1st XI vs Upper Ferntree Gully @ Kings Park

We took on last year’s grand finalists in the first 2-day game of the season. Winning the toss we had no hesitation in batting first. Losing Shan through injury from the previous game we were forced to shuffle a few things around in the batting order. This meant club coach Joe Morsello would move up to open and Youngster Jack Marget would get an opportunity to bat at 3. 

We got off to a slow but steady start before losing a couple of wickets in quick succession, we steadied the ship a little bit with Jack and myself building a little partnership until I was bowled for 30 at a horrible time just before tea. We headed into tea in a reasonable position at 3/ 90 odd, and looking to make a score in excess of 200. Unfortunately once Jack Marget fell on 30 himself the rest followed as we were bowled out for what was a well under par total of 164. That left us with 7 overs to bowl at them and we concluded the day having the 1/14. 

Week two was one of the strangest contested games of cricket I have played in for a while, for the first 30 minutes we bowled pretty poorly but kept managing to find a way to grab wickets. Upper gully again steadied before Adz Metherell and Scotty Mac starting ripping through the batting line up and all of a sudden we have them 8/97 and in what should have been a winning positon. To upper gully’s credit they did not give us a sniff after that and chipped away at the total slowly but surely and ended up passing us 8 down. 

Adam Metherell and Scotty Mac were our two bowlers of note both bowling 20 overs 3/40 in what was a very gallant effort from those two. 

Unfortunately we fell short in a game that we had for the taking. Again we go away from the game with confidence knowing we can beat the best, but we have to start turning good performances into results if we want to take the next step this season. 

Next week we take on Eildon Park in a T-20 and to raise hopefully a lot of money for the great cause in cystic fibrosis. A 4:00pm start for us this week as we play immediately after the second XI. It would be great to see as many faces supporting the Red and Black as possible on Saturday. 

Butch

2nd XI vs Upper Ferntree Gully @ Knox Gardens Reserve

There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home. Ahhh, great to be back on home turf for the first time this season for our round 3 clash with the Upper Gully. A late change threw a spanner in the works with our leading wicket taker for the first two games Drew Withers to play 1’s. After thinking long and hard we decided to give the young, foul mouthed and very keen Joshy McGowan his first game in the 2^nd XI. He also bowls the same pace as Drew so was a clear decision.

Looking for a hattrick of wins to start the season we were off to a flyer as I once again won the toss and under greasy condition decided we better bat first before the ball got ruined. Unfortunately for us by the time the ball was ruined so was our top and middle order batsmen. A couple of lazy shots followed by some outrageous triggering by our umpires saw us staggering to 5/46 and starring down the barrel of a terrible collapse. 

Enter the weapon, the destroyer, the man with extremely large cannons, a man who is very impressed with what he brings to the table, Dylan Wylde. Along with Mitch Gregory the two dug us out of an all mighty hole with a combination of crisp hitting, back foot finesse, back chatting, solid defence and brutal running between the wickets. A very entertaining and also at times lucky 81 run partnership got us back into the contest and a chance to post a fine total. Dylski was the first to go for a beaut 35 which saw the old fox Trav Mulder join him at the crease and the runs were flowing until Mitch ‘bombs’ Gregory decided to halt the game with an almighty top edge which almost cleared the roof of the clubrooms!!! Partnerships were then consistent until Mitch smashed one to point for a very polished and surprisingly patient 78 in a superb knock. Curn played also and whacked around 28 not out while myself and young first gamer Josh ‘King’ McGowan made sure we weren’t to bat out our allotted overs. All out for 229 a great recovery from 5/46 but well short of our pre-game target.

We ended up bowling a couple of overs and the old fox Trav blasted the off pole of their night watchman out of the ground to leave them 1/11. 

The second week came around quickly and we were eager to make up for a lacklustre start on week one. Mitch opened up with his thunderbolts while Trav opened up with the supreme control we’ve seen for decades. An average start but wickets fell which was ideal. After the openers were spent after long opening spells I turned to my best two Josh’s in the team Josh Curnow and Josh McGowan. The young guys were terrific and showed amazing control with the ball to not only create chances but stifle the opposition and really bowl to a plan. Gun leggie ‘King’ had some of their best batsmen in all sorts and looked like breaking through for a wicket at any moment continually beating the bat. He claimed a well-deserved wicket several overs later and was unlucky not to have a bag as the ball refused to go to hand when they could lay any sort of bat on it. Curney was just as good bowling very consistent and was also unlucky not to get a bag (Sorry Curn ☹)after a tough first game last week. Mitch came back to blast out the tail after the young lads were fantastic and after taking consistent wickets we ended up bowling them out for 159 in a great performance. Mitch 4/58 off 22, Curn 2/23 off 20 and McGowan 1/30 off 12 were all fantastic.

Now the only team undefeated with the big T/20 match this week we will look to consolidate our spot at the top.

Daine

3rd XI vs Rowville @ Wantirna College

Round 3 saw us up against Rowville who had started the season 1-1 just like us and barring a late collapse in round 1 could have been undefeated. They had a team full of guys who had experience in DeCoite and we were set for a big challenge against a potential top 4 side. They won the toss and decided to have a bat. Unfortunately there was a bit of rain around which made the ball quite wet and slippery early on. They started reasonably and it took us until just after drinks to get our first wicket with the score on 42. From there Nixon was able to pick up a couple of quick wickets to have Rowville in trouble at 3/63.

From there were proceeded to drop both the new batsmen relatively cheaply with chances that really should have been taken at this level. They managed to put on 80 for the 4^th wicket before yet another dropped catch resulted in a run out. They went on to lose their final 6 wickets for just 23 runs with both Nixon and Reidy bowling brilliantly after tea and both unchanged. Nixon finished with 4/65 (25) and Reidy 3/21 (10). They were well assisted by Devo 1/17 (13), Nikhil 0/15 (8), Bailey 0/19 (9) and hard hitting Nibby 0/11 (4).

This left us with 11 overs to face overnight and unfortunately Rhys was back in the sheds for 12 and the score at 1/28 overnight with myself and Adam Wylde at the crease. We started well on the 2^nd day before Adam fell with the score on 39 and I fell with the score on 56. From here both Reidy and Dos batted extremely well putting on 38 before Dos was out for 19, lowering his average down to a lowly average of just over 40 in his last 10 games and surely pressing for higher honours. Nibby came and went leaving us in a bit of trouble at 5/98. Reidy and Lamby looked to be doing it easy putting on 27 before Reidy ran himself out and Lamby was bowled just before tea leaving us at 7/137 with Bailey and Nixon in. These two looked to get us home putting on 25 until Nixon was caught at point off a full toss. We then managed to get the scores level and looked home before Devo was bowled leaving us 9 down and Rowville up and about for a tie.

Bailey showed nerves of steel and was dropped a couple of times with the scores tied, but managed to hit Sidhu through mid on to get up a much needed win. Credit must go to him for holding the tail together with a well made 18. Lamby top scored with 21 and we had 7 players in double figures and one just short with 9, with everyone failing to capitalise on their start.

In the end a win is a win and good sides win games when they don’t play their best. I think we were far from our best and a batting line up with the quality we have won’t have a top score of 21 too many times, nor would we drop 8 catches in too many games. All that being said we really dug in and grinded out the win and it is one that we may look back on as being very important later in the season when we are playing for spots in the finals. We do need to get to training and work hard though as an improved performance will be required if we want to get some distance between us and the bottom 4 next week up at Sth Belgrave, who coming off a bad loss will be up and about.

Pottsy

4th XI vs Rowville @ Liberty Reserve

This week we had Rowville at home who took the piss out of last year’s previous the previous game so we knew that it was always going to be an interesting game.

Scotty did the toss and chose the ever-reliable heads and won and due to the light rain decided to bat first.

Scotty and Deepak had us off to a quick solid start with us being none for 30 after 5 and Scotty looked on and determined to put on a good score. Unfortunately, the next over he put a half tracker down the throat of the only fielder on the leg side and we were 1 down. Not long after Stuckey was gone for a duck and in came Benny. He dug deep and played a great anchor role for Deepak on the other side before he too was dismissed with the score 3/48. Porno then came in and him and Benny combined for a brilliant 65 run partnership before Porno was unlucky for the second week in a row to be caught by a freak catch with us 4/113. Jay came and went and we ended the day on 5/121. 

In reply myself and Sammy opened the bowling. They were lucky with a couple of catches not going just over fielders before one did go to hand and we had them 1/16 off 5. A couple overs later I was lucky enough to snag my second wicket trapping him plum for a duck. At 2/18 off 7 we were looking really comfortable. Unfortunately, the other opener had more lives than a cat and got away with many just not making it to hand. A later bowling change saw young Benny get the breakthrough we needed with them 3/68. They ended up finishing the day at 3/105.

On day 2 there was a firm message to young Benny to put a price on his wicket and to go on with his overnight score of 38 and that is exactly what he did with a very strong partnership of 53 with Sammy before Sammy forced a shot and got trapped in front LBW for a quick 33 and with us on 6/172. We had a slight collapse and lost 3/3 with Benny ending up on 63. We lost another quick wicket and we were 9/182 with 6 overs to spare. I got the chance to swing the willow with the magnificent Tommy and we combined for a quick 27 before I was bowled in with 2 balls to go in the innings and the score on 209.

We had scoreboard pressure and we knew that early wickets were gonna be crucial. We decided to change things up a bit and bring on Tommy and myself. I was able to snare one caught behind in my first over and had them 4/107. As with the week before the opener was still there and rode his luck which seemed like it would never end. Credit to the boys in the field who dug deep and a good bowling change with Scotty having a trundle saw the big breakthrough we needed with the opener getting caught behind on 80 and the score 5/156. Next over Sammy struck and then Scottys next over he struck again and we had them 7/160. They dug deep before Scotty and myself came back on with us both snagging a wicket each in our first overs back on and they were 9/186. We could smell Victory needing just one wicket to win. However, it was not meant to be and they were able to tie the scores with 1 ball to go and won off the last ball.

All in all, it was a tough and little disappointing match and not the result we were looking for after where we had them. However, I would like to congratulate Benny on what I believe is his first seniors 50. He held his head and showed great composure and helped put us in a strong position. All the boys did their bit and tried their hardest and not much more we could ask of them.

Crookie