Marget falls 2 short.
Posted by Ben McLean on Sunday, 2 Nov 2008 at 4:31pm

The 1st XI remain undefeated this season after a gutsy run chase to beat Johnson Park.  On day 1 the 1's were put into the field when Johnson Park decided to bat, the pitch and fast outfield at JP did no favours for our boys and we failed to take successive wickets and with 15 overs to go Johnson Park were 6/219 and a 300+ score was ominous.  However in the last 15 some very tight bowling from Jarrod Butcher, Simon Grasser 1/37 and Adam Wild 2/43 restricted the opposition to 10/243 in the last over, despite the ball being in such poor condition it's not even fit to use in the nets.  Jarrod was the pick of the bowlers with 4/46. 

Past history suggested that 243 was far too many for our 1st XI to chase down, however Sampath Hettiarachchige 69, and Braet Adams 60 put on a fantastic 119 run opening stand, the best of the season so far, before a mini collapse saw the score at 4/155.  Rhys Marget and Josh Phillips 16, settled the slide and took the team to tea 4 wickets down and needing around 60 runs to clinch victory.  After tea Rhys Marget continued to score freely and took the team past JP's score 5 wickets down on his way to a score of 98, which included 10 4's and 3 6's.  The side went on to post a total of 304 from 67.3 overs. 

The 2nd XI also remain undefeated after a convincing win over Rowville at home.  Jeremy Mackinnon is in great touch at the top of the order scoring 36 before edging a ball to slips just before tea, he and Ray Borg 40, put on a valuable 70 run partnership in which Borg was the dominant run scorer!  At tea however the loss of 6 wickets for 107 had everyone hoping that we could scrap our way to 150.  Everyone except for Matt van Lith 39 and Mitch Gregory 66 that is.  Mitch and Matt put on 93 runs in just 15 overs after tea and restored order allowing the tail to waggle the score to 247 from 66 overs.  Ian Jongen wasted no time grabbing a scalp before the end of play on day 1, with Rowville on 1/12.

On day 2 Simon Taylor delivered the killer blow to Rowville, bowling an inspired spell of 12 overs 5/10, in an innings when Knox Gardens delivered 32 maidens from 64.5 overs.  We had Rowville at 8/39 at one stage however the remaining 2 wickets took a frustratingly long time to capture, with the last wicket taking 22 runs from 25 overs, and hardly a shot played.  Simon Wilkinson also had a good day taking 2/21 from 17 overs.  With just 24 overs to play the skipper decided to give some batting practice to the top order and once again Simon Taylor starred turning his 1st Innings golden duck into an unbeaten 84 runs.  Daine Vernon also blobbed the 1st Innings and used the time in the middle well, compiling 40 runs in quick time, his highest score in the 2's.

The 3rd XI were beaten chasing a score of 205, they lost the last 6 wickets 23 to fall 50 runs short of the target.  Ben Morello was awesome on Day 1 taking 3/32 from 12 overs along with Luke Perryman 3/43.  Corne Mostert has had a great start to the season with the bat and is pushing for 2's selection with a well compiled 59 runs, taking his total to 137 for the season.

Ryan Lepore was the star of the 4's and Dream Team points leader for Round 3.  Ryan took 3/53 from 19 overs on Day 1 ,scored 63 with the bat and took a catch. The 4's were chasing 254 from Eildon Park who had an opening stand of 113, so effectivly the bowlers took 10/140 once the opening pair were dimissed.  Ash Hawkes returned his best figures playing senior cricket, taking 4/18 from 6 overs, Blake Lines also took 3/73.  As mentioned, Ryan took the bull by the horns with the bat and scored 63, Drew Withers also did well with 33 runs in the 4th's total of 178. 

In week 1 the 5ths played SE Wanderers, and after some confusion of the location of the game, the boys & girl built a total of 192 with David Hancock scoring 44, Super Coach Chris Amos chipping in for 42, and new player Ashley Thompson scoring 52*, it wasn't enough though and SE Wanderers passed the score 1 wicket down in the 32 over.  Dave Thomas was a little expensive but took the only wicket in his last senior game before announcing his retirement the following day.  Dave took 1/49 from 6 that's 8.2 RPO, ouch!

In week 2 the 5ths were strengthened by a) knowing the correct location of the game, and b) the return of Steve Mackinnon.  The 5ths won the toss and bowled, on what must have been a damp track.  Despite the pitch the bowlers couldn't get an early wicket and Rowville posted a total of 6/181 from 40 overs.  Ashley Thompson took 2/29.  Steve Mackinnon top scored with 29, and Sedick Voterson from the vets also did well with 26, Barry Wild was stranded on his way to 50 finishing on 24*.  The 5ths were bowled on for 142.

Please note that this week there is no training on Tuesday, cup day, however there will be a light session on Monday night for those interested in joining in.  Regular training resumes on Thursday night.  As this Thursday is a selection week, there will be a new beer at the bar on Thursday night, vote for your choice of beer in the Forum section of our website.  So far Little Creatures is leading the polling.

Good luck to the punters club for Melbourne Cup Day.
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