Double delight for TGS cricketers

Bound for nationals... the Takapuna Grammar School Girls First XI. Back row: Johanna Melhuish (manager), Izzy Fox, Olivia Priddy, Summer Lear, Maia Scott, Pippa Priddy, Orla Langdon, Issy Smith, Isabella Watson, Dorothea Waldron, Johan Kirstein (coach), Kent Hallman (manager). Front row: Raiha Jeory Reynolds, Audrey Melhuish, Scout Hallman (captain), Jasmine Perry, Rishika Jaswal.

The Takapuna Grammar School (TGS)

Girls First XI cricket team will compete in the national secondary schools tournament later this year, after winning the Auckland qualifying tournament – less than a week after also winning the Auckland T20 championship.

Captained by Scout Hallman, the team defeated Epsom Girls Grammar School (EGGS) last Thursday to qualify as the Auckland representatives at nationals.

Batting first, TGS scored 100/5, with Izzy Fox top-scoring on 33. In reply, EGGS was bowled out for 85 in the 20th over.

Wickets were shared around, with the best bowling figures recorded by Jasmine Perry, who took three wickets for 10 runs off 3.2 overs.

The week before, TGS also beat EGGS in the Auckland T20 final, enjoying the privilege of playing on the Eden Park outer oval.

The TGS Boys First XI also made their T20 final, putting up a good fight against Kings College, but having to settle for silver at Melville Park.

This was the first time teams from the same school made the Auckland finals in the same year, after both sides had standout seasons.

The girls won all but one game on the road to the finals, losing only to EGGS in round play.

EGGS is the current New Zealand champion, having won the Gillette Venus Cup in 2022, and has long been a powerhouse of female cricket. It has a single-sex roll larger than that of co-ed TGS.

TGS girls bowled and fielded well to dismiss key batters for EGGS in the T20 final, restricting them to 79 runs. Rishika Jaswell claimed three wickets and Jasmine Perry two.

In reply, TGS timed their chase to perfection, passing the target in the 20th over.

Openers Izzy Fox and Rishika scored 13 runs apiece seeing off the opening bowling attack before the lower order finished the job. Year 11 player, Orla Langdon, top-scored with 16 not out.

Orla’s older brother, Conor, plays in the TGS Boys First XI, which was in its first T20 final, having made the semi-finals in the last couple of years.

This season, the boys team, captained by Christian Scott, beat traditionally powerful cricket schools including St Peter’s, Mount Albert Grammar, and St Kentigern, before going down by only nine runs to Kings in the final.

The girls’ national tournament, which is in the T20 format, is likely to be at Lincoln in Canterbury in December. TGS also contested the nationals in 2020.

Williams does her dad – and Wales – proud

Bayswater’s Kate Williams is the latest player to claim a spot on the honours board at North Shore Rugby Club after making her international debut off the bench for Wales.

The 22-year-old loose forward looked lively in her 25 minutes on the field. Proud father Gareth Williams was in the stands at Cardiff Arms Park to watch the Royal New Zealand Navy sub-lieutenant turn out for the country of her birth. “This is the second-happiest day of my life; the first was when she was born,’’ he told reporters at the game.

It was a double celebration for the Williams family, with Wales thumping Ireland 31-5 in the opening round of the women’s Six Nations competition, played over the last weekend of March.

Williams, who was born in Swansea, has taken a year’s leave from her post as a warfare officer to pursue her rugby dreams. She told the Flagstaff last year this included playing professionally overseas.

The former Takapuna Grammar School student and its 2017 Sportswoman of the Year, played five seasons for North Harbour, including two as captain, and she made the Blues women’s side. She has played for North Shore since she was a young child, often in boys teams early in her career.

In mid-2022, Williams was invited to train with the Welsh team for a short spell, after it learned of her eligibility.

When Wales was in New Zealand last year for the Rugby World Cup she was called in as injury cover. But she did not get on the field for the quarter-final loss to the Black Ferns.

Relocating to Wales, where Williams has relatives, put her in the frame for the call-up to the national side.

Last weekend she was named on the bench for Wales against Scotland, coming on in the 64th minute in Wales’ 34-22 win.

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