Early spring and the newest academy in New Zealand began its journey with back-to-back 40 over matches against St Peter’s College of Auckland. The school from New Zealand’s biggest city were gearing up for their weekly Colts (Year 9/10) local competition and showed their experience and skill, beating our young FSA boys comfortably in both games.

The matches were played at Waipuna Park (Friday) and Te Wati Park (Saturday) with the sun hanging around both days and both teams getting a good workout ahead of the summer.

Lucky with the weather and the toss in Game 1, FSA NZ put St Peter’s into bat and after a cautious start, the guests ran up 235/5 from their 40 overs. With only the loss of one wicket at the 20 over break for 87, the FSA boys learned valuable lessons from a testing time in the field.

St Peter’s battled for wickets themselves, as the FSA top order reached 164/2 from their 40 overs in reply - bogged down but not beaten, the ‘Tangerines’ would look to be more positive for Saturday.

For the Saturday game, the FSA padded up first and certainly had more positive intent. Wickets fell early on however and only a late salvage effort from Cobain Jones (41) enabled a modestly defendable 144/10.

In response, the St Peter’s top order made light work of the target with 150/3 and more than ten overs to go, the opening partnership again proving to be the bedrock of the innings.

With the fixtures to become an annual event for the pre-season, the FSA looks forward to evening up the ledger for the 2025 games with St Peter’s. A big thank you and best of luck for season to Brodie Wakefield, Lennox and the boys.

FSA NZ Off-the-Mark with a Double Header

FSA GOES GLOBAL