Destructive Preston shines with bat and in the field …..
 
Game: Kaipaki Gold vs Star Varsity
Venue: Swarbrick # 1 (Artificial)  
Date: Saturday 14th November 2015
Weather: Dry, Windy, Sometimes Warm, Sometimes Cold, Sleeveless Vests were the clothing option of the day
Toss: No Toss Required - Kaipaki Captain sweet talked Opposition Captain into bowling first. Kaipaki batted First
 
Team / Batting Order:, Dan Fenwick, Darin Armstrong, Deane Bellis, Musti Kapadia, Ryan Preston, Brad Leonard, Dane Bulloch, Nick Binnie, Wayne Clifford, Howie Baker, Taz Kapadia
 
Result: Kaipaki Won By 174 Runs
 
Match Statistics:
Kaipaki 262 in 33 overs
Kaipaki Batting: Ryan Preston 83, Darin Armstrong 37, Brad Leonard 33, Dan Fenwick 31, Deane Bellis 0,  Wides 95
 
 
Star Varsity: 88 All Out in 23.3 overs
 
Match Summary
 
The Team this week consisted of Bradford Leonard, making his Kaipaki Gold debut after 4 years in the Kaipaki Nation wilderness and Ryan Preston making his 1st  Kaipaki appearance for the season.
 
As mentioned above, no toss was required this week as the Kaipaki Captain – using an old Jedi mind trick  - coerced the opposition Captain into fielding first – thus giving the Kaipaki boys an opportunity to get some runs on the board…..
 
The tried and true opening pair of D. Fenwick and D. Armstrong once again showed that this is indeed a winning  opening partnership as they took the score briskly to 66 before D. Armstrong was out, caught at deep point, chasing a wide delivery.
 
This caused a mini collapse – actually it was only Deane Bellis  - who was out shortly after, for a golden duck…
 
Musti Kapadia came and went for a quick dozen and Dan Fenwick fell shortly before drinks for a well compiled 31.
 
This bought Brad Leonard and Ryan Preston to the crease and together they dispatched the Varsity bowlers to all parts of the park.
 
Preston especially was in an attacking mood – hitting ten 4’s and three big 6’s before skying one and getting caught for 83.
 
B. Leonard looked good on his way to 33.
 
Wickets fell regularly after that with the Kaipaki batsmen trying to keep the run rate ticking along – finally being dismissed for 262 with an over still remaining.
 
The return of Howie Baker from his O.E. also meant the return of the BBQ – and this week we were treated to Squid Rings, Burgers and Chicken Kebabs….
 
After the Break, Deane Bellis (resplendent with Yellow Headband) took the new ball and it was decided that we would continue with our tradition (The Kaipaki Trap) of opening the bowling with a spinner at the other end…..with Taz Kapadia doing the honours again this week.
 
I don’t have the scorebook so cant really remember how it all played out…….so here are the highlights as I remember them…..
 
·         D.Bellis got a couple of wickets,
·         R. Preston got a couple of Run Outs,
·         Nick Binnie replaced Bellis and may or may not have got a wicket,
·         Musti replaced Nick Binnie and took a couple of wickets – including a sharp caught and bowled.
·         Dan Fenwick hobbled off the field , faking a back injury after dropping a goober….
·         His replacements – Thomas Swart-Leonard and Riley Binnie – were superb in the field
·         Howie Baker – bowled 6 overs of dribble and took a few wickets,
·         Dan Fenwick –returned to the field from his near “Career Ending” back injury.
·         Fenwick, in his usual “The Cleaner” manner, replaced Howie Baker and cleaned up the last wicket with his 2nd ball of the over.
·         Star Varsity all out for 88.
 
A great team effort with both bat and ball.
 
Man of the Match – Ryan Preston 83 runs and a couple of sharp run outs…..
 
Women of the Match – Donna Leonard (as she now wishes to be known) – Congratulations Bradford….I assume Wedding Invites to be sent out shortly….
 
Next Week we have Eastlink at our new Ohaupo Base…
 
Who’s keen ?
Bones
Chairman Of Convenor Of Selectors
Kaipaki Gold
 
Darin Armstrong
Business Owner

Kaipaki Gold, some young, some old, some masculine, some feminine - make it two from two for the season!
 
Game: Kaipaki Gold vs HSK Blue
Venue: Kaipaki Oval (Artificial)  
Date: Saturday 7th November 2015
Weather: Perfect
Toss: Kaipaki Won Toss and Elected To Bat
 
Team / Batting Order: T Kapadia, EJ Parker, DM Bellis, AJ Rout ,WCD Clifford, RGJ Sim, NG Binnie, DA Faville, DK Bullock, GD Harvey, DE Groves
 
Result: Kaipaki Won By 5 Runs
 
Match Statistics:
Kaipaki 215/9 in 35 overs
Kaipaki Batting: Roddie Sim 84*, Nick Binnie 32, Wides 99
 
HSK Blue: 210 All Out in 34.1 Overs
 
Match Summary
 
With a further 74 frontline players and all other males in New Zealand unavailable for this weekend’s fixture, up stepped two of the Nations (Kaipaki and New Zealand) most promising young female cricketers – Emma Parker and Alisha Rout – to help out the Gold bit. Also contributing his valuable time and energy to helping out - Socrates (Cooch) Windgrass of Footrot Flats fame.
 
With two chiefs running the show today (Messrs Bellis and Clifford), deciding batting orders and bowling sequences was always going to be challenging. Fortunately with Emma and Alisha offering to sit near the top order and Dom Groves offering to bat up the rear – filling in the gaps was relatively easy. Bellis at 3, Clifford at 5 and the rest could sort themselves out.
 
Bellis took Clifford’s double sided coin to the middle of the pitch for a toss, which he duly won - all whilst some foreign journalist hovered around the two captains on his Segway taking still shots of the traditional event.
 
T Kapadia [again] opened the batting with E Parker who both poked and prodded the opposition attack. Parker got a beautiful away swinging bouncer from bowler #77 and was adjudged leg before wicket with a big donut against her name.
 
D Bellis arrived at the crease and duly went about cementing the number 3 batting position, caressing his way to double figures with a raft of superbly timed nicks and cross bat shots.
 
Kapadia failed [again] trying a cute bat pad number, which brought A Rout to the crease who at number 4 was expected to put 50 on the board. Unfortunately she offered a caught and bowled to bowler # 18 whilst also on nought.
 
W Clifford came in looking to continue the form displayed in his man of the match performance the previous week. However he failed to get his bat in front of a delivery coming straight on and was the third LBW victim to some overly generous Kaipaki umpiring.
 
Enter Roddie Sim. 664111446468116661111144 read his scorecard. Enough said
 
Nick Binnie superbly held up the other end for Sim and contributed a well struck 32
 
A couple of others came and went (not worth mentioning) with the final score being 215/9 after 35 overs. A competitive total, but something the Gold bit would have to work hard to defend
 
After the break, Dom Groves and Kapadia took the new ball. Groves comes from county Kent in England and that’s a long way away from Kaipaki. He also bowls with incredible heat something not seen in the Gold team since E Stevens graced the Oval. Anyhow he proved too much for both batsman and keeper (D Bullock) beating both in a fiery opening spell. The off stump of opening batsman 43 flying through the air was a magnificent sight leaving the on looking crowd demanding more.
 
Kapadia also comes from abroad, however his opening spell only produced runs for the batsman. The Kaipaki Trap this week failed to work. Suspicions of dodgy backroom deals and bribery came to the minds of some as HSK’s score appeared to climb exponentially in the afternoon sun.
 
The ball was thrown to E Parker. By changing things up, keeping the batsman guessing it was a coup that worked! Batsman 13 holed out to Groves who took a regulation catch in the deep. A Rout was then given the opportunity and with some trickery and cunning, fooled two middle order batsman (#74 and #26) by taking their leg and middle stumps respectively. By doing so, relegated Howie Baker to 73rd  best spinner in Kaipaki…
 
However the scoreboard continued to tick over with irregular regularity. The game was in the balance with runs and balls neck and neck. Clifford and Groves produced some timely economy rates which swung the game in Kaipaki’s favour.
 
However come the final over and these two had bowled their allotted overs. With HSK requiring 6 runs to win (closer inspection of scorebook later suggests they needed a further 12 runs…) the responsibility was passed to D Bellis to bring it home. A surprisingly successful shout for LBW with his first ball saw HSK Blue bowled out for 210 (per scoreboard)!
 
Two from Two for the Gold bit. A great team effort with both bat and ball – and thanks to the guys and girls who stepped up and filled in at late notice.
 
D. Bellis (Kaipaki Cricketer Of The Year 2011)
Co-Captain and Death Bowler
Kaipaki Gold

Newbies and Old Heads combine to roll Old Boys – and keep Kaipaki Gold undefeated…..
 
Game: Kaipaki Gold vs Hamilton Old Boys
Venue: Swarbrick # 2 (Artificial)  
Date: Saturday 31st October 2015
Weather: Dry, Windy, Sometimes Warm, Sometimes Cold, A Good Day For A Picnic
Toss: Kaipaki Won Toss and Elected To Bat
 
Team / Batting Order: Taz Kapadia, Darin Armstrong, Deane Bellis, Roddie Sim, Steve Dalgety, Bevan Bayne, Jerem Wylie, Wayne Clifford, David Faville, Kent Currie, Nick Groves
 
Result: Kaipaki Won By 60 Runs
 
Match Statistics:
Kaipaki 181/8 in 35 overs
Kaipaki Batting: Jerem Wylie 32, Kent Currie 31*, Wayne Clifford 29*, Wides 26
 
 
Hamilton Old Boys: 121 All Out in 23.4 overs
 
Match Summary
 
With 22 frontline players and about 40 other friends and family all unavailable for this weekends fixture, Kaipaki turned up at Swarbrick Park with only 9 players against last years Finalists – Hamilton Old Boys.
 
A quick phone call had Nick Groves agree to climb out of his death bed and offer to arrive just after the start of play and Kent Currie managed to conveniently talk Morgan into taking a family picnic at picturesque Swarbrick Park – so he was due to arrive around 2.30pm – to give us 11.
 
The 11 consisted of Steve Dalgety, making his Kaipaki debut after 14 years in the Cricketing wilderness and Bevan “Blocker” (Crocker ?) Bayne making his 2nd  Kaipaki appearance –  and at very late notice.
 
Nobody wanted to be Captain – so given that D. Armstrong had the Team Gear in the boot of his car – that apparently made him Captain…
 
He duly won the toss and elected to bat to give time (hopefully) for Nick and Kent to arrive.
 
T. Kapadia and D. Armstrong opened the batting and after seeing off the first 3 balls with relative ease, Taz thought the 4th ball needed to go over the fence, but early season rust saw him mistime the shot and balloon the ball to mid on. Kaipaki 0/1 in the 1st over. Hurry up Nick and Kent !
 
D. Bellis arrived at the crease and after surviving a hearty caught behind appeal early on, put on a 38 run partnership before D. Armstrong holed out at Mid On trying to up the run rate. Where are you Nick and Kent ?
 
Bellis and Roddie Sim then put on 40 runs in good time – before Sim was adjudged LBW last ball before Drinks. Shortly after, Taz was seen loading a bag full of $20 notes into the boot of his car…..
 
A couple of quick wickets straight after drinks and Kaipaki were teetering at 81/5. Nick had arrived – no sign of the Kent and the girls…..
 
Jerem Wylie arrived at the crease (with a knee injury) and unable to run, plundered a quick fire 32 including 3 large 6’s.
 
His dismissal was quickly followed by that of D. Faville and Kaipaki were once again on the ropes at 127/8.
 
However, by now the Currie Family had arrived and Kent wandered to the crease with his confused wife and children still sitting on their Picnic Blanket wondering why Daddy had changed clothes and where he was now going with his Cricket Bat….
 
Kent, with some powerful hitting and Wayne Clifford chiming in at the other end, put on an unbeaten 55 runs in the last few overs – taking Kaipaki to a respectable 181/8 after their allotted 35 overs.
 
After the Break, David Faville took the new ball and it was decided that we would continue with our tradition (The Kaipaki Trap) of opening the bowling with a spinner at the other end…..
 
The Kaipaki Trap worked a treat and Taz had the 1st wicket in his 2nd over with debutant Steve Dalgety taking a great catch out on the mid wicket boundary.
 
Dave Faville had the dangerous Greg “Runty” New caught in the following over – Bevan Bayne calling for the high ball (to which 3 other fielders were most grateful) and gobbling the ball up in his big crocodile hands….
 
Taz then had Captain Compost caught at slip by Jerem Wylie and Kaipaki were on the march !
 
Enter Wayne Clifford and Steve Dalgety to the bowling crease.
 
The old head and the newbie then proceed to clean up the rest of the Old Boys batsmen – taking wickets at regular intervals.
 
Clifford with his experience, using flight and guile and all parts of the bowling crease, to end up with 4/17 from 6.4 overs.
 
Dalgety at the other end, bowling his military mediums, settled into a good line and length and ended up with 3/42 - bowling his 7 overs on the trot.
 
Old Boys all out for 121.
 
A great team effort with both bat and ball – and thanks to the guys who stepped up and filled in at late notice.
 
Man of the Match – Wayne Clifford (29* and 4/17). A good day out for the Big Red Dog.
 
Women of the Match – Morgan, Charlotte and Alexandra Currie.
 
Given the performance this week, those guys who were away this weekend may find it difficult to break back into the starting ranks next weekend…..
 
Tune In Next Week To Find Out……
 
Bones
Chairman Of Convenor Of Selectors
Kaipaki Gold
 
Darin Armstrong
Business Owner