An overcast and pretty cool day meet the players for the second last weekend of cricket for the season.
With NEV having already secured the Bing Harris and the Bottle-O Eagles into the One Day final next week there was nothing riding on the match at Sunnyvale against Green Island – this I think showed to some extent in the performance of the lads as they lost heavily to the Swamp Rats.
Having broken his run of lost tosses skipper Taylor Cumberland called correctly and decided to have a bat on what appeared to be a decent track. Unfortunately, the batters did not quite agree as the Eagles slumped to 38/8. It was only a partnership between Ethan Parice (12) and Matt West (31*) that finally got the score close to 100 as the Eagles were dismissed for 93 in the 24th over.
GI made light work of the chase securing a victory in the 16th over for the loss of only 3 wickets. Josh Olliver claiming 2/13 and James Browm 1/9.
Meanwhile out at Memorial the Turkeys also took on Green Island in an important match as the Turkeys looked to retain their slender led in the Junior Bing Harris. Skipper for the day Gerard Finne duly won the toss and decided the Turkeys would have a bowl. New boy Ben James had the new ball and whilst he managed a good few wides he also generated some pace as he cleaned out the top 3 GI batters to finish his spell with 3/40 to have GI in trouble as 35/3. From the other end young Luke Ritchie did not claim a wicket but a tight spell of 6 overs 0/16 keep the run rate under control. Whilst the Turkeys boosted 3 good spinners none got a roll as Freddy Birch (2/25), Luke Marsh (2/21) and Navjot Singh (2/12) did the business as GI were bundled out for 121 in the 30th over.
After the loss of an early wicket Jesse Dawson and Freddy Birch moved the score to 65 when Jesse was out for a patient dozen. Ben McCullum joined Freddy who brought up his 50 soon after before he was third out for 52 and the score at 80. Ben was then joined by Ollie Ritchie and together they comfortably took the Turkeys to a bonus point victory with Ben 22* and Ollie 27*. So all to play for in their final match next weekend.
The HG Super Chunks were up against the NEV Sunrisers at Bishopscourt No 2 and after losing the toss found themselves having a bat. They were in early trouble at 17/3 before a small partnership took them past 50 when they lost their 4th wicket. Things only got worse as the score went to 81/8. Simran Sahota and Paramjit Singh moved the score to 96 when Simran was out for 20. Paramjit was joined by Navi Singh and they put on 71 for the last wicket before Navi was out for 27 leaving Paramjit 41* and the total a potentially defendable 167.
Kapila Gunarathna then claimed two wickets before Valley had a run on the board. At the other end Daksh Pattanshetti also took two quick wickets to leave Valley at 16/4. Like the SC they then managed to move the score past 50 when Kapila took his 3rd. Another good partnership then hade Vallet back in the game before Simran secured the 6th wicket at 110. Paramjit then secured two more wickets without addition to the score so it was suddenly 110/8. Kapila secured his 4th wicket to finish with4/37 and Paramjit took the final wicket to finish a great match for him with 3/11 off 4 overs and the Super Chunks claimed a 38 run victory.
The Kilda came up against the CDK Jackals in a must win match in order to secure a place in the 3rd grade final next weekend. They also had a number of regulars unavailable for various reason so did well to scramble a team for the match. Regular openers Kirk Brocklebank (29) and Chris Morris (13) managed to put 56 on the board before Kirk was out and when Morrie fell shortly after the score sat at 69/2. This had Charles Hendry and Mark Somerville at the wicket and they produced a 112 run partnership before Charles was out for 61. Sommer then put his foot down and the score moved quickly to 207 when Mark was out also for 61. Nice cameos from Caleb Marfell (18* off 12) and Devin Stapley (11* off 4) too the final score to 270/6 at the end of their 40 overs.
Whilst CDK scored at a good rate they lost regular wickets with Caleb Marfell doing the main damage taking 4/39. Ryan Wheeler was also in the wickets with 3/46 and Chris Morris with 2/45 had the points in the bag after 24 overs as CDK were rolled for 156 and a comfortable 114 run for the Kilda to secure their spot in next week’s final.
The Rebels, having already secured their place in the 4th Grade final next weekend, had to default after they helped out the Kilda team to 11 on the field and even with Matt West doing his best to get ring-ins for them could not get enough numbers to field a team.