1^st XI – by Murph

Needing a win away against Ferntree Gully we lost the toss and were put into bat.

Losing our first wicket early we put on a couple of partnerships with myself (45) and butch (57) to see us through to the break. With wickets in hand after tea Nav came out and played what was easily his best innings for the club with an unbeaten 63*. Contributions from first gamer Jack Marget (13) , Zach (20) and Daine (16) saw us to a competitive total of 258 at end of play.

Opening up with Wilba and Big Luke the opening spell could not have been any better, restricting them early was the key, unfortunately Bradbury came out and was a class above and took us on in the field from the word go. In the end our fielding probably cost us around 30 runs and we lost in the last over of the day but on a brighter note, Wilba was back to his very best bowling 22.1 overs 4/69 , the comp veteran/founder Trav bowled 15 overs 0/51 in a new role , Zach 12 overs 1/44 and handy spells from Butch 9 overs 1/29 and Shan 9 overs 1/31.

I can't fault our attitude , our talk or commitment, everything was spot on , just a heart breaking loss. Big week on the track and lets bounce back.

2^nd XI – by Reidy

The 2nd XI were smarting after losing their first game at home in nearly 2 years against Johnson Park in the T20. A game against a young FTG side seemed like the perfect opportunity for redemption. We won the toss and elected to bat. After losing Morro early CJ and Rhys set about settling things until CJ fell for 9. Rhys was in his usually aggressive frame of mind and made a quick fire 57 until he fell to an excellent catch at long on. Jez and Mungy batted well together with Mungy slapping boundaries at will. His innings came to an end with a great swinging delivery that kept low from an impressive left arm fast bowler who reminded this reporter of a young Wasim Akram. Reidy came and went next ball LBW to a ball that was described as 'as good a ball as you'll see in FTGDCA cricket'. Lamby (Lamb Sandwich) Lambrick and JC fell quickly, to see the side in real trouble at 7/140. The Hawk and Jez put on a steady partnership to get things back on track until The Hawk mistimed a sweep shot and was caught which saw Drewy Drewy Moi Moi and his amazing bat come to the crease, much to the excitement of the crowd. He set to work smashing boundary after boundary. Eventually Jez fell for an excellent 63 and Mohammed Drewsouf followed soon after to see us bowled out for 202 in just 48 overs. We bowled 29 overs at them on the first day and they got to 0/67. 

Day 2 saw the FTG openers continue their partnership despite steady bowling from Rhys and Lamb Sandwich. The breakthrough came with Drewsouf Youhana picking up a great caught and bowled with the score at 1/118. Tight bowling and good fielding (especially from sub fielders The Pott and Mitch 'beer pong champion' Gregory) saw the runs dry up and the pressure mount. The pressure became too much for the FTG batsmen, in particular Morro's nephew who after being dismissed broke a window in the visitors change room. Josh Curnow really stepped up and claimed the key breakthrough of M. Catalano, removing his off stump for a very well made 92. At tea things were tight with FTG needing 43 runs with 4 wickets in hand. Reidy bowled with good pace after tea to put the batsmen on the back foot and eventually Lady Hawk and Rhys came on to bowl FTG out for 196. An amazing effort that really has the 2nd XI believing that they can win from anywhere. 

Jezza 63

Rhys 57 & 3/45

Hawk 3/57

JC 2/15

3^rd XI – by Ben McLean

Winning the toss it was a no brainer to put Knox Boronia Churches into bat, with mother nature producing "bowling conditions" and Knox Council tardy on mowing activities.  Cliff Fisher striking in his 4th & 6th Overs and Nibby striking in his 7th, KBCC were on the back foot at 3/22 from 14.  Wickets fell at consistent intervals and we dismissed their last batsman with the score on 98.  Cliff Fisher finished with a brilliant 5/28, Nixon Adcock 3/21 including a wicket off his first ball. Nikhil DeSilva impressed in the field including a fine runout from the boundary.  Despite the fine performance in the field, we found ourselves in trouble over night with the score at 3/39.

With similar conditions on Day 2, Sam Bakker 54, and Jason Buljubasic 39 put on a clinic in shot selection and running between the wickets, Sam in particular showing he is a maturing talent. Their partnership was worth 112.  Some lusty hitting prior to the tea break from Nibby, Devo and Bails took us to 6/162, and with a 64 run lead and 32 overs remaining in the day, we stuck KBCC back into bat.

Bails opened the bowling and struck in the 10th over,  celebrating like it was his birthday after cartwheeling leg pole.  He finished with 2/15 from 10.  Nixon Adcock took 2/6 and we had a sniff.  With 8 overs to play, 6 wickets to get a only 7 runs to play with, I tossed the ball to Pottsy, who executed a leg stump and off pitch line with the over going for 6.  Nikhil again bowled well and took 2/6 whilst we pressed in the last 7 overs to take as many wickets a possible.  Dos Morrison and Sam Bakker both took opportunities with a wicket a piece.  After 32 overs we'd taken 8/84, in an impressive all round display, falling just short of outright.

4^th XI – by Greg Bakker

Already into November and we’ve only played 2 days of cricket this season so we headed to Monbulk absolutely keen to play our 2^nd game of the season.  With the club’s depth tested this round, we were buoyed by a few handy inclusions in Simon #BOMBS Wilkinson and Monty, both appearing for 1 week only as well as a couple of club legends and life members in Crazy Rob Cottle and Dave Hancock while also welcoming back young Alex D’nop.

Winning the toss and electing to bowl first, the new ball was thrown to D’nop who broke through in the 1^st over with the wicket of the Monbulk captain to put them on the back foot. With the ever unlucky Grega bamboozling the batsmen at the other end with his hooping slow-medium to slower-medium outswingers, D’nop ripped into the top order to have them 3/33 with D’nop taking 3/18 off 7. Crazy came on and claimed the 4^th in a typically tidy spell of 1/1 off 3 with Monbulk eventually reaching 5/55 in the 23^rd over.  Things fell away after that with Monbulk getting to 5/113 from 35.

A bit disappointed with the last 12 overs in the field, we set about trying to get the advantage back with the bat opening with Dave and Simon on a ground that somewhat suited those that liked to hit out, particularly towards the school. Despite Dave’s attempt to run Simon out from the 1^st ball of the innings, both batters settled into some disciplined batting with a few lusty shots to spread the field followed by some that were well-placed through the field to keep the scoreboard ticking over.  Despite looking very comfortable at the crease, Dave departed in the 8^th over with the score at 40 allowing Monty to join Simon who proceeded to lift the tempo even further.

While Grega did his best to shield his new shiny and very sexy sports car from potential harm by parking it as far away as possible behind the classrooms, Simon was doing his best to find it with a string of maxis with 1 in particular almost finding the target!  With the Garden Army cheering every run as he cut loose, Simon did his best to bring up his ton but fell short when he holed out attempting a maxi to the longer boundary. An entertaining 88 (5 4’s & 6 maxis) in a partnership of 126 off 17 overs with Monty saw us at 2/166 off 25 overs having wrested back the advantage. 

Monty continued on his merry way looking better and better as his innings progressed and, with the Garden Army back in their chairs and cheering every run, Monty got to 71 (12 4’s) before losing his wicket.  Brent (36 - 2 4’s & 3 maxis) and Ty (14 - 1 4 & 1 maxi) then took advantage of a dispirited Monbulk team to push the score through to 5/245 off 35 at stumps, a run rate of 7 per over and a lead of 132.

Looking for a quick kill in week 2 and a potential push for 10 points, we opened up with D’nop and Juzzie, fresh from his year 12 exams.  Getting rid of the 2 batsmen that stonewalled the previous week happened remarkably quickly as we reduced them to 8/133 in the 8^th over of the day but then for the 2^nd week in a row, we seemed to just sit back and wait for something to happen…….and nothing did!  Monbulk batted well from there on, only playing balls they had to and leaving everything else.  In an attempt to get the break through, the bowlers were changed after 2-4 over spells with eventually Juzzie getting the breakthrough in his comeback over and Lach enticing a poor shot from the 1^st ball of the next to have Monbulk all out 190.  Considering it took 29 overs to get the last 5 wickets, leaving us another 41 in the day and a lead of only 55, we decided to take the 6 points and head home to support the 2s and 3s.

KGCC 5/245 (#BOMBS 88; Monty 71; BB 36; Ty 14) defeated Monbulk 190 (D’nop 4/33; Juzzie 3/8; Crazy 1/1; Lach 1/42; GB 1/14)