Schoolgirl bowler Niamh Moriarty has had a day she'll remember for the rest of her life after an incredible performance
in the Kotahitanga Central Districts Girls Secondary League this morning in Palmerston North.
Playing for the Sacred Heart Girls’ College first XI (a girls’ secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand)
against Feilding High School at Manawaroa Park, Moriarty took a wicket with each of her first five deliveries in the
match — a triple hat-trick, then dotted down with her last delivery of the over for a brilliant 5-wicket maiden.
She wasn’t done.
After her devastating first over, Feilding High was in trouble early at six down with three runs on the board after the
first two overs of the match — having already lost a wicket in the first over, bowled by Zoe Ellerton-Kelly.
When Moriarty bowled her second over of the opening spell, she took another two wickets to have the in tatters at eight
down for five runs.
That was her first spell. Her teammates then took over the bowling duties for the next seven overs and Feilding High
clung on, before Moriarty returned for her second spell in the 12th over.
Feilding had recovered to 39/8, but it took Moriarty just two deliveries to take the last two wickets to bowl out the
opponents for 39 all out.
Moriarty finished with amazing figures of 9/2 (2-1-2-9) off her 2.2 overs (14 balls), and her team went on to win the
T20 match by 10 wickets as they chased down their target in 7.5 overs.
In a team coached by Sacred Heart teacher and Taranaki rep cricketer Amy Foreman, it was the icing on the cake for the schoolgirl sensation who has only recently returned to action following a broken
leg.
Moriarty is shaping as a handy allrounder, having also been Taranaki Cricket Association’s top run scorer and MVP at
last season’s Central Districts Year 9 & 10 Girls’ Tournament.