College qualifies for Gillette Cup!

The Boys’ 1st XI Cricket team has qualified for the prestigious Gillette Cup following a tense victory over Mt Albert Grammar School (MAGS) in the Auckland Districts final yesterday. The Gillette Cup began in 1990 and is the national tournament for secondary school one-day cricket. Each Major Association finds their representatives through a knockout competition, with the six district champions progressing to the national finals.

The College was up against MAGS on neutral territory at Melville Park in Epsom. MAGS batted first and reached 199-8 from its 50 overs. Two innings of 62 and 78 significantly helped their cause. Sandeep Patel took four wickets and was on a hat-trick at one stage after bowling a two-wicket maiden. He finished with figures of 10 overs, 4 maidens, 4 wickets for 21 runs. Simon Keene, Angus Anderson and Sajith Dhambagolla also took one wicket a piece while Jamie Parker affected a run out.

In reply, Saint Kentigern was in trouble early as opener, Sandeep was removed for no score in the first over. Finn Allen was out shortly after in the fifth over, having made eight runs with the score at 19. Jimmy Webb was judged to be LBW for 20 at 54-3 in the 14th before Conor Ansell and Fergus Ellis steadied the ship. Having opened the batting, Conor played an anchoring role, scoring 46 from 106 balls to help his team to 149-4 from 34 overs. Fergus bludgeoned his way to 76 not out from 66 balls including six fours and three sixes to reach the 200 runs needed with seven overs to spare. Sajith Dhambagolla played a cameo role with a knock of 26 not out.

The Gillette Cup finals will be played in December, with this the fourth time the College has qualified. Good luck, boys!