The memory of our meltdown in Round 1 is fast disappearing after another powerful effort on the weekend.

Week 1
Winning the toss and batting first was a good option. The match was played at Karuah after Montview Oval was withdrawn. This is a small and very fast ground so big runs were needed. We got them and got them fast getting the 286 in only 42 overs.

We mixed the batting order around to give others a go and this worked well to the extent that it confirmed that we don’t have a tail order with quality batters down to number 11. John Steel was again dynamic, scoring 93 in rapid time. Included in this were 60 runs in boundaries until he was caught on the boundary line. He got fabulous backup from Gus Grima with 31 and with scores spread between 15 and 23. The takeout is that apart from John, no one starred but we still got an imposing score.

Hornsby’s time to bat. They had 17 overs to face and we finished with 4/46 at the end of day 1. Looking good for at least a first innings.

Week 2
We just continued where we left off. What makes this team different is that we have 5 genuine spin bowlers (Kishore, Chris, Hutch, John and DA) to back up a good opening attack – imposing. The Hornsby blokes had no answer to our spinners who took 16 of the 20 wickets to fall.

In the first innings they struggled to 106. DA (our 13 year old leggy) took 3/14 off 7 overs including 2 bowled with a big spinning wrong’un that no one can pick. Craig Hutch also got 3/20 off 10 with really tight bowling that just frustrated them into playing the wrong shot. Great backup from John (2/13) with good fielding got us over the line. This was a super effort given the speed of the outfield – out for 106 in 37 overs.

Next the outright. While Hornsby put up a much better effort they again couldn’t come to terms with the spin bowling. 2nd innings figures with good backup from the pace bowlers. Figures were: DA with 2/5 from 5 overs )(including a boundary first ball), Hutch 2/21, Chris Sharkey 2/26, Gus 2/32 plus John Steel 1/10 and Jas 1/30 all contributed big time.

Summary
We have a lot to offer this comp. We will have our bad days (like all teams) but it is a very strong team and a great bunch of blokes. An area for improvement is our fielding. While generally good we put down 3 catches and had a few loose efforts with ground fielding. If we can get this right – wow! Watch out.

Coming up
Let’s keep a look out for 2 major personal milestones:
• Kishore is fast approaching his 4,000 runs – putting him in the top 10 WPHC players of all time. He now has 3,957 runs – wow!
• Craig Hutchinson – 98 career wickets so just 2 from the 100 wicket milestone.

Next week
The new draw has been announced and we play Beecroft at Greenway Park. This is another fast ground with a very good batting deck. Should be fun.

Ross A

Posted by Ross Anderson on October 23, 2008 06:22 AM