Round 5 - 5th/6th December 2009
Longley
Cricket Club played in four matches this past weekend and in an
improved effort on recent weeks returned with two wins and two
losses for the weekend. There were some good performances from
players across the grades and some encouraging signs with bat and
ball, and in the field.
In
A grade Longley hosted Kingston at home. Batting first, the
Bunyips struggled for most of their innings, and a last wicket
partnership of 47 between Marcus Stephens (18) and Jesse Arnold
(31*) saved the Bunyips from the embarrassment of being bowled out
for under 100, finishing with 138 in the 47th over. With a target
to defend the Bunyips bowlers had no intention of handing the
match to the Crows and bowled well early on to restrict the
scoring rate and have the Crows at 4-57 at the 19th over. Christo
Le Grange (4-35) bowled well taking three of the early wickets to
fall and returning late in the innings to take his fourth. Michael
Pearce also bowled tidily with 1-22 from his 10 overs. A fifth
wicket partnership of 65 for the Crows sealed the win for the
Crows. Despite an ordinary performance with the bat, the Bunyips
played well defending a small total. With another 50 runs or so
added to the score, the Bunyips would have been in with a chance.
In
B1, Longley played Blackmans Bay at Sherburd Oval. Batting first,
Longley posted a very good score of 257. A 93 run stand for the
4th wicket between Iain Stewart (75) and Andrew Fenton (70)
provided the foundation of the innings and was built upon with a
97 run stand for the 6th wicket between Fenton and Andrew Kibbey
(49*). Blackmans Bay gave chase and were in the hunt into the last
ten overs of their innings. At 4-186 in the 40th over the game
hung in the balance. Enter Brett Manning (4-35), still on a high
from taking 6-20 last season (and never letting anyone forget it),
to rip the heart out Blackmans Bay middle order with his innocuous
looking nude balls, taking 3-5 late in his spell and
shutting down the run rate to restrict the Sharks to 9-220 at the
close. A good win for our B1 boys, keeping them in touch the
ladder leaders during the long break with our next game not until
after the new year comes around.
B2
travelled to Kettering and after winning the toss (to his delight)
captain David Carless elected to bat. Playing against his old club
and coming off a good fifty in the previous match, Ben Coppleman
quite likely fell to the chirping he was getting from his old club
mates, skying the second ball he faced and trudging off without
scoring. A second duck soon followed and the Bunyips were in some
trouble at 2-6. With some semblance of a recovery, the Bunyips
managed to reach 3-60 with Sean Dorsett (26) and Greg Roberts (20)
trying to resurrect the inning, but then lost wickets regularly to
be bowled out for 126 in the 36th over. A late flash of the blade
from new recruit Peter Bennett provided some entertainment to an
otherwise uninspiring display with the bat from the Bunyips. In
all games to date, our B2 boys have failed to reach the 40th over
before being bowled out. Scores of 150 or less are rarely going to
win games when opposition sides can pace themselves and be under
no pressure in a chase, and this was demonstrated by Kettering
cruising to a 9 wicket victory with Rodney Gordon giving a display
of impressive batting, scoring 89 undefeated.
In
C grade, Longley again travelled to Blackmans Bay and made it two
from two at Shark Park for the weekend. Longley batted first and
scored 162 with the major contributions from Daniel Woolley (64)
scoring a half century and Heath Direen (37) forming a 105 run
opening stand. Despite being a modest target, Blackmans Bay could
not reach it and were bowled out for 126 with Geoff Woolley
(4-24), Adam Dentler (1-22), Craig Scott (1-25) and Heath Direen
(2-33) claiming the wickets falling to bowlers. Two run outs were
a feature of the much improved fielding performance of the C
grade team, and with no dropped catches captain Mick Dakin
described it as the best fielding performance from a C grade team
he has played with.
Again
some mixed performances this week. Bowling and fielding have
improved in recent weeks, and the batting performance of B1 this
week is an example for all our sides. Once all teams can bat
through their fifty overs this 50% success rate will definitely
improve. With the halfway mark of the short season approaching,
this must happen soon otherwise the season will be over for some
of our teams, and playing for pride is never as exciting as
playing for a spot in finals.
View
the week 5 scoresheet.
Weekly
Player Profile:
Our
player profile this week is on the legendary Michael
Millhouse. It is claimed that Mick is the original model that
our beloved Bunyip was based on, with his stocky muscular build
and take no prisoners attitude on the sporting field, there is an
uncanny resemblance to the club’s mascot. Mick is well known
throughout the association as a high class batsman, solid
wicketkeeper and having an astute cricketing brain. Mick is
our B2 grade premiership captain from the 2006-07 season and has
been with the Bunyips since he was a young gun playing much of his
career in A grade. A short stint at Kingston when we did not field
an A grade team was followed by a welcome return to his beloved
Bunyip home. As a life member, multiple best and fairest winner,
premiership captain, multiple best clubman award winner, numerous
individual awards for batting, and a respected friend and foe by
all that have played with or against him, he is a true legend of
the club.
The
Bunyip record (as well as can be ascertained from Mick’s long
history at the club):
Nicknames:
Rockjaw, Milly
Favourite
AFL team: Richmond
Batting
style: left hand attacking
Bowling
style: cant remember, it’s been a while
Games:
326
Runs:
7986
Wickets:
7
Catches/stumpings:
324
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