Old Boys lost their final match of the 50-over one-day league against Burnside West Uni last weekend to miss out on the semi-finals of that competition, just a year after winning the whole thing. Their focus now turns to the two-day competition, where Old Boys are fifth – but only the equivalent of one win behind leaders Burnside.
Old Boys captain Jack Lewis said they have struggled to string results together in recent games.
“I think we’ve just been a bit unlucky here and there, we haven’t really put together a solid team performance for the last few weeks,” he said
“We always want to win games, get a few young guys some opportunities in prems and look to build for next season and finish on a high.
“It’s really just about sorting out a couple deficiencies we’ve had with the bat and maybe sticking to a plan a bit longer with the ball and really nailing those down.”
Lewis said it was “disappointing” to miss out on the finals in the one-dayers. We wanted to obviously have a chance to defend our title in the finals, but to not even make it to a semi was a tough pill to swallow,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, we just weren’t good enough, so we didn’t deserve to be there.”
With three games to go across six weeks in the two-day competition, Burnside lead the way on 75.8 points, followed by Lancaster Park (62.8) and Heathcote (61.1).
Old Boys face winless St Albans on Saturday and will be looking to force their way up the table, while Burnside play Lancaster Park in a top of the table clash at St Albans Park.
Heathcote travel to play fourth-placed Sydenham while East Shirley host Merivale-Papanui – who are also winless.
In the women’s one-day competition, North West and Sydenham are set to vie for a spot in the final in the last few weeks of the season.
With five rounds remaining, the two teams sit in second and third, both on 38 points, well behind leaders Lancaster Park on 53, while Old Boys prop up the table on 23 points.
The top two women’s teams play in the final at the end of the season. The competition was won by Lancaster Park last year.
North West beat Sydenham by seven wickets at the weekend to draw level with them on points but move ahead thanks to a superior net run-rate.
On Saturday, North West host Lancaster Park at Burnside Park while Sydenham travel to Elmwood Park to take on Old Boys.
Sydenham all-rounder Raunaq Kapur made a short trip home to represent his native Hong Kong.
The 20-year-old played three matches against Malaysia and Hong Kong A in a series that served as preparation for a busy year that includes Asia Cup and T20 World Cup qualifiers.
Kapur took a wicket in each game he played but saw limited opportunity with the bat down the order, scoring five in his only innings against Malaysia.
He has previously played for Hong Kong’s U19 side in 2019 and played twice for their senior team as a 15-year-old in the same year.
Kapur then moved to Christchurch to pursue cricketing opportunities – alongside now-Sydenham teammate Aarush Bhagwat and Lancaster Park’s Kalhan Marc Challu. He has since represented Canterbury’s U19 and A sides and flew home early from his Hong Kong commitments to play for Canterbury A against Auckland.
