KING'S CRUISE AFTER DOMINANT HOUR

March 30, 2018. King’s College vs. Auckland Grammar School. It is the biggest schoolboy rivalry in Auckland, but not one I can even begin to understand. There is tradition, there is history and on Thursday there was the small matter of booking a ticket to this year’s National First Eleven Tournament. As I would find out, the players know each other quite well. It muddles the rivalry; it’s not fierce, but it is personal.

After Saturday’s false start when Auckland Grammar were on the ropes at 108/6, King’s won the toss for the second time and there was audible excitement from the King’s camp when skipper Thorn Parkes motioned that he had decided to bowl first. The King’s ground staff quickly got the rope out to dry any early morning dew off the surface. I do wonder if the same would have been done had King’s been batting, but that is a story for another day.

Two or three overs in, the bell rang out for interval. Students flooded to the sideline and the questions started to fly. Is it a good pitch? When do we bat? Why aren’t they swinging the bat? Why can’t we get a wicket? Some admitted to knowing little about the game, but what else was there to do but support their school during the break?

While I survived the interval break unscathed, Auckland Grammar did not. They lost a lunging Flynn Dudson when his inside edge looped from his pad to square leg. The crowd roared. The bell rung. The crowd groaned.

As classes resumed, Parkes dived full-length to his right to snaffle a thrashed flat-batted shot at wide mid-off. Oliver White stood in disbelief before picking himself up and trudging off. The celebration suggested it was a big wicket; Grammar were in early trouble at 19/2 after six overs.

A lot of the early scoring went through my favourite area of the ground – third man. It was only appropriate that the first boundary found its way through there as well. Any remaining dew meant there were run out opportunities, but the throwing wasn’t as accurate and powerful as required.

The host’s opening bowlers went unchanged through the first ten overs. When they came off, so did the pressure. Ben Megson and Tim Florence took advantage of some wayward and at times ill-disciplined bowling. Free hits. Boundaries. Misfields. The pair had King’s searching for answers while talk from the Grammar tent veered towards what a good total might be. They settled on 180 and for a while there, it looked like they were going to cruise past it.

Tom Simmonds found the outside edge of Megson. The keeper took a simple catch. Megson was unimpressed with the decision. It was in the book. It didn’t stop Grammar’s momentum as the 15th over went for 14 runs. Two free hits were pulled away to the boundary as Parkes struggled to land his leg-spinners.

King’s tightened things up before drinks as Cory Dickson was introduced into the attack. At 80/3, Grammar had a platform. It didn’t take long for King’s to build some pressure. Florence tried to line the consistent Hari Kukreja up. Rather than hit through the ball, he got underneath it and it flew high over the Kukreja’s head. Parkes sprinted back from mid-off, called off mid-on and took a fine running catch.

It took four Hugo Hill overs to run through the Grammar middle order. The left-arm orthodox spinner had his first wicket with a well-flighted delivery outside off. The batsman shimmied past it and could not get back in time. A leg-before followed. Left-handed batsman. Around the wicket. It looked like it pitched outside leg and perhaps even a little high, but the umpire was in the best position to make the decision.

Parkes took his third catch – this time a hard-hit pull taken at a short mid-wicket. He didn’t have long to react but got his hands above his head in time to continue the onslaught. It didn’t take long to make it four. Four balls, in fact. Hill found the outside edge and Parkes flung his hands to his right at first slip. Grammar had slipped from 80/3 to 100/8 by the second drinks break. Remarkable collapse. Utter dominance by King’s.

Josh Driscoll and Josh Stephan commendably battled on in hope of getting Grammar a total to defend and through to 50 overs. With the 9th wicket partnership going past 40 and King’s looking tetchy, Parkes chimed in once again. He dove to his right across the tired pitch square, saved the ball and returned it to the keeper. It was enough to break the partnership. The tenth wicket soon followed and Grammar were all out with 131 on the board.

If fizz was anything to go by, Grammar were up for it. They would need to turn that energy into belief. Inconsistencies started to show in the wicket and King's took their time. Saxon Gough was the first to go (and first to be sent off) as he failed to connect with his lavish drive. Tom Simmonds followed soon after when he was trapped in front. Grammar were counting dotties and King’s were in a spot of bother at 24/2 at the end of the opening ten overs.

Nathan Robinson played positively to get the score moving. In the 11th over, he found space in the outfield hitting four twos and a three. He was particularly comfortable down the ground. Grammar were offered several opportunities to affect a run out. The one time they did hit the stumps, it proved fruitless. King’s went to drinks at 59/2.

'This is our last chance' rang out of the Grammar huddle at the break. Leon Marconi went through Robinson to give the visitors hope. There wasn’t much of a gathering as the players were back in position before the next batsman entered the field. Grammar meant business and there was still time to make something happen.

Even at 80/4, when a simple caught and bowled came on the back of some tight overs, there was hope. Enter Fraser Hardy. With his captain, the pair found the boundary thrice in as many overs to push towards the psychological three-figure mark. I never like to count the runs down, but with every look at the scoreboard, I found myself doing it.

Parkes (42*) had played patiently and did so until the end. It was a mature captain’s knock. The left-hander deserved the match’s only half-century, but Hardy’s confident strokeplay had King’s racing toward the total. With 20 or so to get, King’s wanted to finish the job. Grammar obliged taking their foot off the pedal. The final few runs came easy and when Parkes dabbed a two to third man, King’s had cruised home by 6 wickets with over 12 overs to spare.

If not for an hour of madness, there were signs of an even contest. In the end, King’s ran away with the momentum and booked their ticket to the National First Eleven Tournament.