The Christchurch Junior Cricket Associations two Boys teams both came away with Trophies following the recent South Island Primary Schools Tournament held in Oamaru.
The Red team coached by Scott Pawson & Stuart Ellison remained unbeaten throughout the event to win the Sir Jack Newman Trophy. The team had 2 close calls on Day 2 of the event with minnows West Coast almost causing the boilover of the events history with the Red team winning with just 1 wicket left. The Red team then faced the strong Canterbury Country team in the afternoon winning by 1 wicket with just 2 balls remaining.
The teams 6/6 record in the 20/20 phase of the event meant they faced South Canterbury in the semi final and had to graft out a competitive 156 batting first off 35 of the 40 available overs. A focused fielding effort backed up by tight bowling restricted South Canterbury’s chase and they came up 35 runs short of the target.
In the final the Red team faced Canterbury Country again and batting first Country amassed a solid 180 in their 40 overs. After losing a wicket to the first ball of their innings Red’s batters 2-4 totalled 128 at a good run rate and eventually scored the winning runs with 14 balls and 2 wickets to spare.
The CJCA Black team coached by Jason Stewart & Adam Prescott started nervously and dropped its first 2 games on Day 1 which meant that they needed to be perfect and rely on other results to try and make the Top bracket and still play for the main prize later in the week. The team put in a great effort on Days 2 and 3 winning all 4 games and finishing with the 2nd best net run-rate in the 20/20 phase of the tournament but other results didn’t go their way and they ended up in the 5th-8th bracket.
In their semi they got redemption in defeating one of their first day tormentors with a 85 win over Otago Country after posting 220 just shy of 40 overs. In the final for the Derek Cockburn Cup, Black dismissed Mid Canterbury for just 58 and took just over 10 over to win the match by 9 wickets.
All in all the event was a superb experience for the Boys and the CJCA thanks them all for their efforts and for the many parents and supporters who travelled south to support the teams.
Next years event will be hosted by the Buller Cricket Association in Westport.