2005/06 Match Reviews

All in all the scorebook flattered the opposition as we were clearly the more competitive side. Benno's fine tin was the big winner for the day gaining a further $58 for our end of season festivities.

Highlights were the performance of the guys in the field. After struggling with sometimes just 9 men for periods of the first 30 overs, we were successfully able to peg them back in the last 10 overs keeping us in the match. Brad Stewart was a shining light with the ball. Also, the batting showed glimpses of brilliance but a top order collapse with 3 quick wickets took the momentum right away from us. Good resilliance was shown however from Read, Stewart and Guilly with the bat in the middle order.

On the downside, once again the fielding left a lot to be desired with 2 sitters going down (One from the skipper).

B Reserve

The return of the muffins next week should hopefully result in an improved performance.

Round 5

We were humbled for a mere 84 in our first innings, which included three wickets in three balls (not a hattrick). There's not much to report on the favourable side of life here, but highlights were Scott Williams (19no), Griffo (18) and Steve Levin (16). The preverbial tail wagged, which indeed it had to, as at one point we were 6-17 and 7-30. They had one bowler (Barton) who was generating good inswing and on a cloudy day he was our achilles heel, claiming 5-10 from 11 good overs.

Moving swfitly on......

Ten Past Eleven amassed 228 in their first outing, with good bowling perfomances all round. Vice Skipper Dutts had the first 4 wickets overnight and finished with his first 5 wicket haul for his new club. Steve Levin was instrumental in the field holding on to three good catches and stand-in 'keeper Mike Webber perfomed with aplomb behind the twigs.

A Res then had the target of trying to claw back a 144 run deficit, set the opposition a lead and try and skittle them out in about 4 hours, which was always going to prove difficult. It proved to be batting practise in the end, but the boys performed admirably in the second innings and finished on 171-5, with excellent knocks from Paul McLaren (82) and Steve Levin (54), who was somewhat harshly given out LBW by Dallas Baird (fine please!)

The lesson that really must be learned is the importance of first innings. Our woeful first attempt proved crucial and we'll have to learn from mistakes as we push for a top 4 finish.

B Reserve

Standouts were plentiful so here is a short synopsis:

All said and done, it was the great TEAM performances in the field that got us the 10 points. As the season progresses we will just keep on getting better, so bring on round 6. And, as they say in the classics "I love schoolies chicks.... as I get older, they stay the same age" There is a message in that for all of us. Peace!

Round 6

In a closely contested match through-out, unfortunately the A Reserve team didn't quite have enough runs and just couldn't dismiss one key batsmen, that would have lead to the demise of the opposition. A good solid effort through-out from the team and we aren't far away from stringing a few games together, that's for sure.

Having lost another toss (that equals 6 consecutive losses), we were sent into bat. A major focus for us was to not lose early wickets and bat the day out. It may sound obvious but given that we have been 4/4 and 4/5 in our past 2 games, a solid start was crucial. Although there was an improvement on previous starts, we were still 4/38 and in another precarious position. Then the recovery commenced with AP and Avril "Skaterboy" Levin, who steered us through to a strong position at Tea of 4/152. Hoping to build on that strong tea position we lost 5 quick wickets, before a handy 10th wicket partnership between "Skunk" Newhook and Dallas Baird got us over the 200 mark.

Having been dismissed just after 5:00pm, that gave us about 6 overs at the Titans, in the quest for early wickets. On what ended up being the last ball of Day 1, Chris "Miami" Dutton broke through for a wicket to have them 1/17 at stumps, and giving us a good platform for Day 2 to press for victory.

Day 2 started well and combined with some fantastic bowling from all bowlers, tight fielding and "Nature Boy" antics from the skipper, Old Iggies were 4/92 at Tea. We knew if we could just break the current partnership, we would be into the tail and we could roll them pretty quickly. During the first session, you would not believe how many plays and misses the bowlers were able to induce, without the luck of getting an edge.

After Tea, the 2 batsmen turned it on and were able to close the gap quickly by scoring at 5 runs an over for the rest of the afternoon. We were able to get 2 more wickets, but not the one of the best bat who scored 100 not out and led their team to victory by 4 wickets.

B Reserve

This victory was the result was of an excellent team effort where everyone involved contributed in a positive manner. Our run chase was extremely well disciplined and controlled. There were several strong partnerships such as an opening stand of 67 between GG and “Racka” lamb, 60 between Thommo and Rowan Wallace and 54 between Belly and Thommo. Several scores of 20 and above were achieved and highlights included Shane Bell’s typical aggressive 43, Thommos diligent 41 and a well disciplined effort by Mick Thomson at the end to bring us victory.

Bowling highlights included an excellent spell from Richard Austin that yielded 4/27 from 20 overs. His consistency and accuracy brought about such great figures. Other positive contributions included Shane Bell’s 2 /46 off fifteen and a very contained 2/17 off 8 from Paul Thomson.

This team is building strength to strength each round, keep it up boys.

Until next week.

Round 7

Coming into the last match prior to Christmas, it was fair to say that a win was crucial for our finals aspirations coming into the new year. And win we did, a crushing 9 wicket win was just what was required to give the team confidence and hope coming into the new year. As a result of the win, the A Reserve team remains in 6th spot, but have jumped to 2nd in the One Day race.

After 6 straight toss losses, the captain finally called correctly and sent the Crusaders into bat. A fiery opening spell from Pat Effeney (The Greg Chappell of the Effeney brothers, Chris would be Trevor, the poorer brother) and good support from Griffo had the Crusaders on the back foot from the start. Rain mid innings did nothing to dampen the team spirit and concentration, as Dallas drove a stake right through the middle and lower order. At one stage the Crusaders were 9/51, but a handy last wicket partnership got them up to 83. Pat Effeney finished with the awesome figures of 4/12 off 8 very fast overs and Dallas took 5/24, but it was just a super effort from everyone.

The run chase was a simple one, as the required runs were achieved with the loss of just one wicket, and made in just 20 overs. Curcio made 43 not out in a welcome return to form and Paul McLaren continued some good recent form with 35 not out.

Special mentions to Bevan Read for coming up to A Reserve at the last minute to plug a hole. Your enthusiasm in the field was fantastic and we really appreciate you being part of the win, sorry we couldn't get you out there for a hit. Also, a big thank-you to Brendan Fernandes who came to the ground as our 12th Man. Brendan was on the field for just one over, but stayed all day and supported the team, which was fantastic, thank-you and well done.

B Reserve

We had a great start with the bowling, having the opposition at 3-37 after 11 overs, though once again, the game slipped away… too many short balls. North Sydney won the match with 2 overs to spare.

Next year will be a different story…

Round 8

Ten Past Eleven is an interesting name for a team, and as Paul McLaren found out, it's got nothing to do with the time play commences. I phone call at just before ten past eleven was received from Paul saying he was almost at the ground and would be there just in time for the commencement of play. It was a big shock when he found out play was at 1:00pm and Ten Past Eleven was the team we were playing. He then said he would be driving around the area for a while, killing time, and would come back in time for the game. Paul arrived at 1:45pm, having been to every other ground that the Association plays at. Lucky he can bat, because his Western Suburbs geography is not a strong point.

Back to the cricket. Captain lost another toss, and North Shore were bowling first. Very tight bowling and the constant fall of wickets meant we were able to reduce the top side to just 105, a fantastic effort and one that put us in the box seat. All bowlers contributed strongly. Pat Effeney bowled quick and tight for 2/21 (7 overs), Griffo was miserly with 1/14 (8 overs), Dougs took important top order wickets to finish with 3/40 (8 overs, although it felt like 20 according to Dougs), Dallas gave nothing away as always finishing with 1/16 (8 overs) and Dutts cleaned up at the end bamboozling everyone to finish with 3/14 off 4 overs. 105 runs should have been a walk in the park, but as is the A Reserve way, we like to make things challenging and interesting. No partnerships in the top order and a constant flow of wickets falling had us precariously placed at 5/49. Snoz and Trent "Punter" Percy to the rescue and a solid 6th wicket partnership of 35 got us to 5/84 and in sight of victory. But another twist in the game saw us lose 3/3, including the wickets of Snoz and Trent for a very well made 31, to have us slump to 8/87 and in deep trouble. But no need for panic as Dutts (7 not out) and Adam "I should bat in the top order" Griffiths (11 not out) got us home by 2 wickets. GREAT WIN !!!

That win propelled the A Reserve into 4th place on the Main ladder and first on the one -day ladder. Obviously we have some work to do to improve our performance in the 2 day games, especially in the batting department, but we are well placed to make a charge for the finals.

B Reserve

Though the opposition introduced O Peterson and J Whittaker, both bowling slow arm pies took vital wickets which turn the game into Lindfield’s favour. A Conlon 16 and J Montandon 12* provided resistance in the tail though it proved too late. We were bowled out for 144 with four overs to go, a 28 run loss.

To sum up, we loss the toss, bowled and fielded well, though the batting, especially in the middle order let us down. Boys we can learn from this, and win next week.

Round 9

B Reserve

Well I guess a loss had to happen eventually, but no need to panic as we are still well placed in the ladder. Our batting was uncharacteristically ill-disciplined which gave the bowlers a hard total to defend. To our credit though, we fought hard with some good tight bowling. Luck just didn’t come our way as several chances fell just inches from the fielders. Highlights included Paul Thomson’s solid 41, Keith Segher’s patient opening batting in both innings which stopped the outright loss and, once again, the ever trustworthy bowling of Shane Bell and Richard Austin. If we take the tight bowling into our next match and take care of our batting we should prove to be a hard opposition.

Good Tip for fielding: Never do your laces up as someone is bowling as you never know what might come your way Belly!! You made up for it with a screamer of a catch though.

Peace,

GG

The C Ressies went into Round 9 against equal top team The Weapons without a win, but confident of causing some damage.

It was all good early on, with “Chimpy” Allomes and “Captain Cam” Wright putting on a 50 run opening stand, but all fell in a heap after that to be all out for 88.

Some inspired bowling by Grasso & Skehan made Weapons chase for quick runs a tough one, and when Chimpy held a huge skier and Stan “The Man” Hinsby a sharp chance low down, the Weapons were restricted to only a 16 run lead prior to their planned declaration a half hour from stumps.

Chimpy & Captain Cam got through to stumps safely – with Chimpy perfecting the “if I let it hit my body I can’t be out caught” method of defence, collecting more bruises than runs, while Cam more intelligently decided to stick a straight bat in front of everything.

Day 2 dawned as a virtual 1-dayer, for full points. The C Ressies were confident that any lead over 120 would be competitive and set to work.

Chimpy and Cam resumed and took the score to 44 before Cam tried one of his rarely seen pull shots too many. The primate soon followed – being caught in the gully trying to late cut (to the amazement of all).

Things were looking tough before Andrew “Mean Machine” Skehan got going with a quickfire 38, including 5 fours and 2 sixes.

Then in the greatest surprise in cricket memory Mark “Inzy” Lumley took “arse” to a new level – edging over slips and the keepers head for boundaries, surviving a huge appeal for caught behind off the aforementioned arse, and finally pulling off a couple of cracking drives on the way to 46. He also ran a 3 (not realising that the ball had reached the boundary). Royal North Shore Intensive Care was put on alert.

With able support from Brendan “Mr Cool” Fernandes and Steve “I’ll Take Youz All On” Grasso the total was taken to 185, leaving Weapons a target of 170 from 37 overs.

A great start saw Weapons at 3-16, courtesy of a firey Skehan opening burst, complemented by some tight line & length from Grasso.

A 5th wicket partnership of 68, taking the score to 146, made things look tough, but an inspired spell from Veno “You Talkin to Me?” Panicker, fired up by some unpleasant sledging from the opposition bench, brought the equation to 9 runs from 4 overs with 2 wickets in hand.

The huge crowd of Bankstown Grade players watching from the pavilion balcony were held spellbound as the climax neared. Grasso finally cleaned up the last wicket with a great caught and bowled and the team went wild.

Captain Cam was widely congratulated for his brilliant tactics in bringing on sub fielder Krishna “Rasta Man” Vishram in place of Lummas – who was transferred to his favourite position (sitting with the opposition, checking their scoring and generally annoying the **** out of them).

A great team effort, with the individual highlights being:

Batting:
M Lumley: 46
A Skehan: 38
C Allomes: 20 & 23
C Wright: 20 & 18, plus 4 catches in the 2nd innings

Bowling:
A Skehan: 1/17 & 5/48
S Grasso: 3/30 & 2/62
V Panicker: 3/21 

Round 10

Chasing 198 for victory A Conlon and P Riddett opened the batting lasting 10 overs, taking the shine off the ball, at 3/49 after 20 overs, the game was in a tight balance. Though S Carson hitting an awesome 73 runs (yet another run out) and J Gersun growing in confidence with 57 made a 117 run partnership to set up a great win for the North Shore C grade..

Lets keep it up boys…

Round 11

Macquarie Uni requiring just over 5 an over, it was anybody's game. Once again our bowling did not let us down, with J Gersun 7.1/22/2, H shah 8/24/2 B Haynes 4/18/2 and J Montandon 8/16/3 (taking the wicket of the Colourful player via LBW for 6). We did not give them a chance. C Virture and B Haynes performance in the field was outstanding claiming 2 catches a piece.

Lets keep it up boys… We can make the finals... It was great team performance with all players enjoying their Cricket.

Thanks to J Cheung for being 12th man and staying all afternoon to help out with the scoring and the Fielding.

Until next week against Kirribilli. Go the Crew!!!