Round 11 Match Report
by
Lain Pocock
--
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
ROUND 11 MATCH REPORT VS HUNTLY NORTH BENDIGO FEB 11 & 18
1ST XI @ QEO
Not concerned about what had been said and written of late, the 1sts went out with the clear intentions of doing whatever was necessary to keep their finals hopes alive with an outright victory. Kecky lost the toss and we were asked to bat. In the absence of Brock Fletcher, Kecky was again promoted to open and showed intent from the start. After losing early wickets in the pursuit of quick runs the boys still managed to maintain a run rate of 5 and above as Kecky (100) and Mark Holland (102no in 73 balls) added 104 for the 4th wicket to have us 4 for 220 at tea.
Despite obvious stalling tactics from the opposition by bowling just 46 overs in close to 4 hours Dutchy continued on with Paul Robins (23) for a 62 run partnership as we declared our innings at 5/276.
Things didn’t start according to plan in the field as a 69 run opening partnership stalled our progress. Paul Robins took a blinder off Kecky to get the breakthrough and as is so often the case 1 wicket bought a 2nd and then a 3rd in quick succession leaving Huntly North Bendigo 3/107 at stumps on day 1. The midweek rain made batting conditions considerably tougher and worked in our favour and as soon as Kecky (2/47) picked up the breakthrough, Tim Williams then proceeded to run through the remainder of the batting line up picking up the best bowling figures from any Sandhurst player as well as any 1st XI player of any club all season finishing with 7 for 42.
In making 191 Huntly had narrowly avoided the follow on, so again we went out to bat with the intention of quick runs, Mark Holland continued on from where he left off in the 1st innings with 34no at better than a run a ball and along with Kecky (26 off 13 balls) we had 3/75 and an overall lead of 160 runs by tea.
Another declaration was necessary to give us time to bowl Huntly out a 2nd time and faced less resistance 2nd time around as again Tim Williams (4/28), Geoff Mclean (3/17) and Kecky (2/13) did the damage bowling out Huntly North Bendigo for 105 and securing a 55 run outright victory with 7 overs to spare. The game saw Sandhurst bat for a total of 57 overs combined in the 2 innings for the loss of just 8 wickets in scoring 351 runs at over 6 runs per over and bowling Huntly out twice in 94 overs.
There were several standout performances that enabled us to achieve our 1st outright victory in 1st XI cricket since the 1986/87 season including Kecky 126 runs and 4 wickets, and Mark Holland’s maiden 1st XI century and 136 runs for the match but with match figures of 11/70 Tim Williams collected Man of the Match.
2nd XI@ Strauch Reserve Huntly
Tipper’s 2nd XI were in the rare position of having to bounce back after last rounds disappointing loss to Golden Square. Tipper called incorrectly and we were sent in on a very ordinary looking wicket. The wicket played its part early on as the loss of 3 early wickets had us on the back foot. Aggressive batting was the name of the game as scoring runs quickly before the demons in the wicket got you out proving attack was the best form of defence. Pasky (34) was the only batsman of the top 6 to pass 30 and with the side at 6/88 a score of 150 looked to be a good effort. Trumpy (18) and Matt Felini (37) negotiated us through to tea and added 55 for the 7th wicket before the both fell shortly after tea leaving us 8 for 145. Nilesh Patel (16) & Travy Russell (26no) then put their heads down and ground out a valuable 43 runs for the 9th wicket before we were finally bowled out for 188 in 54 overs.
In the field Matt Felini continued his knack of wickets in the first over of the innings completing the feat for the 3rd time this season, as bowlers gave absolutely nothing away as Felini along with Trav Russell and Nilesh picked up wickets as Huntly limped literally batted and bruised to 5 for 42 at Stumps On Day 1. Trav Russell (3/12) eventually got the breakthrough on the 2nd day and along with Ben Leed (3/5) cleaned up the tail in just over an hour on day 2 for 74 with a 114 run lead on the 1st innings.
The 2nd innings saw a more determined Huntly North Bendigo batting effort in trying conditions for the bowlers on a much flatter batting deck as Tipper shared the bowling around in order to get the breakthroughs. Again there was not one bad bowling performance as 9 bowlers were used with Matt Felini (3/36) and Nilesh (3/35) were the multiple wicket takers as the boys raced through 70 overs in dismissing Huntly a 2nd time for 154 with an overall lead of 40.
Unfortunately time had got the better of us, as we were left with near impossible target of 41 runs in 2 overs. Pasky and Felini gave it a go finishing 0/21 and most probably only 10 minutes or 2 overs short of an outright victory.
In such an even team effort Man of the Match was not an easy decision with Trav Russell 26no and 3 wickets earned him the award
3rd XI @ QEO
Trewy won the toss, and going on the offensive sent Huntly North Bendigo in with the hope of a quick kill to open the game up for a victory and the possibility of an outright if the opportunity arose.
Unfortunately the decision to bowl didn’t pay dividends early with Huntly 0/47 in 15 overs before 2nd gamer Brent Watts bowling 1st change tore through the Huntly top order. Brent bowled his 10 overs straight through to turn things in our favour finishing with 4 for 14. The remainder of the bowlers went to work with Brad Wright (3/15 off 9 overs) and James Rickard (2/17) also multiple wicket takers. Our quick over rate allowed us to bowl Huntly North Bendigo out for 135 in 47 overs leaving a tricky 5 over period which Trewy and Clokey safely negotiated leaving us at 0/15 at Stumps on Day 1.
Midweek rain made batting conditions considerably harder for our run chase on day 2, and some ordinary batting gave Huntly a couple of wickets early on the 2nd morning. An important 46 run partnership between Trewy and Dave Hunter who had been elevated up the order moved us to within reach of the target. Leigh Draper again looked dangerous before being bowled for 21 and despite the loss of another couple of quick wickets Josh Wright (20no) and Trewy (77no) who showed great concentration to bat through the entire innings saw us home by 4 wickets with 5 overs to spare finishing with 6 for 167.
Brent Watts in swinging the momentum of the match earned Man of the Match with 4/14.
THE LADDER
Despite the 1st XI’s outright result, other results didn’t fall our way and we still face an uphill battle to make the finals trailing 4th place BUCC’s by 8pts with 2 games remaining.
2nd XI narrowly missed the chance to regain top spot and remain 2nd on the ladder.
3rd XI secured a much-needed win but face a very tough task to secure a spot in the top 4.
NEXT WEEK
In the first of successive Saturday Sunday games to complete the home and away season the 1sts & 3rds are away to Strathfieldsaye both chasing results to keep their finals hopes alive, while the 2nds host 4th place Strathfieldsaye looking to build towards the finals and secure an all-important spot in the top 2.
- The Giraffe