Hi <<First Name>>

 

It was great to be back testing ourselves in the Two Day format.
At 28/4 after being sent in by Ellerslie the demons of pre-Christmas were certainly raising their heads.
But this is a stronger team now who knows how to stay in a contest. The comeback led by a stoic Stephen Baard & Tendai Chitongo and capped off by a magnificent knock from Ben Wall, showed what we are about.
To score 235 on what was a testing wicket was a great result. 

Backing up on the Sunday was always going to be where the game was won. We wanted immediate pressure and that’s what we got securing a wicket in the first over.
Ellerslie didn’t roll over which made us work for everything on what became an increasingly battery friendly wicket. But our style of relentless run rate pressure payed off and we eventually secured a first innings win bowling Ellerslie out for 125 odd. 

We pushed for the outright but a few things didn’t go our way and eventually the hot temperatures, flat wicket, and lack of overs saw the game petter out to a first innings win to us.

All up we are delighted to find ourselves only four points behind 1st place and look forward to another outing at home this weekend against Waitakere. 

-  Chris Reid
Coach

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Hard Yakka!

Premiers

After being sent in to bat on a fresh green wicket, the Shore top order really struggled against the moving ball falling to 29/4.
Then 29/4 became 60/5.
Stephen Baard, the lone survivor from the top order, played patiently but was adjudged to be out LBW before North Shore made 100. Carl Brungar stayed with Tendai Chitongo and the pair dragged North Shore back into the match.
Brungar was dismissed for a stoic 23, but Chitongo found another reliable partner in the irrepressible Ben Wall. They put on 51 runs for the 9th wicket, taking North Shore over 200. Chitongo ended with 82 valuable runs in a score of 235.
Ellerslie lost a wicket in the first over before they played out the last 15 overs of Day One.
On Day Two Brungar picked up a wicket in the first over of the day on his way to a vital four wicket haul. Fiery spells from the McKenzie brothers, Angus and Jock, then left Ellerslie struggling at 112/6 at lunch. Tendai then continued his good form with the ball to pick up the last three wickets and knock Ellerslie over for 128 and secure 1st innings points.
North Shore enforced the follow-on and after two early wickets, the visitors were eying outright victory.

Stephen Baard dives to cover, while Ben Wall and Angus McKenzie look on as Sam Hinds desperately juggles the ball to no avail.

However, a combination of dropped catches, solid batting and a flat pitch allowed Ellerslie to hold on.
A good performance after a shaky start from the Premiers sees them move into 2nd in the Tom Hellaby Championship with all to play for this Saturday, at home, against Waitakere.

Reserves

North Shore suffered an outright loss against table topping Suburbs.
The day started well when Shore won the toss and elected to bat on a fairly worn deck. Going in with the  approach of time at the crease being crucial when batting first to allow the wicket to deteriorate futher, Shore showed a patient approach.
Unfortunately, as has often been the case this season, there were plenty of starts and balls faced without a single batsman kicking on to make a meaningful contribution.
Wickets fell slowly but the runs even slower so despite 58 overs in the middle a measly 111 was all Shore had to show for the grafting sessions. 
An early wicket gave some hope but a 58 run partnership that followed made the task of defending it nearly impossible.
Despite the uphill battle Shore stayed in the game and when three wickets fell for 10 runs, the game again came alive at 68-4.
As is the way in small totals a few 10 to 15 run partnerships made the chase all but done for Suburbs at the end of Day One, with the score 102 - 6.
Some early morning excitement occurred when two wickets were taken leaving Suburbs at 109 - 8.
A few nervy overs with balls narrowly missing the edge or the stumps had the fans on the edge of their seats but Suburbs passed it, eventually to be dismissed for 135. 
In a repeat of the first innings there were again some starts but nothing of substance, leaving Suburbs with a small chase of 75 which was achieved 2 down. 

Shore take on ECB in the coming weekends at Windsor Park.    

3rd Grade

North Shore were away this week at Windsor Reserve taking on East Coast Bays as we start up their Two Day campaign.
Shore lost the toss and were sent into bowl, fantastic decision to lose Liam, as the pitch was very green the ball was moving around seaming and swinging.
As standard this year Watto (3-9 from 7)continued his form taking both openers in quick secession, immediately putting pressure on ECB. We continued hitting our line and length and making life difficult. Lewis Goodwin (2-23 from 11) and Alex Pascoe were also hitting good areas, not allowing any freebies while taking out the middle order. 
We were on top and sensed a low 1^st innings total was beckoning. Nic Grantham came on to bowl taking 3 quick wickets finishing on 3-16 from his 5.  North Shore bowling ECB out for 96 in the 1^st innings.
In reply, Shore struggled. The pitch was still moving around and very much still a bowling haven. Our top order battled finding it hard to get anything away and, combined with a very slow outfield, we seemed to be losing a wicket every 10 runs. Shore were simply unable to put any partnerships together. Things were a bit tense at four for 30.
However, Nic Grantham came into bat and consolidated the Shore middle order showing ECB they weren’t just going be handed first innings points. Grantham finished with 45no and got Shore home for 1^st innings on Day One. With a lead of 9 we were 105 for 7 at stumps. Great result to end the day.   
Starting Day Two we wanted to build on getting 1st innings points and built a bit of a lead. The wicket was still a green top and gave nothing to the batsman. We were bowled out for 113, a lead of 17.
Shore came out to bowl hungry for an outright win Zac Watson and Rory Bessel opening up continuing in the same fashion as the 1^st innings, Watto picking up another three quick wickets. Mania Harris came into bowl and what a spell of fast bowling!
ECB had no idea. Mania's tail was up and fear was in the batsman’s eyes. Mania finishing on 3-15 from his 6 putting Shore well on top. Wickets from Alex Pascoe and Lewis Goodwin we quickly had ECB all out for 78 fantastic effort.
Needing 63 to win Fynbar Heron and Joe Moore built a solid partnership and brought home the win by 7 wickets! This means North Shore are now sitting second on the table only slightly behind Grafton.  

Another Good Win

Emily Handyside takes a stunning catch

Our Sportslink International Premier Reserve Women's Team were back on the field this week in their first game after Christmas against Papatoetoe on Devonport Domain.

NSCC lost the toss and were sent in to bat.
Openers Melita Tu'isila and Libby Easterbrook got the team off to a good start being 24 off four when Melita was run out for 18. Libby (10) played one on in the next over bringing Emily Handyside and Rhian Bennett together at the crease.
They batted together through to the 14th over when Rhian fell to more sharp fielding from Papatoetoe for 17. Emily was dismissed with four balls left in the game after scoring a well crafted 30 off 35 balls.
This brought Lucy Nicoll to the crease in her debut match (as in first ever game of cricket). Lucy nudged one off the first ball to give the more experienced Milly the strike. At the end of 20 overs NSCC were 103/5.

Milly Yorke struck with the second ball, clean bowling the Papatoetoe opener and the wickets fell at regular intervals.  Scout Hallman and Jasmine Perry both bowled well but didn't pick up any wickets.
Papatoetoe were dismissed for 47 in the 14th over. Some pretty good bowling figures from our wicket takers:

Milly: 2 overs 10 runs 1 wicket
Rhian: 2 overs 4 runs 1 wicket
Libby: 3 overs 1 maiden 3 runs 2 wickets
Emily: 2 overs 11 runs 2 wickets 
Melita: 1.1 overs 1 maiden 0 runs 2 wickets