Day 1 of the Seniors Finals was played on Saturday. They finish on Sunday. Interim scores are:

A2 258 Vs St Ives 0/5 – playing against the Minor Premier this is an outstanding progress score. In recent games our batting has been fragile but has been held up by consistently outstanding bowling. Day 1 saw the batsman turn it on. Leigh Van den Broeke was outstanding with his patient 85 against negative bowling wide of the stumps. He got fabulous support from James Fiedler 43, Scott Henderson 41 and Alex Robertson with 37. The only ‘disappointment’ was the loss of 4 for 1 late in the day but this also gave us an opportunity to have a shot at the top order. Partnerships were the key with outstanding efforts from Leigh and James Fiedler with 73 for the 4th wicket and 75 between Leigh again and Scott for the 6th wicket. St Ives are a strong batting side but we have the best bowling attack in the Comp. If we bowl to our ability and probably more important field well we are in a very good position on a deck that will play lower as the match progresses.

C2 236 Vs 4/77 St Ives – after being 3/15, 5/69 and 6/100 to finish with 236 was outstanding. The highlight was the magnificent 118 by Paul Mullinger who combined with Andrew Fiedler, who scored 24 to put on a very important 103 partnership. Fabulous support also from Geoff Richards with 39 (out going for a 6 before his retirement score of 40) with Taki Manolelis with 25. Paul’s ton was our 337th and what a game to get it in. More about this below.

Our turn to bowl and as we got the runs so fast there was time to have a long bowl at them. At 4/77 there is still a bit of work to do but Finals have their own pressure. Geoff Starr did it again with 2 wickets and got good support from Riley Miedler and Pula Mullos with 1 each. In summary, still work to do but I know what position we would prefer to be in.

D2 Vs Berowra 171 – the D2 boys just keep surprising. As Jonathan van Blerk mentioned it was a case of ‘David Vs Goliath’ but in this case David is standing toe to toe. Berowra have strong batting with an ability to build partnership around our former ‘great’ Greg Fiedler – not this time with regular wickets being taken at critical times. Ian Nichol continues to do what he has done so well all season and took 4/71 (29 overs) and got very good support from Arun Kumar 1/8 (13 overs!), Claudio van Blerk 3/28 (14 overs) and Jonathan van Blerk 1 for 16 (11 overs). The run rate is not an issue as we held them to a low scoring rate. The game may well be decided in the first 10 / 15 overs – see off their openers and then milk the remaining runs. All of our games against Berowra this season have been close so this one will probably be the same but with us a nose in front – at this stage.

Venues
A2 – Storey Park
C2 – Normanhurst Oval
D2 – Warrina Street Oval, Berowra.

Match times
A2

11:00am - 1:00pm 1st Session
1:00pm - 1:40pm Lunch
1:40pm - 3:40pm 2nd Session
3:40pm - 4:00pm Tea
4:00pm - 6:00pm Final Session

C2 and D2
12:00pm - 2:00pm 1st Session
2:15pm - 4:00pm 2nd Session
4:15pm - 6:00pm Final Session

Support
Anyone who can spare some time to come down and support the lads is always appreciated – if you can make it along.

Last Premiership
We have a long history of success in Finals in all Grades. For those Teams making the Finals our last Premierships were:
• A2 – 2006/07 (runners up 2007/08) – James Makin (Captain)
• C2 – 2004/05 (runners up 2007/08) – Craig Willmott
• D2 – 2006/07 (Rob McBrien)

Long time between drinks
Welcome back Paul Mullinger – C2 century scorer. Paul went overseas for a while in the late 90’s and made his comeback in style this season. His century is a reminder of what he can do. Way back in 1995/96 he scored 152 playing B2.

Perfect timing
Also on the innings of Paul. He hit one six that landed on the roof of Normanhurst Oval and managed to lose the ball. This was actually great timing as it brought up the 200 and with it a new ball. Very thoughtful of Paul to lose a ball at just the right time.

A day for the Fiedler’s
What a memorable day for the Fiedler family.
Andrew Captains C2 and was involved in a crucial 103 partnership and scored an important 24
James, playing A2 scored 43 and has made a big contribution to the imposing total our A2 have made
Greg, now playing with Berowra D2 with his youngest son Brad (we can forgive him on this occasion, scored 28* and Brad, top scored with 41. The only downside in this effort is that it was against our WPHC boys.

Posted by Ross Anderson on March 22, 2009 06:29 AM