1^st XI

Hosting Upwey under cloudy skies it was doubtful much play would be had. Murph lost the toss and Upwey elected to bat first in the round 4 1 day encounter. Adam Wild continued his good form claiming early wickets with Zach Flintoff. At the 23 over mark the match was evenly poised with Upwey getting to 5/83. The young Falcons then turned the screws and were able to take the final 5 wickets for just 30 runs.

Best of the bowling was Adam Metherall 2/13 (8) Scot McInerney 2/16 (6) Shan Small 2/13 (6) Adam Wild 2/29 (8).

Chasing an awkward total and after a torrential downpour during the tea interval Shan and Butchy new that they may only have 20 overs or thereabout in which to chase the runs down. Aggression was going to be the key and the boys took no time in getting down to the job at hand. 18.1 overs the runs were reached in for the loss of no wickets. Butchy hit a season high 73 that included 12 fours and Shan capped off a fantastic all round match with 35 to go with his 2 wickets.

The boys head to UFTG next week 2-2 and keen to continue the positive momentum.

2^nd XI

WASHOUT

3^rd XI

In the end no result for this game as rain eventually washed out the days play. They managed to hit 1206 with Wayne McInerney returning from suspension making a solid 24 and former 2’s player Andrew Potts a well constructed 21 under extremely trying conditions.

In reply Knox City would have most likely chased down the total as stumps were pulled at 7/120 both Varun Kotamraju and Matt Lambrick took 2 wickets.

4^th XI by Greg Bakker

After our big win and percentage booster last week, we had clawed ourselves up the ladder to 6^th in time for a round 4 clash against Lysterfield in 5^th. With the growing depth of players at the club, we welcomed back a few of our young players from the 3s who had been unfortunate to not have the opportunities. With this injection of talented youth, we came in to the game full of confidence. 

While the weather forecast suggested that we wouldn’t get any play at all, the actual conditions, while cold and wet underfoot, suggested that we might get a result out of the day.  Losing the toss and fielding first, we got off to a great start with Cliff sending the experienced opener back to the sheds in the 3^rd over of the day. Lysterfield then managed to scrape a couple of partnerships together with runs scored mainly off loose deliveries that you expect in the wet conditions but there were still plenty of dot balls to maintain the pressure on them.  A couple of late run outs saw them finish on 6/127cc which we felt would be a sub-par score.  Our young team is now starting to understand that, despite batsmen digging in and forming partnerships, we are only 1 ball away from a wicket and getting the momentum back in our favour.  The talking and energy in the field was exceptional, led by Josh who kept extremely well, taking a couple of catches and assisting in a run out.  All the bowlers bowled well in the conditions with Lachie fighting back well to claim a couple of wickets and a run out while Cliff and Brent managed 1 wicket each to round out a great team bowling and fielding effort.

With more rain threatening, we needed to make sure we maintained that balance of scoring quickly but holding our wickets for a late flurry if needed. Sam opened with Chris and, at the first rain break after 10 overs, the score was 35 without loss. Having seen the scores and noticing that Sam had outscored him to that point (16 vs 15), Chris came back out on a mission.  Racing to his 3^rd 50 of the season, Chris then holed out off the only slow bowler Lysterfield had for a great opening partnership of 87.  Brent joined Sam and, despite interruptions to play due to rain, playing through a few showers with limited light and also Lysterfield’s ordinary attitude and behaviour, the boys saw us through to 1/131 with Sam finishing on 41no and Brent 23no.  It was a great batting display by all and, despite the likes of Josh, Nibby, Nixon and Haydos not getting a hit today, I’m sure they would appreciate the win over the chance to bat!

For a team full of youngsters, we are more of a 2 day side so to pull off such a big percentage boosting win in a 1 day game was a great result.  With only 2 other results on the weekend and 3 games being abandoned, we are now in 5^th position, 3 points outside the top 4 with the best percentage (2.08).  Look out Eildon Park next round!

Go Gardens!!