Round 16 - 20th/21st
February 2010
In
the penultimate round of the roster season Longley fielded
four teams with one of the best results of the season for the
club with A, B1 and C all posting wins. Unfortunately B2 could not
complete the clean sweep, and missed an opportunity for our
first 'President's Barrel' for the season. There is always next
week.
In
A grade Longley travelled to Woodbridge looking for their second
win over the Wombats for the season. Batting first Woodbridge
slumped to 9-55 but a stubborn tenth wicket partnership saw them
post 126. Ryan Fielding (5-18), who took the bowling honours for
the Bunyips, along with Chris Machin (2-17) and Michael Pearce
(2-30) shared the first nine wickets to fall inside 24 overs and
Christo Le Grange (1-18) chipped in at the end to take the
stubborn tenth wicket.
With
a modest target to defend, Woodbridge’s Noel Clifford had the
Bunyips scrambling early on with a hat-trick and four wickets in
his first three overs, to have the bulk of the Bunyip top order
batsmen back in the shed with only 8 runs on the board. A
steadying partnership of 71 between veteran Andrew Fenton (50) who
had opened the batting and seen the carnage from the other end,
and Englishman Franco Lenhardt (39 not out) who played a solid
innings, resurrected the innings and had the target in sight
at 5-79 when Fenton fell. Two further wickets reduced the Bunyips
to 7-95 and Woodbridge would have been hopeful of another
collapse. It was not to be with Lenhardt and Michael Pearce (17
not out) guiding the Bunyips home to record their fourth win of
the season.
At
home in our B1 game, our best performed team continued
their recent form surge with an upset win over the previously
undefeated Kingston, which was an ideal display for our annual
Past Players day, showing the spirit demonstrated by our players
of old is still alive and well and setting up the atmosphere for
one of celebration (and plenty of long and tall stories
following the match by the Bunyip veterans).
Batting
first the Bunyip openers set up the match with a century stand,
with Sean Dorsett (26) supporting an aggressive Michael Millhouse
(77), posting 109 for the first wicket. With the dangerous Iain
Stewart (51) coming in at number 3, he capitalised on the start
with a brisk half century. At his fall the score was 3-204 in the
41st over, once again setting us up for a push during the final
overs. As in our previous match the middle and lower order made
hay (albeit while the sun wasn’t exactly shining) and
picked up the scoring rate in the final ten overs with Dean
Chatwin (29) and Josh Kline (26) both making scores in quick time.
The remaining batsmen all threw their bats in chasing quick runs
and a good all round batting performance saw a strong total of 272
posted for the loss of 8 wickets.
With
their confidence high and a bowling attack that has been improving
each week, the Bunyips knew that Kingston would have to bat very
well to chase down our target. With Caden Wilson (2-33) taking two
early wickets Kingston found themselves at 2-17 after seven overs,
facing a climbing run rate and eleven fired up Bunyips. Damien
Smith (0-19) went wicketless but bowled economically and the
scoreboard pressure applied by Smith was a huge factor in our
other bowlers’ success. A third wicket partnership of 50 had
both sides looking at a hard battle ahead, but with 200 runs still
to score in 30 overs, the Bunyips had the upper hand. At the loss
of the third wicket, under the mounting pressure of the required
run rate soon climbing over seven runs an over, Kingston
collapsed to be all out for 110 in the 32nd over.
Jesse
Arnold (4-22) again bowled with menace and beat all batsmen
regularly with his pace and awkward length, while Andrew Kibbey
(3-28) bowled with disciplined line and length from the other end,
forming a good bowling partnership with Arnold, backing up
the opening bowlers superbly. Brian Womersley (1-5) picked up the
final wicket which was a fitting reward following the three
(he claims) ‘athletic’ catches taken by him in the
field. Jonty Rhodes'esque I am sure.
In
B2, Longley travelled to Judbury to face the ladder leaders as
underdogs. Batting first Judbury struggled to 5-75 in the 21st
over. With the shaky start to the Judbury innings thanks
largely to opening bowler Mark Millhouse (3-39), and Brock
Armstrong completing a direct hit runout to dismiss the 5th
batsman, Longley would have been hopeful of a sub-200 total to
chase. However a 150 run partnership for the sixth wicket, with
Judbury's Mark Bradley scoring a heart-breaking 99 only to be
bowled by Peter Bennett (2-35) one short of the milestone. By the
end of the 50th over the Bunyips had allowed the score to balloon
out to 8-283 and faced an uphill battle with the bat.
A
decent start of 41 for the first wicket was provided by Oliver
Hippel (26) and Brock Armstrong (13), with Scott Buchanan (42) following
it up batting at number three. During Buchanan’s time at the
crease he scored all but 2 of the runs posted, and must have
barely raised a sweat with 36 of his runs coming in boundaries.
Unfortunately the starts made by the top order could not be
converted to a big score and the middle and lower order batsman
all struggled to put together a score of note or hang around to
form partnerships and were dismissed for 114 in the 27th over.
With
only one round to play, B2 will play last placed Southern
Tigers next week. With both teams winless for the season, and a
washout being the result the last time the two met, it will
be a battle for pride and our boys will be doing their best to
finish a tough season on a positive note.
C
grade travelled to Slab Road to take on the ladder leader and
likely flag favourite. With the B1 victory over Slab from a few
weeks back still fresh in their minds, our C grade boys
had belief that they could repeat the dose on a club that is well
and truly in front on the win/loss ledger in recent years.
Having
won the toss Slab elected to bat and were off to a sedate start
when the first wicket fell with 17 runs on the board. Wickets then
fell regularly with Slab struggling at 7-78 in the 33rd over. A
recovery by the Roadies saw a good partnership formed for the
eighth wicket which was unbroken and took the total to 7-159 after
50 overs. The main Bunyip bowlers all bowled economically
with Greg Roberts (3-32), Adam Dentler (2-29), Heath Direen (1-19)
and Zac Duggan (1-13) sharing the wickets. Direen and Duggan
bowled exceptionally tight with less than two runs per over
conceded. Nathan Earley, returning in Bunyip colours for the first
time in over half a decade took two brilliant catches to show he
hasn't lost the skills that saw him playing A grade last time he
was with the Bunyips.
With
a reasonable target to chase the Bunyip batting line-up chased it
down in the 38th over with a few hiccups along the way but
generally with control and confidence. With the innings build
around James Skabo's innings (80 not out), who opened the
batting and formed partnerships of 43 with Nathan Earley (16) and 53
with Jack Bishop (11), which showed the importance of
sticking around in a partnership being as important as individual
scores. The target was reached for the loss of six wickets and by
the smiles on the face of Captain Mick Dakin two hours after the
match it was clearly a great day for the Bunyip C grade team.
With
the final round this coming weekend two of our teams are looking
to consolidate their spots in the top four, and as underdogs up
against the powerhouse clubs of Kingston and Slab Road, who
have both been tamed by us in recent weeks, we have
showed that we will be a force to reckon with at the pointy end of
the season.
Next
weekend has been declared Family Day at the club, with all
partners and families invited and encouraged to attend and
enjoy a day in the sun with both of our finals contenders, with
both B1 and C grade playing at home on the Saturday and
Sunday respectively. Free ice-creams for the kids should keep them
out of trouble for long enough to allow time to relax and enjoy
the cricket and the company of other Bunyip 'better
halves'.
Thanks
to our past players and sponsors who attended on Saturday and
don't forget to mark the day down each year. The last Saturday in
February is an annual event in recognition of our past players and
our sponsors who have supported us in the past and continue to be
an important cornerstone of the club into the future. Coming
events for the remainder of this season are our annual
dinner, to be held on Saturday 17th April at the Cascade Visitor
Centre ('Woodstock') and our vote count night to be held 13th
March at the clubrooms. All are welcome to attend.
View
the scoresheet.
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