1^st XI

Knox Gardens Falcons have surged into the top 4 after a win against Footballers at Pickets reserve on Saturday. Copy and paste from the last 6 rounds - Small and Butcher got us off to a great start when Butcher fell in the 16^th over for as well made 26. Nav Singh came in and he and Shan put on 30 when Nav was out for 13.

From there wickets fell consistently as the middle order failed to fire, Shan was out unluckily out on what was to be the final ball before tea on 39. Zach Flintoff and Scott McInerney pushed it around for a while after tea before Zach was run out with the score on 127. Wickets continued to fall and eventually Knox Gardens were all out for 172 – probably 30-50 short of where they were hoping to be at 1-80 but a good competitive score nonetheless. Scott McInerney made a welcome return to the 1^st XI with a well organised 34.

Given the opportunity to have 6 overs at Footballers, a wicket before stumps was what was required and Zack Flintoff didn’t let his captain down with his first ball of the afternoon. At the close of play the match was in the balance at 1/26.

Footballers looked to attack on day 2 and this resulted and they had the scoreboard ticking over early. Simon Grasser got the breakthrough  but it was Shan Small who claimed 2 wickets in an over including the highly rated Bogar that swung the momentum in the Falcons favour.

Enter the Adam Wild show – the future hall of famer proceeded to take the game on and had Footballers reeling at 7-70. From there their bottom order batted well but much to our bowlers credit we were able to hold on for a 25 run win with Wild taking 5/41 off 19 overs. A place in the top 4 was the prize and an opportunity to cement it with a huge game this week against Ferntree Gully at home for the first time in 2 months.

2^nd XI

Runs were the order of the day for the magoos at home hosting Footballers. Ben McLean opened the way with Rhys Marget and they knocked up 67 before Rhys fell for 30. Benny knocked up his 50 and was out soon after with the score on 121. Jez Mac and Corne Mostert put on a 70 run stand before Jez departed for 26. Corne continued his good form making 57 before being run out. Our 3rds skipper may be in a little longer than initially intended with a well made 36 and Dylan Wilde continues his good form with 49. Holding the innings together at the end was 2’s debutant Jack Marget who batted beyond his years to make 27* - 3 runs short of his father. By the end of 80 overs we had amassed a very handy 9/326 (80) on what was an extremely quick Knox Gardens Reserve.

The new ball was thrown to Daisy Adams coming off a 6fa the week before, it didn’t exactly go to script with 2 dropped catches in the first over. He was able to have his revenge soon after and by tea had 4 wickets next to his name as KGCC seemingly had the game under control. Some big hitting on a lightning outfield saw Footballers get to 284. Best bowling was Dan Adams 4/65 (23) and the moment of the day came via a father son moment with Rhys taking a speccy at gully to give Jack his first 2’s wicket. An excellent win for our second XI.

3^rd XI

In what was a tough day on day 1 the 3^rd XI found themselves chasing some serious leather. Footballers were able to knock up 8/435 which included a century and an 80 odd.  Wickets were shared with skipper Andrew Potts, Gerard Jongen and Tehan taking 3 a piece.

Pottsy ordered his men to bat out the day and he led by example carrying his bat for 75 overs to score 120* and have his side 5/287 at the end of their 75. A great effort on its own and he was well supported by the Jongen boys with Gerard 33 and Anthony 38

4^th XI

By Greg Bakker

Heading into only the 2^nd 2 day game of the season, we were feeling pretty confident, despite having virtually a new side with only 5 returning from the last round.  Coming into the 4ths we had young u15s player Brent Bredin for his 1^st game of seniors plus a number of senior players only available for part of the game in Alex Danopolous, Varun and Hawkesy.  Jeff Greenway was also a last minute inclusion with Haydos as the sub-fielder to help us field a full strength team on day 1.  

Having won the toss and asking Eildon Park to bat first (to their great surprise and delight), we managed to drag them back from 0/40 to 4/51 and then continued to make steady inroads having them 6/90.  Unfortunately a bit of loose bowling towards the end of the 35 overs got them to 6/130 at the half way point.  A great fielding performance with plenty of energy and chatter throughout with wickets shared amongst 4 of the 8 bowlers, including Brent taking his 1^st senior wicket as well as a neat catch.  Another excellent display of catching by Russell in slip and some great chase downs and throws by Adam and Brent in particular were certainly highlights of the 1^st session.

Knowing that we had more strength in our middle order this game and a few hefty hitters in Varun, Alex and Hawksey coming the following week, we were looking for a solid start, happy to keep wickets in hand in lieu of run rate.  Chris Stuckey and Adam Wylde actually gave us both, getting us to a very secure 1/96 at the end of 35 with Chris on 65 and Adam a patient 11.  This was certainly a solid platform for the 2^nd week.

Starting the 2^nd day, there were several goals.  Get them out cheaply, get Chris to a ton, gain 1^st innings points and, hopefully, be in a position to push for an outright knowing we had 70 overs in the day.

Goal 1 - get them all out quickly & cheaply: Open the bowling with Hawkesy and Varun, get the last 4 Eildon Park batsmen out quickly and don’t concede too many runs.  That was the plan and Varun got us off to the perfect start claiming the 7^th wicket with the 1^st ball of the day to a nicely judged catch by Adam (yes, that name again!).  Hawkesy knocked back middle peg in his 1^st over, Varun claimed another and then Jeff chipped in with the last wicket off his 1^st ball.   All out 159 after 9.1 overs of the day. That left 57 overs for the day.  Tick!

Goal 2 - get Chris to the ton.  Didn’t have to worry.  Did it easy.  Whittled it down with 1s and 2s with Adam at the other end providing great support.  After a 137 run partnership with Adam, Chris put the ball over cover for 2 runs to bring up a much deserved ton, his 1^st ever.  Well done Chris on a magnificent effort, not just with this innings but reaching 235 runs so far this season!!  Another goal achieved - tick!

Goal 3 - 1^st innings points: Chris departing with the score on 148 left us needing 12 runs with 8 wickets in hand.  Unfortunately Jeff ran himself out attempting a 2^nd run so it was left to young Adam and Nixon to steer us home.  Mission accomplished after 60 overs, leaving 32 overs to push for a bit of a lead and put Eildon Park in again. Tick no. 3!

Goal 4 - push for an outright:  With young Adam on 34 at tea, 24 overs left, a lead of only 14 and no access to the new ball cupboard, our goals changed from an outright to an individual milestone.  Get Adam to his 1^st 50 milestone.  Despite angst from the opposition captain having to stay out in the field, we all sat back and watched Adam patiently make his way to a well deserved 53 not out.  Having been in the middle for 78 of the 85 overs faced, Adam displayed a temperament and maturity that, once his body fills out and his strength develops, will see him score many, many runs in senior cricket.  A great innings Adam, well played.  Adam was well supported by Nixon (21) and Brent (20no) who both looked very comfortable at this level.  The future of the club is looking very, very bright with these young guns on their way in the system.

So, a comfortable win with the KGCC 4ths scoring 3/228 vs Eildon Park 159.  7 of the 10 bowlers took wickets, the fielding was great, the energy in the field was excellent.  It was a very enjoyable game.

So after 7 rounds, we stand 3/4 and in 7^th position on the ladder with a healthy percentage. We have a couple of tough games coming up with quite a few player changes expected so, who knows, if a few things go our way, we may be in a position to challenge for the 4 early in the new year.