Match Results
Round #11 Vs Bendigo
24/01/2009
1st XI @ QEO
Sandhurst who were chasing there first three game winning streak of the season came up against QEO co tenants Bendigo with the ledger at one a piece following Sandhurst’s victory in the two day game courtesy of a fine bowling display and a Brenton Jones century followed up by Bendigo’s victory in the Ron Slattery Twenty 20 contest. At the selection table Mark Keck and Mark Holland could not be considered due to injury and were replaced in the side by Joel Schneider and new recruit Scott Harper.
Sandhurst won the toss and batted on a wicket square that had seen five straight days of cricket courtesy of Bendigo Country Week. Simon Turnbull joined Nick Scullie at the top of the order and Sandhurst looked to make a solid start and leave wickets in hand for the onslaught at the end of the innings. Simon was the aggressor at the beginning of the innings and begun to build a solid platform seeing off the opening bowlers with a run rate in excess of 4 runs per over.
A change in bowler, bought a change in fortune for Bendigo as Josh Ennis, (sorry my mistake) Mark Ryan resorted to some fairly questionable tactics in order to trap Scullie in front in the Eighth over leaving Sandhurst 1 for 32. This bought Brenton Jones to the crease, Bendigo had made it fairly clear they didn’t respect Brenton’s first XI credentials in the previous contest, maybe things would be a little different this time. Simon Turnbull and Brenton Jones saw off a string of Bendigo’s best bowlers to progress with little trouble and bring up a 50 run partnership for the 2nd wicket at 1 for 86 at the 25 over mark.
Simon Turnbull then bought up his first half century in 1st XI cricket since December 11th 2004 amazingly against the same opposition. Simon’s innings was ended on 56 when he was caught behind for 56 from 86 balls with 7 boundaries and leaving Sandhurst 2 for 114 in the 29th over. This was the cue for Brenton Jones to step up, control the innings and put Bendigo to the sword for the second time this season. Brenton was aided by a number of partners and after bringing up his half century pushed the team total towards 200 and himself towards three figures. His innings of unquestionable class was ended by a very questionable decision lbw to Mick Winzar for 91 in the 43rd over.
Pasky and Jason Marr were left to add the finishing touches to a very competitive total eventually finishing at 5 for 209 from 45 overs and setting Bendigo a required rate just under 4.7 runs per over from the get-go.
Sandhurst’s bowlers had done the job so often this year, but if Sandhurst were any chance of claiming the Keck-Findlay one day shield they’d need another quality performance and early wickets given Bendigo had some dangerous batsmen within their line up. Just as he had done so often this season, Andrew Sheehan provided the immediate breakthrough picking up the dangerous Glenn Franzi caught by Westy, and when Tim Robertson got Chris Squibb to play on without further addition to the score of 11 Sandhurst had made an impressive start to the innings.
Andrew Sheehan then picked up Jayden Mcarthur LBW to Andrew Sheehan with the total on 14 before new boy Scott Harper made the perfect start in just his second over as a Dragon claiming Mark Ryan caught by Nick Scullie and leaving the Goers former captain with nothing to do but trudge from the field. Ben Langley had proven a thorn in the side of the Dragons earlier in the season and again got a start before Quinton Bentley completed a run out and breaking up a promising a 39 run partnership.
Nick Scullie again got amongst proceedings claiming his second catch of the innings when innings top scorer James Seymour was caught behind off Andrew Sheehan for 36. At 6 for 81 in the 30th over and with a spiralling run rate required the task looked beyond the Goers and left the Bendigo’s lower order with no choice but to recklessly chase quick runs. This bought about a quick death to the game as Scott Harper’s dismissal of Ryan Trickey gave Nick Scullie a third catch for the game. Some more sharp work from the Harper / Scullie combination bought about the downfall of Tim Edwards stumped after advancing down the crease. Nick had his fifth dismissal for the game when he was again the beneficiary of Scott Harper drawing the edge of Michael Winzar’s bat. The game was completed in the 37th over when Brenton Jones claimed a wicket caught by substitute Bodee Scullie with the total on 124. It was another fine bowling display by the entire team with Andy Sheehan 3/24, Scott Harper 3 for 32, and Tim Robertson 1 for 7 from 7 overs particularly impressive.
The win left Sandhurst with a 4 and 1 win loss record across the five one day fixtures and third overall behind Strathdale and Golden Square in the battle for the Keck Findlay shield. Brenton Jones claimed his second Man of the Match award with another fine batting display of 91 and 1 wicket with the ball.
2nd XI @ Weeroona Oval
Sandhurst on the back of the heart stopping defeat at the hands of second place Strathfieldsaye were boosted by the return of Brock Fletcher but were forced into a late change with the withdrawal of Trav Crouch on the morning of the game as Traviss Russell received a late call up for his second game of the weekend. Sandhurst were again relegated to the hot house that is the tent at Weeroona Oval given the Australia Day Fire fighters carnival were also sharing the facilities. Trumpy won the toss and elected to bat. Leigh Kinniburgh was thrown up the order to replace Crouchy and the pitch appeared to be a good one as both players progressed relatively unchallenged against Bendigo’s new ball attack.
Dylan was off to a flyer finding the fence on four occasions in an innings of 25 from just 22 balls before he feathered one to the keeper and leave Sandhurst 1 for 33 in the 10th over. Kinners took more time to get going and just begun to hit his straps when to fell victim caught behind for 29 Sandhurst were 2 for 64 in the 15th.
Sandhurst then became bogged down by some tight accurate bowling from Brett Andrews and Sam Brewin which saw just 12 runs scored between overs 16 and 23. Brock Fletcher would again be required to deliver with the bat as he had so often this season and along with Alex realised the need to increase the run rate. Unfortunately having firstly consolidated the innings and looking to push the pace for the final 15 overs Trump’s indecision cost him as he spooned a straight forward catch back to the bowler for 19 but with overs quickly disappearing there was no longer time for consolidation. A mix up between wickets led to Bryden Mcfarlane sacrificing himself for the team to allow the set batsman Brock Fletcher continue on.
Leigh Mcdonald had played a fine cameo late in the innings against Strathfieldsaye and was again given the opportunity to swing from the hip. Leigh again found the fence with little difficulty as he posted a valuable 20 from 14 balls including four boundaries to provide a meaningful boost to the run rate. Following Leigh Mac’s dismissal in the 38th over, Brock Fletcher followed up the following over with something special. After Chooka had had found the boundary from the second ball of the over and rotated the strike to Fletcher with the next ball the following 3 balls made a mockery of the over rate. Brock sent the first ball straight back down the ground for six and into the locked nets. Five minutes later and Brock dispatched another ball over the mid wicket fence for six and into what remains of the old scoreboard on the outer side of the ground creating another five minute disruption. This was precision stroke play at it’s finest and a total of 17 runs were scored from the 39th over. Brock had raced from 55 to 77 in the space of 8 balls and was looking in complete control of the Goers attack.
Unfortunately, tragedy struck from the first ball of the 44th over when Brick advanced down the wicket and was bowled agonisingly short of his second century against Bendigo for the season. Still thanks mainly to Brock Fletcher, Sandhurst had been able to add 140 from the final 20 overs and build a more than competitive 8 for 227 from 45 overs.
Sandhurst had bowled, caught and fielded well to fall just short with 219 on the board seven days earlier against the side sitting second on the ladder so surely 227 against a side sitting third from bottom would be enough to keep the season alive. Sandhurst had claimed early breakthroughs against Strathfieldsaye but bowled too many loose balls early on against Bendigo as Brett Andrews took full toll on anything loose. Bendigo bought up 50 inside 10 overs and with all bowlers including Burn, Trump, Tamblyn and Bowe battling to tie down the Goers top order. The situation was not aided by Brett Andrews being gifted a second life. Following a huge 21st over Bendigo approached the drinks break at 0 for 117. Enter Dylan Gibson, just prior to drinks he deceived Craig Pearce and took a straight forward caught and bowled to give Sandhurst a much needed lift entering the drinks break.
Brett Andrews was chock full of confidence and continued his onslaught until he took one chance too many when attempting to dance Dylan only to be deceived and bowled for a blistering 89 from just 72 balls. The flyer had given the remainder of the Bendigo batting line up a massive shot of confidence and Geoff Maggs attempted to continue that before he was bowled attempting to deposit Alex into Weeroona Avenue.
Dylan who had stepped up so often before to pick up this second XI side and carry them on his big broad midget shoulders would need more wickets before his spell of nine overs came to an end. Dylan claimed a third wicket of this impressive spell when he had Tim Shanahan trapped in front. This left Dylan with just 11 balls to try and turn the tide of this match and claim another crucial wicket, with the Goers batsmen realising the danger Gibson posed they attempted to see off his remaining over and a half without further loss. Their survival was aided by yet another chance being grasped in the field providing Sam Brewin with the confidence to bat out the remainder of the innings. Dylan completed his spell with the fantastic figures of 3 for 26 from 9 overs and could quite easily have picked up five for if he had of been better supported in the field.
This was the beginning of the end for the Dragons as their bowling and fielding efforts had been flat, and disappointingly lacked spark and energy in such a crucial match for the majority of the innings. Bendigo were able to score a reasonable comfortable victory thanks to an unbeaten half century from Brewin with the only remaining highlight on a dark day for the Dragons was Alex’s freakish run out of non striker Gundry as the last rites were being handed administered to the match.
It was another “what could have been” defeat for the seconds, their second in succession and means they require three victories from the three final games and a string of other results to fall their way to be any chance of seeing finals action in 08/09. Brock Fletcher’s standout innings to give Sandhurst something to defend was a clear cut choice for Man of the Match.
3rd XI @ QEO
Sandhurst third XI were also looking to rebound from a heart breaking one run loss the previous week against Strathfieldsaye and needed to beat the 3rd placed Bendigo to maintain their spot in the top four. Craig Burn was a last minute call up for Mark Holland. Bendigo won the toss and batted on a wicket that had seen five days of action throughout the week thanks to Bendigo Country Week. Matt Felini and Dave Hunter were back on song as some earlier pressure led to the crucial run out of Trevor Hamilton, which was coolly completed by Marty McDonnell to create the initial breakthrough with the total on 16 in the eighth over.
Sandhurst then slammed on the brakes to the Bendigo innings, as Bendigo crawled along at a little over just 2 runs per over to be 1 for 28 from 12. Craig Burn who had an almighty reality check when he was relegated to 2nd change bowler in third XI having opened the bowling in second XI season came on with immediate effect. He claimed Darren Anderton for 34 and followed up soon after removing David Spong for 15 to reduce Bendigo to 3 for 67 in the 22nd over as “Chooka” finished with 2 for 25 from his 6 over spell.
Still, with so many wickets in hand Bendigo were able to pick up the scoring rate as only Trewy, Felini and Cornell enjoyed success with the ball as Bendigo eventually posted a handy 6 for 123 from 30 overs. Pick of the bowlers were Craig Burn 2 for 25 and Matt Felini 1 for 19.
Despite the heavy workload the QEO pitch and playing surface had seen over the past week, the pitch was still playing reasonably well as evidenced by Trewy and new opening partner Trav Russell’s confident start to the Dragons innings. The pair set about the run chase in positive fashion and bought up a solid 50 run opening stand in just the 13th over. Dean Trew had just started to find his rhythm and was finding the fence with increasing regularity to add a couple of gates to picket fence before an unnecessary suicidal single from the man who’s seen his share over the years led to Trewy’s run out for 30 with the total on 59.
This fine start needed to be consolidated, but Trav Russell seemed in a daze following the dismissal of his opening partner and quickly become agitated at an inability to get the spinner away throwing away a fine beginning to be caught for 29 and cause the loss of the 2nd wicket for just one run.
Craig Burn was promoted up the order and showed his usual concentration span of about 3 balls was about the extent of his capabilities before he too fell skying one straight to the fielder for 13 from 13 balls. Matt Felini then joined ’Drapes” at the crease and Matt controlled the run chase from then on, scoring an invaluable 28 from 22 balls in valuable partnerships with Draper, Saunders and Robertson to bring up a 5 wicket win with 12 runs from the first 5 balls of the 26th over. Matt Felini's all round effort gave him a well deserved Man of the Match.
It was a standout effort from the thirds to bounce back against the side sitting second on the ladder following on from the heart ache of the one run defeat the previous round. Still with such a tightly bunched third XI ladder, a spot in the finals is by no means assured and the pressure will be on to keep the teams spot in the four and each players spot in the team.
The Dragons next face BUCC’s across all grades for the John Turner Memorial Shield Round factoring in results from all three senior grades and the four junior “A” division matches.
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