The first week one was pretty much a write-off – one of those days. We batted first in cold, overcast and windy conditions and scored only 64 in 33 overs. Thank goodness for Andrew who scored 16 and gave us some respectability – at 6/20 odd it could have been ugly. Beecroft batted just before Tea and finished at 1/94 overnight. So day 2 was going to be a fight to earn respect.

The second week was a different day – fine, sunny and cool – great conditions. Beecroft batted on as expected and took their score to 2/171 before declaring. The score doesn’t do justice to the quality of our bowling. We created many chances and half chances but failed to take the opportunities. Once we get this right then we will start making an impact. Andrew, Mark, Patrick, Kish and Chris are as good a combination as any in the Competition.

Beecroft gave us 52 overs to survive and 110 runs behind. This time we batted very well and hammered Beecroft. We finished at 3/222 and got the runs quickly. We took a lot out of this match. We know our catching needs to improve but our batting fired.

Bryce copped a beauty early on and lost his castle. Ross and Nathan then came together and Nathan looked brilliant. He played a cover drive that was the shot of the match and got out just as he was getting on top for 15.

Ross and John then came together and dismantled the Beecroft attack by putting on 137 in 30 overs. The partnership saw runs scored all around the ground and being one of the batsmen involved, it felt really good. They had no answer and we knew we were well on top. Ross A scored 81 that included 15 boundaries including 11 in the first 50 runs and John was superb. It was a pleasure watching a master in action when he played every shot in the book. John finished at 103* and this was a quality knock.

Tim came in to face the last 10 overs or so and looked very good for his 16* - he will score important runs for us this season.

All up, this was a lost but one we can take a lot out of.

Our next game is against Hornsby Gold at Glenhaven.

Ross A

Posted by Ross Anderson on October 31, 2006 08:04 PM