BSHS’s Jordan Hook, IGS’s Oscar Dioth and George Hales of Terrace deliver on day one
GPS First XI cricket sensation: A BBC student who recently trained at Scotland’s Celtic FC, the Terrace rugby halfback ace and a BSHS bowling rookie were round one heroes. Reports here.
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Terrace outswing bowler George Hales and BSHS’s left arm paceman Jordan Hook triggered two sensations on day one of GPS First XI cricket.
Hales sparked scenes of unbridled joy when he took three late wickets to snatch a seven run win from Ipswich Grammar School, while across town Jordan Hook (4-29) and batsman Dilshan Wickrama (42 not out) were heroes for BSHS in a six wicket win over Nudgee.
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Hales is used to delivering the goods as a First XV rugby halfback, but he had his finest moment as an First XI cricketer when he claimed 6-28.
In other matches, Brisbane Boys College’s off-spinner D’Arcy Satharasinghe swapped the football shirt for cricket whites to star with bat and ball against Toowoomba Grammar School batting line-up and put his side in the driving seat during a hard fought tussle on the Darling Downs.
And at Churchie, premiers The Southport School set their 173 run win over the home side with a brutal batting effort led by Queensland U17 all-rounder Dushyant Thaman (86, 89 balls), and later in the field where a Cameron Sinfield led fielding effort ensured a comfortable win.
More all on the matches below.
At Terrace’s Internationals Oval, the match was in fast forward as IGS new ball pace bowlers Oscar Dioth (4-24) and Callum Pamenter (1-10) did damage early to send Terrace toppling to just 84.
But the drama-charged match took another turn when Hales engineered an IGS collapse.
Then, in a chaotic finish, Hales generated a run out and snared two late wickets just as Ipswich Grammar had crept to within touching distance of the Terrace total thanks to Ryan Weththasinghe (26). IGS were dismissed for 77.
For all Hales’ heroics, Lenny Henry’s contribution for Terrace must not be discounted.
Henry was magnificent in a crisis, with his 38 from 68 balls head and shoulders above any other batsmen in the match.
Hales then bowled Terrace back into the match with a pre-lunch spell of 6-1-18-3, and with support from Jackson McDonald and Harry Klatt, Terrace were back in the match at lunch, with IGS an unstable 5-46.
Klatt claimed the vital wicket of Rudd, while Harry Jackson also claimed a crucial wicket.
Earlier in the day, Dioth’s spell was devastating for IGS as he dismissed four of the top six Terrace batsmen.
Around him Gurutva Singh (2-18) and Colby Rudd (3-14) combined to topple Terrace for 84.
At BSHS’s Fursden Road fields, State High medium pace new ball bowler Hook claimed four wickets to bowl his side into a commanding position, while BSHS captain and spinner, Kethmin Meegasdeniya, came late and hard to snare 3-3 as Nudgee were dismissed for 86.
With Sasen Perera (1-15, 10 overs) pinning down the batsmen, Hook attacked at the other end after Nudgee batted first.
A member of the Western Suburbs U16 Brisbane Metro Cup premiership winning side late last year, Hook dismissed three of the top five batsmen.
Hook’s teammate from Wests’ grand final winning side, Sree Shauri Parthiv Bachu (1-25) chipped in with a wicket alongside of Aadi Patel (1-12).
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BSHS spinner Meegasdeniya then spun out the tail and well before lunch BSHS were eyeing off a victory.
The thrill-a-minute match continued when BSHS batted, with Nudgee bowlers Will Neubecker, Spencer Green and Thomas Bayo all getting among the wickets to have BSHS 4-37 at lunch.
However, BSHS batsman Dilshan Wickrama (42 not out) pushed on, and with help from Calem McCathie (10 not out, 40 balls), BSHS were able to celebrate an early win by six wickets.
At Mills Oval, Toowoomba, BBC’s Satharasinghe was special with both bat and ball.
BBC won by three wickets, having to fight hard to overcome a tenacious TGS whose bowlers and fielders fought hard to defend just 147.
During the morning session Satharasinghe, the BBC football captain who spent part of the Christmas break in Scotland training with the famous Celtic FC, upended the TGS batting after a promising start by Toowoomba Grammar’s Joshua Cranston (30), Fraser Judd (23) and Oliver Lockwood (22).
Satharasinghe bowled a spell of 10-1-21-4, and among his highlights was a caught and bowled off Lockwood.
But his success was also a reward for BBC’s other five bowlers, Callan Jensen (1-21, seven overs), Oliver Hottot (0-10, five overs), captain Blake Armstrong (1-32, 10 overs), vice-captain Christian Alexander (2-29, eight overs) and the reliable leg-spinner Ashton Clark (1-25, 10 overs.
Clark, a noted partnership bowler, was superb during Satharasinghe’s successful spell.
When BBC batted, opener Zac Robinson freed himself to score 33 from 48 balls before Tom Yeo trapped him LBW.
Yeo then claimed the prized wicket of BBC captain Blake Armstrong before Satharasinghe quickly swung momentum back BBC’s way with an attacking 31 from 31 balls.
Queensland U17 gloveman Ryan Atley then became the key man as TGS’s Fraser Judd dismissed both Satharasinghe and Christian Alexander in quick succession.
But Atley was run out by Dominic Seaby for 35, and the game tightened up again before BBC scrambled the winning runs via Luke Alexander and Shanuka Silva.
At Churchie, reigning premiers TSS stamped their authority on the competition in a comprehensive, 173-run thwarting of Churchie that kickstarted their premiership defence.
Playing away on Churchie’s Main Oval, TSS batted brilliantly on their way to posting 252 runs before unleashing their intimidating bowling attack to restrict the hosts to just 79.
Like years past, TSS found their edge with pressurising field placements, fast bowlers in the form of Hayden Trevethan and Ellis McCarthy and a crafty spin king in Cam Sinfield.
TSS entered the season having won 10 premierships in 14 seasons, and their premiership defence started off on the right foot on Saturday with returning players Jaxson Davies, Dushyant Thaman (2-7 and 86 runs), Cameron Sinfield (3-21, 10 overs) key.
Within the first 12 overs of their fielding innings, TSS had a down payment on victory with Churchie 4-33.
At the heart of TSS’s dominant batting innings was a match-defining 155-run partnership between Gold Coast Dolphins young gun Jaxson Davies (66 off 102 balls) and South Brisbane’s Dushyant Thaman (86 off 89). Thaman, in particular, took centre stage with an explosive knock, clearing the ropes three times in a boundary-laden innings that sucked the life out of Churchie’s attack.
Churchie rotated through eight bowlers in search of a breakthrough, with Tighe Morris (2 wickets) and Shoubhit Jain (1 wicket) briefly shifting momentum by taking three quick scalps. However, TSS No.5 Riley Eckersley (29 off 24 and 2-11) counterpunched effectively, adding vital late runs to set a daunting target.
Eckersley’s quick-fire innings, which provided extra cushion, was followed by a fast start in the field when Sinfield and McCarthy moved quickly to throw Churchie onto the Blackfoot.
TSS wasted no time asserting control. Right-handed openers Alex Walduck (17) and Angus Storen (12) showed early resilience, but once Sinfield removed Storen, TSS swarmed Churchie’s new batters like bees around a beehive.
The hosts slumped from 0-30 to 5-38 in the blink of an eye, as Sinfield’s clever pace variations and Trevethan’s fast bowling triggered a batting freefall.
TSS’s dominance was epitomized by a superb direct-hit run out from Ishaan Sandhu to remove Walduck, Trevethan yorking Will Souter, and McCarthy finding the perfect line and length to nick off danger man Dan Desmet for a duck.
Churchie’s Queensland Under-17 representative Tighe Morris (21, 60 balls) fought hard with wickets tumbling at the other end and when Eckersley removed him, that was game.
The next three wickets were collected by Thaman and Eckersley as TSS produced a stark reminder of why they remain the team to beat in 2025.
Thaman development as a batsman continued at pace. Thaman, who last week shone for the Queensland U17s as a left arm orthodox bowler, hit eight fours and three sixes during his blitz.
Thaman’s batting gathered momentum when he averaged just under 30 in Taverner’s U17 club cricket, and his start to the summer could not have been more impressive.
For once Jaxson Davies took a back seat, and he was happy to knock the ball around during his 102 ball innings for 66 runs.
Originally published as BSHS’s Jordan Hook, IGS’s Oscar Dioth and George Hales of Terrace deliver on day one
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