Southgate 27; W. Brown 3/16; P. Williams 3/19)

NWY Green 121/2 (L. Roan 41; A. Wijewardene 35)

NWY 3rd XI Black vs NWY Green (Loss)

See above!

NWY Year 9A vs St CBHS (Loss)

CBHS 245/2

NWY 227/8 (A. Walikumbura 113*; R. Earl 26)

NWY Year 9B vs NWY Year 9C (Loss)

NWY 9C 241/6 (D. Mead 97; S. Beatty 51; H. Inns 27; J. Quinn 2/32)

NWY 9B 218/3 (M Haroon 53; T. Ellis 34; J. Quinn 24; L. Spicer 2/23; H. Inns 2/34)

NWY Year 9C vs NWY Year 9B (Win)

See above!

Article added: Wednesday 04 December 2024