Seniors Weekend 28th August
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| A long, hot day in the field for us on Saturday. Loss the toss and sent into field. An exceptional, probably the best I have seen (often too good), opening bowling partnership, with a little assistance from the rain overnight, between Wade and James Dix was negated by the Palmerston opening pair, who with a bit of luck got through to an early drinks break without loss. The early drinks break was at a result of Wade injuring his hamstring in the field, a huge loss, but fingers crossed, we will see him make a return in the finals. We had a very capable replacement for Wade in the field, Wing Ho Tam. Big thanks to Winger who fielded very well and probably save 40-50 runs compared to fielding with 10 over the day. Our Spin options bowled very well up to tea, without too much penetration, but tight bowling and solid fielding kept them to a miserly 2/74 at tea. But we knew Palmo would be dangerous with wickets in hand. After Tea Palmo launch an assault hitting out, using the advantage of wickets in hand, but the Brion Foley show started. Brion bowling with great rhythm ending up with 7 wickets, Ben Mitchell picked up the other, with another very tight bowling performance ending the day with Palmo on 8/268, a very gettable target on the batting paradise of Nightcliff. Some very positive notes from the day, James Dix stepped up and put his hand up for the finals with 2 great bowling spells following his 103* in the morning for u17s. This is the best I have seen Dixie bowl. The team fielded well for the whole 80 overs, the pressure never really dropped off, a huge + going into the business end of the season. I can’t see a side batting any better than what palmo did on Saturday (full credit to them) and with a gapping hole in our seam attack, kept them to only what would seem a competitive target. Have to turn up to win on Saturday, Playing for Club Championship, to seal top spot and to keep a very competitive Palmerston out of the finals. I know we have the bats to do it, we just have to perform. | |
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| We packed our lunches and water bags and ventured down the highway to North Katherine to take on Southern Districts. Their initial request to bat first was declined and it was put to the toss of the coin - head 'em up, we'll bat first thanks! With 5 runs separating them on the season batting aggregate, Alex Krepapas and Jason Hatton went out determined to each build a big innings in the last minor round game. Alex was out early, bowled for 4, giving Jason the chance to go past him on the leader board. Manish Bhatnagar came in at 3, and they took the score to 29. It didn't happen for Jason though, as he was given LBW for 6. Alex had kept him out - 409 runs for the season ahead of Jason's 406. A fantastic season for both of them. Skipper John Fryar joined run-machine Chris Parker at 3/35 in the 9th over. Chris was 43 behind Alex on the season aggregate before the match. The bowling was reasonably tight and we were 3/72 at drinks. With scoring seemingly difficult, the Southern Comforts might've been thinking they were in with a show. Nope, sorry. The session after the break saw the run-rate accelerate dramatically. Parker and Fryar put on 142 in the next 14 overs. Their 179 run stand ending when Chris was out for a fine 77. This score saw Chris leap-frog both Jason and Alex to finish with 439 runs for the season at a phenomenal average of over 62!! Always a pleasure to watch (and bat with!), well done. With Parker out, Southern breathed a collective sigh of relief - 6 overs left and surely they can't keep going at 10 an over? Ahh yeah - we can. Brad Hatton entered the fray, ripe for another of his cameos. Brad's 26 of not very many balls certainly kept the crowd entertained. Fryar was out in the last over for 111, and Michael Best and Andy Moore pushed right to the end. We finished on 6/279 off our 40. Another excellent effort from the guys. We took to the field late in the afternoon, and Anthony Snell again did the damage early, taking a wicket in the first over. Moorey stepped up to take the new ball with Snelly and they bowled well without much luck. Snelly finished with 2/24 off his 8, and Moorey 0/34. Ethan Wake (1/26) and Adam Glover (1/29) were brought in to the attack and took a wicket each. With a too-bigger score to chase and a few youngsters in their side, Southern Districts were never really in the chase. But credit to their younger players who hung around and proved hard to remove. Michael Best again bowled well taking 2/11 off his 8, and Jason Hatton (0/8) helped push through the overs as the sun was setting. Southern's score at the finish was 6/134. Well done to Brad and Anthony (and all the other bowlers too actually!). They finished with 30 and 27 wickets each and dominated most opposition top-orders all season. We have finished the minor rounds undefeated and congratulations to all who helped us get this far. However, we need to win 2 more games and will each need to bring our best into the finals. Always remember "a champion team will beat a team of champions". But we're a bunch of blokes who enjoy playing cricket together and do whatever we can for the benefit of the team. If we keep that attitude up for 2 more games, then we'll be hard to beat for the flag. Eye of the tiger fellas, eye of the tiger! | |
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| Met Darwin on our home ground with a somewhat depleted team (due to injury and absence of several key players) and managed to lose the toss. Opened the bowling with Luke and Garry - due to Kurt carrying an injury. Darwin wasted no time with settling in and commenced slogging us from the first over. Whilst Garry managed to pick up one wicket, they continued to slog with a number of boundaries and many balls falling between, but not to, fielders. After being 1/96 at drinks, they didn't stop the agressive batting until a few more wickets fell after drinks thanks to two great spells by young Rob Knowler in his first game in seniors. Finally had them on 7/210 after 40 overs, including 22 taken off Luke's last over. The highlight of the match was Rob Knowler on debut finishing with 4/35 off 7 overs with the other 3 wickets shared around. Commenced the batting in high hopes which lasted for about 10 overs before we lost 6 wickets in quick succession to be 7/54 at drinks. Kurt, batting as a tailender due to injury, hit a good 28 (which would of probably been 40 if he could have run) but the rest of our batting, with the exception of Dave Knowler (15No) and Leon De Marinis (15) was very dismal. Finished after 34 overs all out for a disappointing 89. Back to the drawing board for our match against Uni next week. | |
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