The PHS Boys 1XI Cricket Team qualified for the Top 8 Northern Districts Gillette Cup Qualifiers for the first time in many years. This competition boasts the top eight school in the ND region, including schools from Northland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Counties Manukau.

To qualify they had to first win the Counties Manukau Qualifier against Strathallan and get by St Johns College (Hamilton).

The ND qualifiers consists of two pools and four days of 50 over one day cricket. Pukekohe High School played St Paul’s College (Hamilton), Mt Maunganui College and St Peter’s College (Cambridge). A win against Mt Maunganui ensured qualification in 2026 (the first time PHS have achieved this in over a decade) and set them up for a final game against Whangarei Boys High School.

Congratulations to this team of young cricketers, who placed 6th in the competition and exemplified all of the school values. They demonstrated great resiliency, leadership and motivation over the four days, and made the most of the opportunity to demonstrate their cricketing skills against some top school competition.

Special thanks to Matt Gardner (coach), Murray Saunders, Gordon Paulsen, John Cook, Ella Farrell and Esther Williams for supporting the team over the tournament week.