GPS First XI cricket: IGS and Terrace in a thriller, Nudgee captain shines

A final over thriller between Terrace and Brisbane Boys’ College and an Ipswich Grammar-Churchie blockbuster were round seven highlights of the GPS First XI cricket. Reports, best players here.

Round seven of the GPS First XI cricket season had everything.

Ipswich Grammar School’s excellent season continued with a rousing win over Churchie while Terrace pipped BBC in a final over thriller as a blockbuster round seven of the GPS cricket season unfolded.

IGS inflicted Churchie’s first loss of the season courtesy of Rushi Kakkad (70), Jacob Cibulka (51) and bowlers Joshua Lossberg and Jettison Emmerson (three wickets each) in what was an exciting late win by five runs.

Ipswich Grammar School's Sohaan Sharma.

Despite a fantastic partnership between Churchie pair Daniel Desmet (51) and Tighe Morris (42), Ipswich Grammar successfully fought back to win by one wicket after a recent loss to The Southport School.

In another spectacle at Tennyson, Gregory Terrace bowled its way to a 50th over victory against BBC, with Harry Frost’s death bowling (two wickets) key in denying Brisbane Boys College batsmen Cooper Beachy-Head and Oliver Hottot reward for their gutsy lower order batting.

At Northgate, Brisbane Grammar cruised to a eight wicket victory over BSHS while on Ross Oval Nudgee’s captain Matthew Fielding scored a brilliant 76 to propel his team to a four wicket win.

Harry Frost struck for two key wickets in Gregory Terrace’s tight win over BBC.

The terrific Tennyson thriller saw the home side defend its total of 169 in an edge of your seat finish.

Terrace batted first and were cautious early as Theodore Bacalakis (17, 57 balls) and Oliver Nasser (28, 55 balls) pushed their side away from the dock.

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Runs were hard to come by, but the Terrace batters dug deep, playing the long game.

Harry Frost (25, 44 balls), Harry DeSouza (12, 37 balls) and Max Murphy (13, 31 balls) all chipped in before gallant late innings efforts from the classy Oscar Bodimeade (37, 53 balls) and George Hales (14, 14 balls) pushed the score out to 169.

Harry DeSouza of Gregory Terrace.

Both Bodimeade and Hales were influential in the field as well.

BBC’s Cooper Beachy-Head (10-0-25-2), Blake Armstrong (10-0-21-1) and Ashton Clark (10-1-23-1) were the pick of the bowlers for BBC while all-rounder D’Arcy Satharasinghe claimed two wickets in four overs.

Supporting them was Christian Alexander (7-1-21-0) who bowled economically to create pressure.

BBC batsman D'Arcy Satharasinghe.

Chasing 170 for victory, BBC started badly when Terrace bowlers Elliot Quinn, Samuel Jones and fielders Tom Jeffries and Bodimeade erased BBC’s three top for just 14 runs.

Quinn and Jones were on point with the new ball, and the group was cock-a-hop when BBC ace Blake Armstrong (29, 56 balls) was dismissed by Bacalakis after another threatening start.

From there Ryan Atley (11). Satharasinghe (10), Christian Alexander (27, 53 balls) and Beachy-Head (31, 57 balls) made the most of their time at the crease in a promising resurrection job.

BBC batsman Blake Armstrong.

It came down to the final 10 overs where Harry Frost, Jones, Bacalakis and Hales fought desperately to snare wickets.

A brave Beachy-Head and No.10 bat Oliver Hottot (22 not out, 35 balls) had a crucial partnership late in the innings and with them at the crease BBC looked poised to track down Terrace’s total. Only just.

But when some fielding brilliance from Jones dismissed Beachy-Head, BBC were thrust onto the back foot again.

Ashton Clark (4, 25 balls) did a stellar job staying in with Hottot, but in swooped Frost in a clinical late-game spell where he picked up two wickets to take Terrace to safety.

He dismissed Clark then with two balls remaining in the game, and then claimed the wicket of BBC’s final batter Lachlan Sellars.

BBC needed just two runs off the final three balls but Fantastic Frost rose to the occasion to deny Hottot a heroic finish for BBC, a finish he thoroughly deserved for his determination in the death overs.

The BBC batters having a water break.

At Churchie, Ipswich Grammar School avenged its last round loss to TSS in another classic against Churchie. IGS won by five runs.

Ipswich Grammar batted first and opening bat Jack Hillier returned to form with a quickfire 35 (31 balls) to take the sting off the new ball.

Young gun Rushi Kakkad was king again at No.4 with a top notch knock of 70 (100 balls) where he worked hard for his runs, while brilliantly running between the wickets.

Kakkad and No.6 batter Jacob Cibulka (51, 62 balls) put on a critical 85 run partnership which was the bedrock of the Ipswich Grammar innings.

Angus Storen (two wickets), Henry Hillier (two wickets), Rupert Bignell (two wickets) and Samuel Drinnen (10-1-27-1) did the heavy lifting at the bowling crease, limiting the visitors to 207 runs from the 50 overs.

In pursuit of Ipswich Grammar’s total, Churchie were rocked by the loss of Storen almost immediately.

However, the impressive Connor Rudman (20, 39 balls) and No.3 bat Desmset (51, 99 balls) came together to forge a lovely first wicket partnership.

Once Rudman was dismissed by Cibulka, Desmet found another partner in Tighe Morris (42, 58 balls).

Churchie batsman Connor Rudman.

The pair batted beautifully to put on 83 together and had Ipswich Grammar questioning how they would find their next breakthrough.

Their man was Joshua Lossberg.

After snaring the wicket of Storen for naught, Lossberg was back with ball in hand and looking dangerous.

Lossberg picked up the wickets of Desmet and Morris, and this was the turning point for the visitors.

Lossberg’s bowling brilliance could not have come at a better time for Ipswich, the pacemen forcing Churchie to start all over again.

Churchie batsman Daniel Desmet had a great game on Saturday.

Impressively, Churchie did just that, with Jayden Draper (13), Alex Walduck (19), Rupert Bignall (16) and Drinnen (27 not out) contributing valuable runs in the second half of the innings.

But swooping late was medium pace bowler Emmerson for three wickets, while fast bowler William Pamenter with a timely scalp which tasked Drinnen and Daniel Boreham an almost impossible task in the final overs of the game.

After bowling well earlier in the day, No.10 batter Drinnen did a splendid job scoring an unbeaten 27. But time got away from Churchie, the home side falling agonisingly short in the end.

To Ipswich’s credit, they bowled just 11 extras and were on the money in the death overs, preventing Boreham and Drinnen from sprinkling magic dust in the 50th over.

On Ross Oval, a masterful bowling effort by Nudgee knocked Toowoomba Grammar over for 140, a total which they chased down in just under 40 overs.

Nudgee’s bowlers came together to produce an AI effort which, after initial pushback by TGS, was enough to lay a deposit for victory.

Nudgee’s captain Matthew Fielding was excellent on Saturday.

Joshua Cranston (20,36 balls), Charlie Bignall (29, 42 balls) and Gurnoor Singh Randhawa (41, 70 balls) were excellent early against Nudgee’s opening bowlers but once they left the middle, it was all downhill from there.

Karmichael Dee, Jacob Turner, Billy Connellann, Spencer Green and Angus McLean fed off eachothers momentum and took wickets regularly, eliminating all of Randhawa’s batting partners.

Randhawa showed fight at the crease, but wickets tumbled one after the other as Green (three wickets) hit his straps to assist Connellan and McLean in sweeping through TGS’ lower order batters.

TGS were all out by the 40th over, and it took the same amount of time for Nudgee who won by four wickets.

Randhawa (two wickets), pacemen Charlie Lachmund, Fraser Judd and Jackson Haynes had their moments at the bowling crease for TGS, but it was a captain’s knock from Matthew Fielding which did it for Nudgee.

Nudgee college bowler Angus McLean.

Fielding was a class act, the opener hitting 76 from 119 balls in a terrific batting display which featured seven fours and two sixes.

What was most impressive about Fielding’s innings was how he maintained focus while his batting partners were dismissed one by one.

Fielding lost four partners before finding stability in Dee (21, 26 balls). Those two put on 35 together, before Jacob Turner (10 not out) and Mitchell Graham (ten not out) hit the winning runs.

Nudgee college bowler Billy Connellan.

Out at Northgate, Brisbane Grammar took no chances as they ran down Brisbane State High’s 150 run total in less than 35 overs.

Opening batter and vice-captain Sam Wallwork scored a blistering 74 not out from 95 deliveries to surge towards BSHS’ total.

Wallwork ran wonderfully between the wickets, he played things safe and was Classy with a capital C.

BGS batsman Lucas Bryan in action this season.

He stayed in the entire innings, and took Lucas Bryan (32, 49 balls) and Hugo Spencer (30 not out, 60 balls) under his wing for the ride.

He took hope out of the BSHS bowlers with every ball he faced.

Earlier, Brisbane Grammar bowled well to restrict BSHS to 150.

The home side did well to bowl just 16 extras, but it was their energy in the field and swing bowling out of the gates which swung momentum into their favour.

The new ball bowling of Eli Brain and Hayden Dalmazzo had BSHS reeling at 3-10 and despite a courageous resurgence from the visitors, it was Brisbane Grammar who took the chocolates.

Harvey Palmer (19, 55 balls), Kazuma Stafford (41, 86 balls), Max Isoardi (17, 31 balls), Kethmin Meegasdeniya (23, 38 balls), Lenny Henry (15 not out 25 balls) and Nithin Rajendraprasad (12 not out, 24 balls) did well to resurrect the BSHS after losing wickets early.

Brisbane Grammar School celebrate a wicket.

ROUND 8

TSS v CHURCHIE

BBC v NUDGEE

BSHS v TERRACE

IGS v BGS

Originally published as GPS First XI cricket: IGS and Terrace in a thriller, Nudgee captain shines