Round 15 Summary

January 28, 2018

First XI DEFEATED BY NORTH BALWYN

In the battle of Balwyn North, we headed out to Macleay #2 to take on the Bulls. With the mercury expected to reach 33, they won the toss and elected to bowl. At 12:30 it felt hotter than 33 so we were thinking a lucky decision to bat first, let them roast. We opened with Tony and Knotty. Unfortunately for Tony he got a good one last ball of the first over and was skittled. The skipper Wilbur came in and the two put on a small partnership, seeing off the openers before Knotty got a gem that took his off stump. Dools strode to the crease and continued his good form of the season before he too copped a good one. Also having a good season is Gazza who batted at 5. He knocked them around the ground before chasing a wide one and was caught at slip. Datto, helping the club out this weekend came in at 6, almost out first ball with a Deepdene drive  but survived. His luck ran out soon though as the next attempt hit the stumps. Enter the G-Train and first hit in a while. All while this was happening, Wilbur was controlling the innings and batting patiently until he too chased a wide one in an attempt  to increase the run rate. Stiffler came in and looked good until a full ball hit him on the toe and was missing off and leg stump. Grades had a swing but was bowled around his legs. Jason “Harry” “Fuss K. Bubba” “Hollywood” Kerr was also helping out the club came in at 9. Besides missing a couple, he looked alright for someone who hadn’t played in a while. Nav D was at 10. He swung. Greeny playing injured took his spot at number 11. He swung hard, looked funny when he ran and he and Harry saw us through to the 40th over.
Defending 143 we needed a great start. Opening with Stiffler and Grades, the batsmen made their minds up to go after Grades but see of Stiffler. Stiffler got the first, similar to his dismissal, a great ball to have the opener out LBW. Grady followed up with his first, caught by Stiffler on the square leg boundary. As it was hot, Wilbur started swinging the changes. First Nav, then Dools and then Tony from the North end and Greeny then Datto from the South. Stiffler bowled out 7 overs in his first spell and bowled very well, the big fella digging deep and his last few were quicker than his first. The Bulls lost their wickets consistently and kept us in the game, every wicket gave us a sniff.  Harry almost took catch of the century out on the boundary, throwing his right hand up backwards at the last micro second. In the end we were probably 30 runs short. Next week we hope to be back to full strength. Thanks to Tony, Datto and Harry for stepping in to help out this week.

Second XI defeated Glen Waverley

With Knotty up in the Ones, Wolfy took over the reigns against Glen Waverley. In the end, GW only had 9 players. We were fortunate to get 11, therefore a head start by us. This was improved by Wolfy winning the toss and decided for his own safety to bat. Whilst the boys sat in the air conditioned rooms like at Lord’s, Pete and Al Lithgow opened the batting. The ground looked quick but was deceiving. There were plenty of twos. Al batted well with his dad before he fell just after the 51 run opening stand. Boothy batted at 3 and is finding form again with another start. Pete on the verge of retiring found his stumps uprooted, continuing his good form with 46.  Enter D. Gove at number 4. Now Daryl had a great start to the season, lost it a bit but like the champion he is had worked through it and made another start. Prowsey played primarily as a bat in his first game back came in at number 5. He did what many couldn’t and found a boundary early on but just wasn’t his day. Chinny faced his first ball after being out there for 4 overs but alas, did not trouble the scorers, neither did Martie who’s one intention was to swing, caught first ball. Govey was still out there at this point, so he steadied the ship. Enter Junior, exit Junior. Aaron Gove and Dicko who elevated himself up the order saw us through to the end of innings. Aaron turning it over to get Dicko on strike who must have liked what he saw as he made a quick fire 14*. We finished 8 for 136. on what was a slow ground.
Wolfy likes to think a lot about the game and rang Knotty to run a few ideas. One of those was to open the bowling with Aaron. Aaron took the first, bowled beautifully in his first with a maiden. Wolfy took the other end. Enough said, back to Aaron. Unfortunately for Aaron he had Dicko in his corner. After 3 overs, he went from 0 for 0 to 0 for 13. Dragged for listening to Dicko. ;p Wolfy did get any early one but the change to bring on Junior and Martie brought the downfall of their batsmen. Both bowled really tight and were rewarded with 3 wickets each. Dicko managed to get himself a bowl, 3 maidens out of his 4 overs… questions need to be asked how this was possible.  Prowsey at first slip took a catch behind Govey and the boys did a great job to get the 6 points that keeps us in the hunt for the finals.  Thanks to all those who made themselves available for this weekend.

REMINDER:

As we get closer and closer to finals, more and more we need to consider selections.  We understand if you can’t make training for work or other reasons, just let us know.  We also will look at the commitment of players to the club (regular availability or just hanging around Saturday nights) and in particular subs (click here) being paid.  We could have two sides in the finals, 22 positions (24 with twelfth men) up for grabs.

The club has had 10 duck scorers this season. Unfortunately for Martie he leads the “Knotty” award with 2 Golden Globes.

GO PANTHERS!

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