Recap and photos from an exciting game!

Excellent weather, a large turn out of supporters and a few familiar faces made the SPL All Stars cricket game a huge success on Friday 26th March.

Led by Dave Fane (SPL old boy and famous actor), the All Stars elected to bowl first where the 1st XI made a respectable total of 136 runs. Top scorer from the 1st XI was ex Black Cap Mark Greatbach, who showed us all he's still got it with repeated 6's leading to his early retirement at 30 runs.

The bowling was accurate, the fielding was committed and the crowd entertained where the music made for a carnival atmosphere complete with food, refreshments and a live solo performance from Viliame Tupai.

Jessiah Tanoa'i (Year 12) was the strongest batsmen for the 1st XI hitting 4's and 6's in front of the big crowd. The 2nd innings meant the SPL All Stars were up to bat where ex All Black Mils Muliaina showed us he's a pretty handy batsmen smashing the ball all over our fields. A strong display from Mils meant it all came down to the last ball where (old boy & Kiwi) Nigel Vagana needed 4 runs for victory. It wasn't meant to be, however, with the 1st XI taking a wicket on the last ball to seal the victory!

The game was featured on The Crowd Goes Wild, Seven Sharp and Coconet TV with live crosses from Seven Sharp to Dave Fane and head boy Daniel Smith.

Many thousands of dollars were raised to support SPL's cricket program in 2021, but the funds raised were not the highlight of the evening - it was the community event with famous, generous old boys having fun on the cricket pitch while supporters, sponsors, old boys, students and staff enjoyed the festivities of a successful and entertaining match.

Thank you to Beard Brothers, Prestige Loos, NJC Hire, Brothers Beer, Countdown and all that contributed to this event. We look forward to seeing the All Stars team out for redemption in 2022!

For more images and information about the game, visit CoconetTV.

Dave McDermott
Director of Sport
E: [email protected]