Round 2 - 14th/15th November 2009
Longley
Cricket Club recorded one win from three matches this weekend,
with C grade having the bye first round.
For
the first time the Longley Cricket Club fielded four teams over
the weekend, but unfortunately had a disappointing weekend,
failing to notch up any wins from the four games. The major theme
emerging from the performances was the need to bat through 50
overs to have the best chance at winning matches. Dropped catches
also proved costly to the outcomes of the matches.
In
A grade at Blackmans Bay, the hosts scored 8-253 from their 50
overs batting first. Trent Direen (3-31 from 9 overs) was the pick
of the Longley bowlers picking up wickets whilst restricting the
scoring, with Christo Le Grange (2-49), Matthew Taylor (2-65) and
Michael Pearce (1-41) getting amongst the wickets also. Blackmans
Bay set an example to follow with four partnerships of around
fifty or more. In reply Longley were in early trouble at 3-38,
when Trent Direen (35) and Franco Lenhardt (32) put together the
only partnership of note for the innings. From 4-89, wickets fell
regularly and the Bunyips were bowled out for 171 in the 42nd
over. While the players showed that the team is competitive in A
grade, with a few worthy individual performances, forming
partnerships and batting through the 50 overs is the first step to
winning a game and that will be a focus at training in the coming
weeks.
Slab
Road hosted Longley in B1. Batting first, Slab were struggling
against the swinging ball early on with Euan Rodgers bowling his
left arm inswingers and claiming 4-44 to have Slab in some early
trouble at 6-67 at the first drinks break. One ball that swung in
from outside off stump to the right hander to strike off stump at
the base was reminiscent of a Mitchell Johnson delivery (but
probably a couple kph slower than Mitchell). The twin spin attack
of Damian Bradburn (1-35) and Brian Womersley (1-37) kept a lid on
Slab’s scoring rate through the middle overs. However numerous
dropped catches cost the Bunyips a chance to bowl Slab out
cheaply, and a late surge from the tail saw them post 236, being
bowled out in the final over. Josh Kline (1-18) was called on late
in the innings in an attempt to break the stubborn 8th wicket
partnership with his huge variety of deliveries (short nasty
bouncers, in swinging yorkers and wildly swinging all-sorts - you
name it he bowls it), which he duly did and was very happy with
his first tidy over, commenting that it was the first six ball
over he had bowled in a number of years. Adam Dentler (2-52)
worked hard in the dying overs and bowled without luck, with a
couple of dropped catches giving away the opportunity to bowl out
Slab for under 200. In response Longley started well, having
Slab’s bowlers frustrated and bowling poorly initially, posting
52 for the first wicket between Brett Manning (21) and Sean
Dorsett (26), playing his 200th game for the club. When the second
wicket fell at 74, Longley’s chase fell over, with a steady fall
of wickets to be bowled out for 125 in the 33rd over. On a
positive, to have bowled out last year’s premiers was an
encouraging sign for the Bunyip bowling attack.
In
B2 Longley hosted Kingston and followed the theme set in the
higher grades, with only one partnership over 50 from their
batting line up. With Kingston scoring 9-248 off their 50 overs,
Longley’s chase never really got going and the Bunyips were
bowled out for 118 in the 26th over. Matthew Whitehouse played his
first game for the season and bowled tidily, conceding on 25 runs
off his 10 overs. Dave Carless (3-52) bowled well early on but was
targeted in the final overs with 15 runs from the 50th over. The
other bowlers used all took a wicket or two but a steady flow of
runs saw the target approaching 250. In response, the chase got
off to the worst possible start. Dave Carless, looking to leave
anything he could early on, unwisely decided that the first ball
of the innings, missing off and leg was a safe ball to
leave. Unfortunately it hit middle stump. A second wicket soon
after saw Luke Bartulovic (59) stride to the crease, and promptly
pick up from where he left off the week before, scoring at will
and dominating the bowling. Solid support from James Skabo (21)
put some stability back into the innings with a 68 run partnership
for the 4th wicket. Unfortunately, with the dismissal of
Bartulovic, the innings quickly wrapped up in the next 5 overs
going from 4-91 to all out for 118.
In
C grade, on their annual overseas tour, Longley headed across to
Bruny Island. The ageless Geoff Woolley (3-53), playing with the
club since before most of the other members were born, again
showed his innocuous looking high floating ‘leggies’ (as he
likes to call them, although it is hard to find any credible
witness to one ever actually turning) still confuse the best set
batsmen, breaking the main partnership of Bruny’s innings. From
looking like a 300 plus total, Longley fought back well in the
second half of Bruny’s innings restricting them to 218 from
their 50 overs. There were some mixed performances from the other
bowlers. Greg Roberts (1-33) continued his return to form, bowling
tidily, Ryan Cantrill (2-26), Andrew Fitzgerald (1-29) and Mick
Dakin (1-17) all bowled reasonably well for respectable figures.
In the batting department, and following the tone of the other
three sides, Longley failed to put together any partnership of
note, with the tenth wicket stand of 27 between top-scorers Ryan
Cantrill (16) and Leigh Davies (16 n.o.) being the best of the day
for the Bunyips. Longley were bundled out for 103 in the 26th
over, never threatening the target set by Bruny.
With
the club's four matches all following the theme of chasing 200
plus totals and being bowled out without using their 50 overs,
there is work to do with our batting and those at the top of the
order need to take responsibility for scoring the bulk of the
runs, to form partnerships, and to bat for long periods. All four
matches were within reach at various stages of the game, but
dropped catches and poor batting resulted in the first weekend of
fielding four teams for the club end with no success. A few
individual highlights, but more consistent team performances is
the key to improving on this in coming weeks.
View
the week 2 scoresheet.
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