The Falcons - Round 11 Match Report

Round 11 Match Report
Posted by Ben McLean on Tuesday, 10 Feb 2015 at 1:25pm

Sup KGCC This weeks matchys have been compiled by the captains. I have had to manually grate the cheese for the hotdogs and have been inundated. 1st XI - by Murph With a very important must win game against the 2nd placed Basin we knew we had to be at our best. Winning the toss and batting we posted a very strong total of 206. In Butchys absence Zach stood up and posted a fantastic 31 to get us off to a really good start. After being 3 for 87 after 40 overs we knew we had to get moving and Mitch took the reins and smashed a dominant 54. With wickets in hand we were able to bat 80 overs and make sure we could put the pressure back onto the bears. 35 degrees and a quick ground on day two must have looked good for the bears, except we had a weapon in waiting , Mr Zach Flintoff. Taking wicket after wicket with 6/17 the basin had no answers. Scotty bowled a fantastic opening spell and as did wilba with the prized wicket of Vozzo later in the game to help seal the win. TP was back bowling with a strong 14 over spell. Basin were finally dismissed for 149. Saturday was a great day for the club , reward for hard work on the track and a great team effort. Well done boys well deserved. 2nd XI by RI Marget Round 11 saw the 2's venture out to The Basin to take on the second placed Bears on their #2 oval due to repairs being carried out on the main oval. The Basin won the toss and asked us to have a hit, this seemed like a bad idea at the start with Rhys Marget and Brett Morrison getting off to a flyer with the score bein 0/64 after the first 8 overs. Rhys (35) was dismissed in the 11th over with the score on 75, soon after we were 3/91 with Jack Marget joining Brett at the crease. The pair consolidated and then dominated before their 72 run partnership was ended when Jack (30) was dismissed after a fine innings by the developing young 14 year old who is having a ripper season. Unfortunately Morro departed shortly after being bowled by a grubber that ended a very impressive knock of 86. Well placed at tea on 5/189 off 48 overs the plan was to bat the day out and post a monster score but after Simon Grasser was run out for an accomplished 32 the wickets tumbled and we were bowled out for 243 in the 65th over. Although disappointed with being bowled out we had 15 overs left for the day to make in roads into The Basin's batting line up and that we did. Simon Grasser was the chief destroyer claiming 3 wickets and we had them reeling at 3/14, some lusty hitting by their number 5 saw them 3/50 at stumps and the game evenly poised. Day 2 started off frustratingly as some excellent bowling from Ian Jongen was not appreciated by the man in Green and opportunities although limited were not taken saw them progress to 3/124 before a quick flurry of wickets had us back in the game and the Bears 6/127. Again missed opportunities and some good batting saw us defeated for the first time this season and a nice little wake up call that we can't just go through the motions and expect to win games at this end of the season. Simon Grasser (3/44 off 16) and a luckless Ian Jongen (1/44 off 16) were the pick of the bowlers this round. A big challenge next week to see what we are made of when we look to bounce back against Upwey. 3rd XI - by Jason Buljubasic The 3rd's played Knoxfield away at Benedikt park this round. After losing the toss and being sent in, we started positively, with CJ and Pottsy looking to consolidate early on and set up the innings, however after CJ departed for 25, wickets fell consistently and we found ourselves in trouble at 6 for 70. Thommo and Monty came together and offered some resistance, Thommo finished up caught on the fence for 93, Dylan Wylde also went down fighting, after some huge 6's into neighbouring properties. All out for 222, partnerships at the end gave us something to defend, and despite some lovely shots, Varun's diamond duck was undoubtedly the highlight of the day. With 20 overs to play, Knoxfield added 70 runs for no loss , leaving them 150 to chase down on day 2. The bowlers all had a fair crack, but we couldn't find the early wickets we knew we needed to give ourselves a chance. Knoxfield passing us 3 down and pulling up stumps just after 3. Standards though were generally good on a very unforgiving ground, so despite the result we can still take positives out of the game. CJ had a very tidy day with the gloves, Chris Stuckey, Dylan Wylde and Cliff Fisher all bowled well without luck. Another hard game this week will definitely be a test of our determination and character, I'm sure the boys are all looking forward to the challenge. 4th XI - by Greg Bakker KGCC 4s Round 11 Match Report aka “The Tortoise and the Hare” I know it looks like a long read but there’s a lot to mention so please bear with me  With our season on the line, we headed to the Knox Gardens Reserve bottom oval for our away game against The Basin (3rd) who had only lost the 1 game this season. Losing Chris to the 3s before the toss was difficult but that opened up a spot for Nibby to return to the hard red ball game in week 2 after a few weeks of chasing furry yellow balls around tennis courts. With the split innings concept in division 7, batting first does not necessarily have the same advantage as in other divisions. Unlike most of our opponents, we don’t have any ‘bash and crash’ batsmen in our lineup so batting second allows us the time to assess the run rate required and pace ourselves accordingly. Winning the toss, we sent The Basin into bat. The bottom oval was faster than I’d ever seen it and, from the 1st ball, The Basin were scoring at around 4 runs per over. Their tactic was to hit with the strong wind and just pick off runs at the other end. The tactic failed somewhat with The Basin losing 3 early wickets to the old guy trudging up the hill into the wind! From 3/37 off 10, they settled with a couple of experienced batsmen at the crease getting them to 103 before Nix got the much needed breakthrough - 4/103 off 21. All bowlers bowled well but Sammy was the pick of them bowling 7 straight overs into the wind of varying forms of magic from over 20 to 32 with The Basin going from 3/99 to 6/157 in that time and Sammy taking 1/14 and an assisted run out (#pennydropped) The Basin finished the day on 6/174 from their 35 overs, a rate of 5 per over on a fast ground but, with 6 wickets down, we knew the game was a marathon and not a sprint. We just had to hold our nerve (and wickets). Without Chris to open the batting, Jimmy put up his hand to partner Dos and they got off to a solid start getting to 30 before Jimmy, who was completely untroubled by the opening bowlers, was unfortunately run out for 10. Sammy joined Dos knowing that he had over 60 overs at the crease if he wanted them. Between them, they batted responsibly, picking off runs by placing the ball into the gaps and taking advantage of the fast outfield to score boundaries every so often. Dos in particular was taking advantage of the favourable conditions literally racing to 37 (4 boundaries) before poking at a ball that top edged a catch to mid-wicket in the 18th over. Tymo joined Sammy with 17 overs left in the day with the intent to work the ball around, take no risks and get to stumps without losing another wicket. The runs would come next week if we had wickets in hand. The Basin’s bowling was helping us keep the scoreboard ticking over with extras starting to make a contribution but, while this was helping on the scoreboard, it wasn’t helping the batsmen get into a rhythm! Unfortunately, with only a couple of overs to go, Sammy (25) having played a responsible innings and withstanding everything the experienced Basin fielders could throw at him, played at a ball that he probably could have left and departed with the score on 111. Tymo who had played his role to perfection, as he had done against Monbulk in the previous round, was joined by Grega who was lucky to survive a catch to slip that eventually saw us through to 3/113 at stumps. Despite the Basin fielders trying to bait our batsmen with comments suggesting we needed 7 an over, we knew that if we had wickets in hand for next week, we could get the last 4 wickets, keep them to a total around 230 and have 120 to chase off 35 overs plus whatever was left of their 35 overs. Knowing the plan is one thing but for 3 kids in Dos, Sammy and Tymo to execute it by hanging in there, frustrating a team that just expected to win and putting us in a winning position was sensational. Week 2 saw Sammy open up into the wind as just reward for his bowling the week before. The Basin’s vastly more experienced batsmen in David Sawyers (The Basin’s captain) and Matt Wallace (accustomed to playing higher than division 7) got them off to a flyer getting to 6/207 off 42 before Sammy got the breakthrough we needed with young Spencer holding a nice catch at point. Nix saw off the next batsman with a neat stumping by Nibby before Sammy finally removed The Basin’s highest scorer to effectively end the resistance. Jimmy chimed in with a wicket off his first ball to end the innings on 222 from 50.1 overs. S Bakker 3/31 off 14; G Bakker 3/37; N Adcock 2/52; J Tanner 1/0 (0.1) With the first phase of the plan executed, we were left with 110 runs to get off 51 overs and 7 wickets in hand………nothing like the 7 an over The Basin’s fielders were suggesting we needed! No risks needed, just pick up the runs that will inevitably come. Tymo and Grega started again and, with The Basin’s bowlers hitting the mark better than the previous week, they managed to get through Tymo’s tight defences in the 4th over of the day. While Tymo only had 11 runs next to his name, the job he did for the team was exactly what was required. He’d been there for 53 runs in 22 overs and put us in a position of strength. That’s the type of determination and effort that wins games of cricket! Brent joined Grega but unfortunately continued his run of outs edging a sharp ball to slip for 4 and the score on 5/134 (89 needed off 41). Brent seems to be experiencing one of those times in cricket that most batsmen go through where you don’t know where your next run is coming from. As we all know, the wheel keeps turning and his turn will come again soon. Just stick with what has worked previously and good times will come again!! Nibby joined Grega fresh from his 50* in the morning and started to time the ball from the start. Frustration was creeping into The Basin’s game as they couldn’t get the breakthrough they wanted and so desperately needed! Tea came with the score on 5/173 off 55 overs - 50 needed off 31 overs. After tea, Nibby continued batting like a millionaire while Grega continued batting like……well, like Grega until he was unlucky (according to the bowler!) to be given out LBW for 19. Grega saw us through from 3/111 to 6/192 over 26 overs from where we could see the finish line. It was the type of backbone to the innings that we needed and Grega played it to perfection although, leaving the crease with a fist bump from the bowler who just got him out left us all a bit confused and bemused. We just put it down to begrudging respect between two combatants! Lachy came and went before Nibby (1) scored the winning runs in the 66th over, (2) made his maiden senior half century in the same over, and (3) scored two hugs from his skipper in the space of 4 balls! A Jongen 54*; H Morrison 37; S Bakker 25; A Gregor 19; M Tymensen 11 KGCC 7/234 def The Basin 222 The Basin guys admitted they thought they had us after week 1 being 60 runs in front but we knew otherwise. We had our plan and we executed it beautifully! With 8 of our 13 players being juniors and not having C Stuckey available to us, it was an incredible display of patience and temperament from all players in what was the greatest team effort and morale boosting win for this team in the past 2 seasons. Only 31 runs were scored by senior batsmen and The Basin’s captain was full of praise for all of the kids as he admitted that they threw everything at each of them to put them off but to no avail. The early finish enabled us to get around the 1s and support them to a great win, also over The Basin - great work guys (especially Zach!!) #oneclub That was the win we needed after 2 close losses but we are still outside the 4, courtesy of an outright by 6th placed FTG that puts them in 4th spot, 1 point ahead of us. While we still have the best percentage, the points spread now makes that irrelevant. We play FTG in the next round so we have our destiny in our own hands. Go Gardens!