Following the week one wash out we were forced to play another white ball one day game, this time against St Johns Tecoma who were sitting 2^nd on the ladder and have a very good and experienced side. We won the toss and had no hesitation in batting on a hot day with a slow outfield. Rhys and I opened the batting in Rhys’ 400^th game, however he came unstuck third ball of the day, edging to the keeper to leave us at 1/1. The in form Jay Wagner came in at first drop and we had our work cut out for us with veteran Saints seamer Danny Pearce charging in bowling thunderbolts at us. Jay faced the majority of him and played very well in ducking and weaving away from short balls and we got through him. We got through to drinks together and looked to go on with it and make a big score but were both dismissed to half-trackers form the leg spinner on 37 and 33 respectively with the score on 82 and 92.

Dylan, fresh off a hamstring injury didn’t trouble the scorers too much making 6. His brother, Josh batted quite well for his 29 as did Thommo for his hard hitting 25. Ben Marget batted at 7 and is starting to look more comfortable at this level making 18 not out with Porno coming back into the side after a year or so in the fours making 5 in the dying overs. In the end we finished with 7/177 which I thought was right on par based on the outfield.

Going into the field we struggled a little in the first 10 overs, conceding 50 runs and taking no wickets. We lacked a bit of chat and enthusiasm which didn’t really come until Rhys got the breakthrough for us with the score on 75. We then managed to get the in form Fenby out for 5 on the stroke of drinks to have them at 2/88. This brought their captain to the crease along with Chandler and a smart bit of fielding from Rhys off his own bowling backhanding the stumps down to run Chandler out changed the momentum. St Johns were well in control of the game at 3/144, before their skipper, Doyle was bowled, Pearce skied one to me and Dan Robb was run out for nought to leave them at 6/147.

The game remained tense and in the end they were 7 down going into the final over needing four to win. Manning who was the in bat on 37 hit an easy chance to Jay first ball of the over and all of a sudden things changed. A wide and a run put them in the box seat needing two to win with three balls to play. However, two very good dot balls from Brad Wylde and then a wicket off the last ball of the game secured a great one run win for us in a game we were behind in all day. It was all about not giving up and just hanging in there for the game to change which we did perfectly. The bowlers all performed well with Nibby 0/33 off 7, Brad 2/35 off 8, Reidy 0/24 off 8, Rhys 2/39 off 8, Thommo 1/14 off 5 and Josh 2/28 off 4. I thought Reidy was probably the pick of the bowlers going at three an over in the middle overs to allow us to hang in the game and playing his role perfectly.

It was a great win, especially with the club missing so many players and it is great to see the emergence of young stars like Nibby, Jay and Ben doing well, with Ben also having a good day behind the stumps, letting through only one bye which in all fairness probably should have been a wide and he did well to reach. This in turn with Spencer and Bailey moving up to the twos in recent weeks shows that the threes are on the right track with bringing players through as well as continuing to win games of cricket.

This week we had Belgrave away and after the win that turned into a draw due to scorebook errors, this was going to be a very important game to win. I won the toss and we chose to bat.

With a few players out in the higher grades this round, we were a little down on batting experience and as such it was extremely important that we got away to a good solid start. That is exactly what Scotty and Deepak did. We got off to a steady start and were 0/38 after 10 overs. From there the run rate increased and they managed to keep it around 5 runs an over with the runs coming freely as they were both well set. We got our first 100 run partnership for the season and unfortunately Scotty was out for a brilliant 67 with the score at 1/124. I came in next with the intention of building on the great start that we had and pushing the run rate higher, however it didn’t quite go as planned and I was bowled without troubling the scorers with the score at 2/132. Sammy was in next and him and Deepak were looking great together before a very unlucky run out saw Deepak depart for a well fought 46 and us at 3/148 with 5 overs to go. Raunak was in next for his first bat in the seniors and looked really comfortable with Sammy before Sammy skyed one and was caught with us 4/160. Jackson was in next and Raunak was caught not long after with us 5/166. Young Mulder and Jackson saw us through the last 2 overs to post a score of 5/179.

Myself and Raunak opened the bowling and it was far from my best opening over, however it was great to see young Raunak step up and start brilliantly. I dragged myself after the first over and had Scotty combine with Raunak and between the 2 of them they bowled really well. It was hard in the field with balls in the air through slips and dropped catches ensuring that we dropped our heads a little. They were set on hitting almost everything in the air and it was only going to be a matter of time before something went to hand or our way. A bowling change saw Varun and Sammy into the attack and some sharp fielding saw us get the breakthrough with a run out with the score at 1/65. As is often the case, 1 brings 2. Well some good bowling from Sammy found the edge and the catch taken by Deepak and they were 2/65. From here more frustration set in with drop catches and balls hit in the air either side of fielders and the game swung well and truly into their hands but we were not going to give up. A bowling change saw myself and Greg into the attack. The opener skyed one off my bowling to have Greg take a great catch and get the much-needed breakthrough with them 3/134. I managed to put one in the right spot in that same over to have the new batsman edge one to Deepak and they were 4/137. We knew they didn’t bat deep and that they were going to go hard and swing and that’s what they did. A good catch from Sammy off Gregs bowling saw them lose an important wicket and be 5/150 with 30 runs to get off 5 overs for victory. I managed to bowl the yorker that was needed to dismiss the guy slogging and they were 6/162. Next Scotty bowled a a great nut to have the next guy in bowled and at 7/169 with 1 over left Varun was on to bowl that last over and he did that well taking the stumps out the ground on the last ball and they finished on 8/174.

It ended up being a close game and a lot closer than we would have liked. We take the 6 points but it was definitely one of the worst fielding attempts we have had in a while and I was very disappointed how us as a team dropped our heads but glad that we fought to the end. A special mention to Deepak on a great keeping performance as we had no keeper for the game, he stepped up and did a magnificent job as well as Scotty and Deepak again on such a fantastic batting performance to really give us the ability to end up on the score that we did. We have some work to do as a team and I have no doubt that we will.

Crookie