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Game I of Season 2005/06
Saturday 17 December 2005
Conditions: Overcast, Humid & Hot
Toss: Porirua (elected to field)
Result: Porirua won by 67 Runs
Man of the Match: Andrew Torrance
Saturday 17 December 2005
Conditions: Overcast, Humid & Hot
Toss: Porirua (elected to field)
Result: Porirua won by 67 Runs
Man of the Match: Andrew Torrance
"A glorious day of cricket. Torrance again proved the match-winner with decisive runs and miserly bowling, ably supported by Cockburn. Lees and Denman provided hope in the run chase, but once dismissed the Porirua challenge fizzled out."
Yesterday, the Rosebowl crackled with energy and tension, as the players delivered to the cricketing world a magnificent contest filled with excitement, drama, and more turning points than an East Coast road.
It was, quite simply, the best game of Haywards Shield cricket to date. This game had everything - huge wickets, massive sixes, and even a couple of incredible run-outs. Here's how it panned out:
Porirua finally won its first toss in history and sent the Hutt Valley in on a dry, hard pitch which was offering very little in the way of sideways movement, but was expected to produce considerable swing with the brand new ball, a lot of moisture in the air, and some cloud cover overhead.
With Au and Torrance opening, the breakthrough was not long in coming as Au hit a ball almost directly to Sam Denman at short midwicket. Au set off for the run but was sent back by his partner, but had advanced too far down the pitch to recover his ground before Denman threw down the stumps at the strikers end with a direct hit to send Au packing for 1.
The next two, however proved much more difficult for Porirua to dislodge. When he got to the bowling crease, Denman struggled in his first over in the Shield with Torrance hitting four sixes off him, and conceding 28 for the over altogether. Spencer also took some punishment early with the Hutt blasting 20 off his first over. The 50 partnership between Torrance and Cockburn came up in double-quick time, and so did another half-century for Torrance himself.
After a few tight overs, the Hutt elected to use their first Powerplay with Rose bowling. All fielders except Rose had to leave the field, but it was Rose who took full advantage as he removed the dangerman, Torrance as he edged behind a sharply lifting ball wide outside off-stump. The Porirua fielders who were watching procedings from beyond the boundary rushed on to the field in a frenzy of celebration at the dismissal, and the Powerplay over was completed with a wicket taken and just four runs conceded.
Johnson was the next man in. On debut, he combined well with Cockburn. The run-rate, however, slowed as they looked to take a few quick singles instead of trying to find the rope. Rose missed several chances to break the partnership - the ball seemed to follow him around as first he missed the stumps from just a few metres away to squander an opportunity to run out Cockburn at the strikers end, then fumbled a catch that Johnson skied towards midwicket - the ball got too big on him as it deflected off a few leaves of the trees in that region. Incidentally, the spot where the catch was spilled was more-or-less exactly where McHugh spilled a similar one during Game II of 2003/04 which caused Rose to explode in anger. McHugh let Rose know about it too - good-humouredly. Then with the Hutt players taking a very dodgy single hit straight to Rose, he picked the ball up beautifully running foward, but tried to throw the stumps down at the Hill End with a thunderbolt throw, when a simple underarm lob to McHugh standing over the stumps would have caught Cockburn short of his ground.
Finally, however Rose held on to one off the bowling of Denman. Cockburn tried to slog the ball back over the bowlers head, but he got under it too much allowing Rose to complete a comfortable catch on the straight boundary. Still, it was a good innings from Cockburn - the 39 he made was his highest in his Shield career.
The Hutt tail was mopped up by an unlikely bowler. Spencer, with a bowling average of over 150, defied the odds and the statisticians to deceive Johnson into chipping one in the air on the offside. Denman, with a sore toe and a still-dodgy knee managed to put the pain aside as he hobbled in from cover as fast as he could to take the catch, taking one for the team.
The very next ball, Spencer snuck one through the defences of Christophers knock over the stumps and send him on his way for 4. Spencer would be on a hat-trick at the start of his spell in the Hutt Valley 2nd innings. Spencer had also fielded courageously during the Hutts' turn at bat. He stopped many boundaries standing at cover, including two spectacular diving stops where he ended up planted on his backside.
Porirua began their chase of the Hutts' 124 with Lees and Denman opening. Lees however was sent packing in the very first over - after surviving Torrance for five deliveries, he edged one behind on the final one with no runs to his name. Denman soon made quick amends though, as he effectively made up for his shocking first over bowling by hitting four sixes of his own off an over Au. Joined at the crease by McHugh who hit a couple of boundaries of his own, they were really getting on top of the Hutt attack.
It was Johnson who finally broke through. With Denmans head pointing to the clouds as he rained down boundaries, the man they call "Pocky" got the last laugh as Denman edged one into the wickie-board. It was a cruel blow for Porirua, as Denman looked set to post a really big score.
Rose joined McHugh with Porirua in trouble. He called a Powerplay with Torrance bowling to them, which would remove the "bowled", "LBW" and "Hit Wicket" dismissals for the duration of the over. Rather than using the Powerplay in an attacking manner, McHugh sought to just see the over off, as the dangerous Torrance has easily the best bowling record of any player. Despite a couple of nervous shots that sent hearts-a-flutter, McHugh survived the over and hit a four to boot.
If nerves were high before, it showed when Johnson was re-introduced into the attack. McHugh had no trouble hitting the ball, but when he hit it straight to Torrance at midwicket, Rose called for a run on a fumble. Remarkably however, Torrance recovered from his fumble, got to his feet and threw the ball like a homing missle towards the non-strikers end and demolished the stumps with a direct hit. McHugh can count himself unlucky, as he didn't call the run and the throw was Hamish-Marshall-esque. Apt, considering Torrances fluffy hair.
Spencer joined Rose. Rose looked in pretty good touch early on, hitting two powerful sixes and guiding a four to the fence, but he threw his wicket away trying to defend a rank full toss from Cockburn. He hit the ball far too late and on the up, and Cockburn took a catch off his own bowling, seeing a wicket claimed off a ball which really should have been dispatched to the fence.
With the departure of Rose, Spencer was on his own. But like he had done with the ball, he produced the unexpected with the bat too. He played most of his shots later than Charlton Longley coming to class, staying as still as a statue until the last possible moment but incredibly managed to garner 26 priceless runs for Porirua before Au knocked his stumps over.
Hutt led by 29 runs on the first innings - a handy but by-no-means-matchwinning break. As they walked out for their second dig, they knew that they still had a real fight on their hands. They put on 23 for the first wicket before Denman got the breakthrough that Porirua needed, knocking over the timber of Eu-Ving Au. While Porirua celebrated this, in the back of the mind was always the lingering knowledge that it was really the other guy - Torrance - who they needed to get early.
It was a case of deja vu as Torrance continued to look untroubled in everything he did, sending delivery-after-delivery to the fence with absolute disregard. The Spencer hat-trick ball was not conservatively seen out - it was hit for six! Cockburn again contributed well, and with these two in the mood they were in it was looking likely they would be setting Porirua an impossibly high chase. The "no-LBW, bowled or hit wicket" Powerplay was used on McHughs second over and it brought no change to the Hutt tactics - two sixes were struck from it. There really was some fearful hammer dished out to all the bowlers, but particularly Spencer who couldn't reproduce his first innings heroics with the ball, who finished with 0-48 from his three overs.
Sensing that his other bowlers were going through the motions, Rose took it upon himself to bowl the first over of the third "round" of bowling. The second ball of the over, every Porirua fielder except Rose himself went up in an appeal for caught behind, but it was turned down. The next ball however saw the partnership finally broken as Cockburn was hit flush on the leg dead in front giving the umpire no option but to raise the finger and see off Cockburn for a very solid knock of 37. It was a tremendous effort from "Awesome Al" - scoring 76 runs for the day and as captain he really stood up and was counted.
Johnson was the next man in, but didn't last long. Edging the ball into the wickie board for a second-ball duck was all he could manage against Rose, who by now was really working up a real head of steam and was bowling with very good pace and accuracy.
Ben Christophers came in next. He firstly enjoyed watching Torrance take Lees apart from the non-strikers end to the tune of 25 runs in a single over, then struck a boundary of his own. It didn't last though. McHugh finally claimed a wicket when Spencer took a nice catch at a shortish midwicket. Spencer wasn't even standing in the position where he was supposed to be, and was walking towards it when McHugh bowled - but nonetheless he was in the right place at the right time to send Christophers on his way for 5.
Torrance wasn't quite finished plundering runs yet. Hitting yet more boundaries off some admittedly-average Porirua bowling he closed in on triple figures, then brought it up in style smacking a six off Spencer. It is the second time that this champion cricketer has reached the ton, and he remains the only player to achieve the feat in Haywards Shield. What a player.
Talk in the Hutt Valley camp turned to thinking about a declaration. Torrance convinced his skipper to give him a little more time, but the fates must have intervened as the very next ball after he asked Cockburn not to end his innings just yet, Denman did it for him instead with a peach of a delivery. His stumps were skittled, but his head was held high as he strode off to applause from both teams with 108 runs to his credit.
Porirua would need 201 runs to claim an unlikely victory. They knew they would need a good start, and they got it with Lees looking to attone for his duck in the first innings by bashing Torrance back over his head for a massive six in just the second ball of the run chase. All the bowlers came in for some stick - in their first overs, Johnson conceded 18, Au conceded 21 and Christophers had 20 taken from his bowling. With just four overs completed, Porirua were already 66 without loss!
There was still a long way to go though, and the value of runs on the board soon told. Whether it was pressure, or if the adrenaline was up from previous lusty blows, or if it was just a false shot, Lees would have been kicking himself when he holed out in the deep. Again Cockburn got a wicket off a ball which ought to have been given the "whammo" treatment. Even so, a potential Mintees Moment nearly saved Lees - both Au and Torrance clamoured to get under the ball and even colided with each other at the crucial moment as they both had their eyes on the ball, and not on each other. Luckily for the Hutt, and to the credit of Torrance, he rode the bump of Au very well and managed to take the catch safely enough - but not before plenty of nervous gasps were made as onlookers saw the situation unfolding.
Denman, however, continued batting in the same vein as before his opening partner left him. He seemed to have plenty of time whenever he played a shot, and his technique and upper-body strength was showing through his lycra vest. Incredibly though, he too was undone by Cockburn. Batting on 43, Porirua called the "fielders off" Powerplay, and just as a wicket had fallen when the Hutt had done this, so it did with Cockburn producing a ripper of a ball to totally deceive Denman and see him caught behind.
Rose finished the Powerplay over well, striking two sixes, but the damage was done. Both openers were gone for 43 runs each when they were looking in such wonderful form, and both looking like they could go on to post a historic score. Porirua would need each of their remaining batsmen to average the same as their openers if they were to mount a successful chase.
Rose got back on strike to face Au. He timed a nice shot for four to fine leg, but again was the victim of his own loose batting. Seeing a wide delivery outside off, he reached too far for it without moving his legs, and skied an easy catch to Cockburn who gleefully accepted the chance at short point. It was a disappointing dismissal, and it was at this point that the run chase looked as good as over.
McHugh was Porirua's last real chance with Spencer not a recognised batsman. It would have taken an absolutely heroic innings to rescue Porirua from this situation. McHugh set himself for the task, hitting three sixes early, taking advantage of some buffet bowling from Johnson, although it was not an innings without chances - Au let a difficult catch at square leg slip through his hands for one of the sixes. Who else would you expect to crush Porirua's hopes and dreams than the designated go-to man, Andrew Torrance? Cockburn protected him from bowling until McHugh started an over on-strike. When he got his chance, Torrance found the edge the first ball of the over. McHugh had never really looked settled, and he was out for 19.
Spencer could never have been expected to have got the 70 runs that Porirua needed by himself. He stayed in for a few overs, standing with unmoving feet and occassionally giving the bat a wave. He finally connected with one but sent it high in the air, to, who else, but Andrew Torrance.
A famous victory for the Hutt, by 67 runs. Their huge batting totals were based around Torrance especially, and Cockburn. Bowling-wise, the same two men were prominent. The Porirua batsmen were visibly scared of Torrance's bowling, and more-or-less tried to leave him alone, never trying to score any runs off him, content to survive. Cockburn took three wickets for the match, and although his wicket-taking balls were sometimes not the greatest, he got them all the same and also maintained a terrific degree of accuracy which saw Porirua struggling to score many runs off him, for which he deserves credit.
Porirua's batting performance has shown a marked improvement since 2004/05 when on a couple of occassions they had no batsmen reach even double figures. Lees was dismissed cheaply in his first innings, but showed what a colossus he can be when he is on song in his 7-six knock of 43. Denman was the best Porirua batsman, and if he can build on this excellent debut with the bat, he should develop into a player which will win many matches for the blue-and-gold in years to come. The bowling was disappointing overall from Porirua with too many full tosses, extras and slow half-trackers bowled. Rose was the best of the Porirua bowlers, with good figures in both of his bowling spells, while Denman also nabbed himself three wickets and was very troubling when he managed to get his line and length right.
This result sets Game II up very well. Porirua need to find their way with the ball - most of their bowlers bowled below what should be expected from them, and also need to work on their discipline with the willow - far too many wickets were given away cheaply. The Hutt will be satisfied enough with their work, but may be concerned about their reliance on Andrew Torrance. Apart from him, and a workmanlike contribution from Cockburn, the rest of their team didn't really fire. However, Hutt Valley lead 1-0. It was a cracking match and a wonderful days' cricket - let's hope that Game II is just as good.
It was, quite simply, the best game of Haywards Shield cricket to date. This game had everything - huge wickets, massive sixes, and even a couple of incredible run-outs. Here's how it panned out:
Porirua finally won its first toss in history and sent the Hutt Valley in on a dry, hard pitch which was offering very little in the way of sideways movement, but was expected to produce considerable swing with the brand new ball, a lot of moisture in the air, and some cloud cover overhead.
With Au and Torrance opening, the breakthrough was not long in coming as Au hit a ball almost directly to Sam Denman at short midwicket. Au set off for the run but was sent back by his partner, but had advanced too far down the pitch to recover his ground before Denman threw down the stumps at the strikers end with a direct hit to send Au packing for 1.
The next two, however proved much more difficult for Porirua to dislodge. When he got to the bowling crease, Denman struggled in his first over in the Shield with Torrance hitting four sixes off him, and conceding 28 for the over altogether. Spencer also took some punishment early with the Hutt blasting 20 off his first over. The 50 partnership between Torrance and Cockburn came up in double-quick time, and so did another half-century for Torrance himself.
After a few tight overs, the Hutt elected to use their first Powerplay with Rose bowling. All fielders except Rose had to leave the field, but it was Rose who took full advantage as he removed the dangerman, Torrance as he edged behind a sharply lifting ball wide outside off-stump. The Porirua fielders who were watching procedings from beyond the boundary rushed on to the field in a frenzy of celebration at the dismissal, and the Powerplay over was completed with a wicket taken and just four runs conceded.
Johnson was the next man in. On debut, he combined well with Cockburn. The run-rate, however, slowed as they looked to take a few quick singles instead of trying to find the rope. Rose missed several chances to break the partnership - the ball seemed to follow him around as first he missed the stumps from just a few metres away to squander an opportunity to run out Cockburn at the strikers end, then fumbled a catch that Johnson skied towards midwicket - the ball got too big on him as it deflected off a few leaves of the trees in that region. Incidentally, the spot where the catch was spilled was more-or-less exactly where McHugh spilled a similar one during Game II of 2003/04 which caused Rose to explode in anger. McHugh let Rose know about it too - good-humouredly. Then with the Hutt players taking a very dodgy single hit straight to Rose, he picked the ball up beautifully running foward, but tried to throw the stumps down at the Hill End with a thunderbolt throw, when a simple underarm lob to McHugh standing over the stumps would have caught Cockburn short of his ground.
Finally, however Rose held on to one off the bowling of Denman. Cockburn tried to slog the ball back over the bowlers head, but he got under it too much allowing Rose to complete a comfortable catch on the straight boundary. Still, it was a good innings from Cockburn - the 39 he made was his highest in his Shield career.
The Hutt tail was mopped up by an unlikely bowler. Spencer, with a bowling average of over 150, defied the odds and the statisticians to deceive Johnson into chipping one in the air on the offside. Denman, with a sore toe and a still-dodgy knee managed to put the pain aside as he hobbled in from cover as fast as he could to take the catch, taking one for the team.
The very next ball, Spencer snuck one through the defences of Christophers knock over the stumps and send him on his way for 4. Spencer would be on a hat-trick at the start of his spell in the Hutt Valley 2nd innings. Spencer had also fielded courageously during the Hutts' turn at bat. He stopped many boundaries standing at cover, including two spectacular diving stops where he ended up planted on his backside.
Porirua began their chase of the Hutts' 124 with Lees and Denman opening. Lees however was sent packing in the very first over - after surviving Torrance for five deliveries, he edged one behind on the final one with no runs to his name. Denman soon made quick amends though, as he effectively made up for his shocking first over bowling by hitting four sixes of his own off an over Au. Joined at the crease by McHugh who hit a couple of boundaries of his own, they were really getting on top of the Hutt attack.
It was Johnson who finally broke through. With Denmans head pointing to the clouds as he rained down boundaries, the man they call "Pocky" got the last laugh as Denman edged one into the wickie-board. It was a cruel blow for Porirua, as Denman looked set to post a really big score.
Rose joined McHugh with Porirua in trouble. He called a Powerplay with Torrance bowling to them, which would remove the "bowled", "LBW" and "Hit Wicket" dismissals for the duration of the over. Rather than using the Powerplay in an attacking manner, McHugh sought to just see the over off, as the dangerous Torrance has easily the best bowling record of any player. Despite a couple of nervous shots that sent hearts-a-flutter, McHugh survived the over and hit a four to boot.
If nerves were high before, it showed when Johnson was re-introduced into the attack. McHugh had no trouble hitting the ball, but when he hit it straight to Torrance at midwicket, Rose called for a run on a fumble. Remarkably however, Torrance recovered from his fumble, got to his feet and threw the ball like a homing missle towards the non-strikers end and demolished the stumps with a direct hit. McHugh can count himself unlucky, as he didn't call the run and the throw was Hamish-Marshall-esque. Apt, considering Torrances fluffy hair.
Spencer joined Rose. Rose looked in pretty good touch early on, hitting two powerful sixes and guiding a four to the fence, but he threw his wicket away trying to defend a rank full toss from Cockburn. He hit the ball far too late and on the up, and Cockburn took a catch off his own bowling, seeing a wicket claimed off a ball which really should have been dispatched to the fence.
With the departure of Rose, Spencer was on his own. But like he had done with the ball, he produced the unexpected with the bat too. He played most of his shots later than Charlton Longley coming to class, staying as still as a statue until the last possible moment but incredibly managed to garner 26 priceless runs for Porirua before Au knocked his stumps over.
Hutt led by 29 runs on the first innings - a handy but by-no-means-matchwinning break. As they walked out for their second dig, they knew that they still had a real fight on their hands. They put on 23 for the first wicket before Denman got the breakthrough that Porirua needed, knocking over the timber of Eu-Ving Au. While Porirua celebrated this, in the back of the mind was always the lingering knowledge that it was really the other guy - Torrance - who they needed to get early.
It was a case of deja vu as Torrance continued to look untroubled in everything he did, sending delivery-after-delivery to the fence with absolute disregard. The Spencer hat-trick ball was not conservatively seen out - it was hit for six! Cockburn again contributed well, and with these two in the mood they were in it was looking likely they would be setting Porirua an impossibly high chase. The "no-LBW, bowled or hit wicket" Powerplay was used on McHughs second over and it brought no change to the Hutt tactics - two sixes were struck from it. There really was some fearful hammer dished out to all the bowlers, but particularly Spencer who couldn't reproduce his first innings heroics with the ball, who finished with 0-48 from his three overs.
Sensing that his other bowlers were going through the motions, Rose took it upon himself to bowl the first over of the third "round" of bowling. The second ball of the over, every Porirua fielder except Rose himself went up in an appeal for caught behind, but it was turned down. The next ball however saw the partnership finally broken as Cockburn was hit flush on the leg dead in front giving the umpire no option but to raise the finger and see off Cockburn for a very solid knock of 37. It was a tremendous effort from "Awesome Al" - scoring 76 runs for the day and as captain he really stood up and was counted.
Johnson was the next man in, but didn't last long. Edging the ball into the wickie board for a second-ball duck was all he could manage against Rose, who by now was really working up a real head of steam and was bowling with very good pace and accuracy.
Ben Christophers came in next. He firstly enjoyed watching Torrance take Lees apart from the non-strikers end to the tune of 25 runs in a single over, then struck a boundary of his own. It didn't last though. McHugh finally claimed a wicket when Spencer took a nice catch at a shortish midwicket. Spencer wasn't even standing in the position where he was supposed to be, and was walking towards it when McHugh bowled - but nonetheless he was in the right place at the right time to send Christophers on his way for 5.
Torrance wasn't quite finished plundering runs yet. Hitting yet more boundaries off some admittedly-average Porirua bowling he closed in on triple figures, then brought it up in style smacking a six off Spencer. It is the second time that this champion cricketer has reached the ton, and he remains the only player to achieve the feat in Haywards Shield. What a player.
Talk in the Hutt Valley camp turned to thinking about a declaration. Torrance convinced his skipper to give him a little more time, but the fates must have intervened as the very next ball after he asked Cockburn not to end his innings just yet, Denman did it for him instead with a peach of a delivery. His stumps were skittled, but his head was held high as he strode off to applause from both teams with 108 runs to his credit.
Porirua would need 201 runs to claim an unlikely victory. They knew they would need a good start, and they got it with Lees looking to attone for his duck in the first innings by bashing Torrance back over his head for a massive six in just the second ball of the run chase. All the bowlers came in for some stick - in their first overs, Johnson conceded 18, Au conceded 21 and Christophers had 20 taken from his bowling. With just four overs completed, Porirua were already 66 without loss!
There was still a long way to go though, and the value of runs on the board soon told. Whether it was pressure, or if the adrenaline was up from previous lusty blows, or if it was just a false shot, Lees would have been kicking himself when he holed out in the deep. Again Cockburn got a wicket off a ball which ought to have been given the "whammo" treatment. Even so, a potential Mintees Moment nearly saved Lees - both Au and Torrance clamoured to get under the ball and even colided with each other at the crucial moment as they both had their eyes on the ball, and not on each other. Luckily for the Hutt, and to the credit of Torrance, he rode the bump of Au very well and managed to take the catch safely enough - but not before plenty of nervous gasps were made as onlookers saw the situation unfolding.
Denman, however, continued batting in the same vein as before his opening partner left him. He seemed to have plenty of time whenever he played a shot, and his technique and upper-body strength was showing through his lycra vest. Incredibly though, he too was undone by Cockburn. Batting on 43, Porirua called the "fielders off" Powerplay, and just as a wicket had fallen when the Hutt had done this, so it did with Cockburn producing a ripper of a ball to totally deceive Denman and see him caught behind.
Rose finished the Powerplay over well, striking two sixes, but the damage was done. Both openers were gone for 43 runs each when they were looking in such wonderful form, and both looking like they could go on to post a historic score. Porirua would need each of their remaining batsmen to average the same as their openers if they were to mount a successful chase.
Rose got back on strike to face Au. He timed a nice shot for four to fine leg, but again was the victim of his own loose batting. Seeing a wide delivery outside off, he reached too far for it without moving his legs, and skied an easy catch to Cockburn who gleefully accepted the chance at short point. It was a disappointing dismissal, and it was at this point that the run chase looked as good as over.
McHugh was Porirua's last real chance with Spencer not a recognised batsman. It would have taken an absolutely heroic innings to rescue Porirua from this situation. McHugh set himself for the task, hitting three sixes early, taking advantage of some buffet bowling from Johnson, although it was not an innings without chances - Au let a difficult catch at square leg slip through his hands for one of the sixes. Who else would you expect to crush Porirua's hopes and dreams than the designated go-to man, Andrew Torrance? Cockburn protected him from bowling until McHugh started an over on-strike. When he got his chance, Torrance found the edge the first ball of the over. McHugh had never really looked settled, and he was out for 19.
Spencer could never have been expected to have got the 70 runs that Porirua needed by himself. He stayed in for a few overs, standing with unmoving feet and occassionally giving the bat a wave. He finally connected with one but sent it high in the air, to, who else, but Andrew Torrance.
A famous victory for the Hutt, by 67 runs. Their huge batting totals were based around Torrance especially, and Cockburn. Bowling-wise, the same two men were prominent. The Porirua batsmen were visibly scared of Torrance's bowling, and more-or-less tried to leave him alone, never trying to score any runs off him, content to survive. Cockburn took three wickets for the match, and although his wicket-taking balls were sometimes not the greatest, he got them all the same and also maintained a terrific degree of accuracy which saw Porirua struggling to score many runs off him, for which he deserves credit.
Porirua's batting performance has shown a marked improvement since 2004/05 when on a couple of occassions they had no batsmen reach even double figures. Lees was dismissed cheaply in his first innings, but showed what a colossus he can be when he is on song in his 7-six knock of 43. Denman was the best Porirua batsman, and if he can build on this excellent debut with the bat, he should develop into a player which will win many matches for the blue-and-gold in years to come. The bowling was disappointing overall from Porirua with too many full tosses, extras and slow half-trackers bowled. Rose was the best of the Porirua bowlers, with good figures in both of his bowling spells, while Denman also nabbed himself three wickets and was very troubling when he managed to get his line and length right.
This result sets Game II up very well. Porirua need to find their way with the ball - most of their bowlers bowled below what should be expected from them, and also need to work on their discipline with the willow - far too many wickets were given away cheaply. The Hutt will be satisfied enough with their work, but may be concerned about their reliance on Andrew Torrance. Apart from him, and a workmanlike contribution from Cockburn, the rest of their team didn't really fire. However, Hutt Valley lead 1-0. It was a cracking match and a wonderful days' cricket - let's hope that Game II is just as good.
