Round #6 Vs Strathfieldsaye
November 14th, 21st & 22nd
Round #6 Giraffe Report Vs Strathfieldsaye November 14th, 21st and 22nd
First XI @ Tannery Lane
Following on from three consecutive losses to Eaglehawk, White Hills and Bendigo United and with an opponent in Strathfieldsaye always a tricky opponent on home soil who were also desperate for a victory Sandhurst entered Round 6 a team in urgent need of a win. The fixture for no apparent reason was thrown in as a Saturday Sunday match. In selection news Sandhurst lost skipper Brenton Jones and Mark Keck to unavailability but was able to name two debutants, Brett Polson’s who’s only previous hit out for the Dragons was in the MCC XXIX’s game and Elias Bowe, who’s impressive bowling performances this season had earned him a First XI match.
In Jonesy’s absence, Nick Scullie assumed control of the side, and unfortunately lost the toss against his former club as Sandhurst was asked to bowl first on a deck that always offered some assistance to the bowlers. Sandhurst employed a new, new ball pairing throwing the ball to Tom Wilson to partner Quinton Bentley and it paid immediate dividends when in just his second over and the fourth over of the innings Tom Wilson had the wicket of Nick Hyden caught and bowled for three. Quinton Bentley then caused a major error in judgement from the in-form Ben Gunn who shouldered arms only to see his middle stump cartwheel out of the ground.
Quinton Bentley picked up his second key wicket when he had Tim Wood caught by Pasky as Strathfieldsaye slumped to 3 for 6 in the 7th over. The swath of destruction wasn’t finished yet when Skipper Scullie again pulled the right reign bringing on Brett Polson in the 10th over. It was in just the second over of his spell when he picked up Greg Lyon caught by Mark Holland with the Jets reeling at 4 for 9 after 12 overs.
The dream beginning for the Dragons was always likely to come to an end as Strathfieldsaye began to consolidate, slowly but steadily adding 50 for the 5th wicket before the pressure being applied by Matt Pask finally told claiming the wicket of Luke Millard for 28. Skipper Ben Devanny then joined Liam Smith who had opened the innings and seen a raft of wickets at the other end then saw Strath through to 5 for 87 at tea from 47 overs.
The Tannery lane wicket had flattened out after tea as Devanny and Smith pushed towards a 100 run partnership for the 6th wicket before Travis Crouch enhanced his partnership breaker status in the 70th over claiming Devanny caught by Westy for 34. The remainder of the innings was an arm wrestle between bat and ball with Strath having to play cautiously to avoid being bowled out inside 85 overs. A late wicket to Tim Robertson and run out to Anthony West were over-shadowed by Liam Smith’s pursuit of a century, which fell agonisingly short finishing unbeaten on 97no from 251 balls as Strathfieldsaye posted a competitive 8 for 206 from 85 overs. Pick of the bowlers for Sandhurst were Quinton Bentley 2/22 from 14 and Matt Pask 1/33 from 21 overs.
Unfortunately an entertaining tussle for a crucial six points was ruined by some Saturday night and Sunday morning rain and day two was abandoned without a ball being bowled and both sides deprived of the opportunity for a much needed six points.
Match Summary: Strathfieldsaye 8/206 (Bentley 2/22, Wilson 1/10 Pask 1/31 from 21 overs) drew with Sandhurst
The Key: Strathfieldsaye’s ability to recover from a perilous 4 for 9 and avoid possible defeat on day 1 left both sides with three points each.
Man of The Match: Hard to adjudicate with only half of the match completed but for a fine spell of pace bowling Quinton Bentley with 14 overs 7 maidens 2 for 22 got man of the match.
2nd XI @ Weeroona Oval
Sandhurst had a history of close finishes with Strathfieldsaye in recent years and Sandhurst was looking for redemption after an abysmal batting performance in their previous outing. At the selection table Simon Turnbull was handed the captains armband in the absence of Alex Trump, and young Mitch Cole from the Under 17s was handed a senior debut after the late withdrawal of Mark Keck and subsequent promotion of Elias Bowe to First XI. With these changes much of Sandhurst’s much vaunted bowling depth had dissipated.
Strathfieldsaye won the toss and batted and faced a new ball pairing of Hancock and Traviss Russell. After a flying start the opening bowlers found their rhythm and begun to tie down Strath’s opening batsmen. A spell of 3 consecutive maidens finally told with Hancock claiming the wicket of Carboon for 13 in the 13th over. Still unable to break the shackles, Justin Hancock claimed his 2nd wicket removing Cory Devanny for 0.
Whilst Sandhurst were continuing to apply pressure with tight line and length bowling and a quick over rate, they were unable to break the 3rd wicket partnership prior to tea as Strathfieldsaye progressed to 2/131 from 53 overs. Mitch Cole was thrown the ball straight after the tea break and when Justin Hancock begun a second spell the breakthrough finally came with Justin Bice bowled by Hancock and then 3 runs and 2 overs later the man with a head shinier than a brand new cherry had all four wickets to fall picking up opening batsmen Blundell for 93.
Mitch Cole was warming into his spell, and claimed skipper Brian Hansen to a loose cut shot caught by Patrick Brophy at point and in his following over with just one run added the explosive Kristian Rogers picked out Craig Burn at mid-on for a duck as Strathfieldsaye’s collapse had reached 4 for 4. Justin Hancock was in the middle of a marathon spell and claimed a deserved 5th wicket when he had number 6 batsmen Josh West bowled for 2.
Traviss Russell’s pin-point bowling was finally rewarded claiming wicket number 8 for the Dragons and when Hancock and Russell split the final 2 wickets both bowlers ended up with outstanding figures. In all Strathfieldsaye had lost their last 8 wickets for 38 runs with Justin Hancock 6/57 from 24 overs, Traviss Russell 2/22 from 17.2 and Mitch Cole 2/24 the wicket takers.
Sandhurst had mustered a tremendous fight back to get themselves back in the game by building the pressure hroughout the afternoon and reaping the rewards after tea and had been given an instant opportunity to redeem themselves from their past batting errors. After negotiating a difficult 2 over period on Saturday evening without loss, Sandhurst sent Horan and Brophy into face the music on day 2 and set a platform for the run chase.
The spotlight was truly on the Dragon batsmen, with only one other game making a start on the Sunday due to the adverse weather Saturday night and Sunday morning as the opening pair progressed things along to 26 when the experienced Chris Cullen struck removing Brophy LBW for 10. Will Horan was just beginning to find his feet when a cracking cut shot looked to be heading towards the 3rd man boundary when unfortunately for Will Chris Cullen in gully got in the road of the ball and held on to dismiss Will for 16. Skipper Simon Turnbull’s stay at the crease was short caught behind for 5 with the total on 65 in the 27th over.
It was time again for Dylan Gibson to stand up, as he had done numerous times before when his side had needed it most. The Dylan Gibson show was in full swing, despite some lucky escapes Dylan and Chooka saw things through to tea with Sandhurst 3 for 113 from 40 overs requiring an additional 85 runs for victory. In hindsight it appears tea came at just the wrong time for the Dragons, Dylan who up until that point had been playing to his strength and scoring when the bowlers strayed into his areas, whilst Chooka had shown a steely determination and was being more selective in his shot selection than usual.
Unfortunately shortly after the tea break Dylan attempted to work one onto the leg side and had his woodwork re-arranged by Chris Cullen just short of a half century. This sparked a collapse from which Sandhurst would never recover, Sandhurst found it impossible to score, and lost a steady flow of wickets which resulted in a collapse of 7 for 47 after tea with only Craig Burn’s 36 a meaningful contribution in a total of 160 from 65.2 overs and a 37 run defeat.
Match Summary: Strathfieldsaye 197 (J Hancock 6/57 T Russell 2/22) defeated Sandhurst 160 (Gibson 47, Burn 36) by 37 runs.
The Key: The biggest thing to be taken from the game was the lost opportunity, with only one other second XI game getting a result, for the 3rd or 4th time in recent memory Sandhurst had missed an opportunity to take a winnable game and get a jump on every other club in the grade.
Man of the Match: In a sublime bowling performance, Justin Hancock’s 6/57 from a mammoth 24 overs was a clear cut choice for man of the match.
Third XI @ Tannery Lane
As usual it was another Third XI game with both Sandhurst and Strathfieldsaye fielding sides with a sprinkling of players from higher grades with Alex Trump and Justin Hancock bolstering the Dragons 3rd XI side. Strathfieldsaye won the toss and elected to bat, allowing Felini and Trump first crack to exploit the lively Strathfieldsaye deck.
Strathfieldsaye scrounged their way to 21 before Matt Felini claimed a wicket thanks largely to a sharp catch in gully taken by Glenn Trew. With Alex having to double up for a one day fixture in the afternoon, the plan to bowl Alex through his spell and then give him enough time to rest and prepare for the afternoon’s game finally paid dividends as he was finally rewarded for a solid spell of bowling removing Brent Yates LBW for 13. Matt Cameron was batting at number three and had caused his share of issues for Sandhurst in the past progressed to 47 before he fished at one he shouldn’t have and was dismissed caught Draper bowled Cornell.
With the score 3 for 104 from 35 overs, one bowling change swung the course of the match. The introduction of Keith Cloke, cricket spikes safely applied as the sixth bowler of the innings used, picked up a wicket in his first over. Keith Cloke wasn’t done there, claiming wickets in his second, fourth, seventh and eighth overs to end the Jets innings at 132 all out and personally end with a deserved 5 for 14 from 7.1 overs.
Sandhurst had stuttered terribly with a modest run chase in the previous game against White Hills and the omens weren’t good when skipper Dean Trew turned up for day 2 with a bad bout of gastro and barely able to function. This meant a shuffling of the batting line up with Dean Trew only set to bat if necessary or a marked improvement in his health over the course of the morning, meaning Dean’s brother Glenn would open with “Cheesy” Mcfarlane.
Unfortunately for the Dragons Glenn Trew had a rare failure caught at deep backward square for 3 in the seventh over. Facing a First XI strength new ball partnership number three batsmen Alex Trump used quick singles to try and tick over the scoreboard which had stagnated to 26 in 15 overs. As is so often the case, batsmen tend to relax once they see off the new ball bowlers and change bowlers come on and again it was the case for the Dragons with a double blow of Trump and Mcfarlane both falling LBW with the total on 26.
The action was always likely to progress at a quick rate with Matt Felini joining Leigh Draper at the crease, and the pair got the Dragons back on track with a partnership surpassing 50 in just 10 overs before Felini was dismissed for 37 from 32 balls. Following on from the loss of Felini the last thing the Dragons needed was the loss of the other established batsman Leigh Draper who as fate would have it lost his nerve and was bowled by strike bowler Matt Rice with the total on 87.
Sandhurst’s lower-middle order just couldn’t handle the pace of Rice as they suffered a collapse including Draper and Felini of five for fifteen and three wickets in one over leaving Sandhurst 8 for 100 from 31 overs. Marty Mcdonnell joined Keith Cloke at the crease and the pair attempted to right the ship that was sinking quickly, Marty Mcdonnell (7 from 31 balls) played surely his most valuable innings for the Dragons adding 25 for the 9th wicket with Clokey and taking Sandhurst within sight of victory before he too was bowled.
Then inspirational skipper Dean Trew willed himself onto the ground and scored surely the most memorable one not out’s he’ll ever score to enable Keith Cloke to slash the winning runs through the hands of point and secure a tense one wicket win for the Dragons with Clokey finally last man out for 25 to finish with a total of 143. The win restores parity to Sandhurst’s season at two wins and two losses.
Match Summary: Strathfieldsaye 132 (K Cloke 5/14) defeated by Sandhurst 143 (Felini 37, Cloke 25) by 11 runs.
The Key: The valuable 9th wicket partnership of 25, a rarity for Sandhurst who pulled a win out of the fire and further enhanced Keith Cloke’s match performance.
Man of the Match: A lay down misere, with 5 for 14 and a match winning 25 saw the meal at the Lake View head Keith Clokes way.
Goat of the Round: As much as I would like to nominate the goat visiting the patient alongside me at the Alfred who tripped over a table and through the curtain that separates the two beds and onto a bed which had only recently been vacated by myself or the patient who had ended up in hospital after falling off an elephant, we all know that only Sandhurst players and officials qualify so for that reason the goat of the round for Round 6 is being awarded to Justin Hancock who in one weekend managed to arrive a combined 150 minutes late for third XI Saturday morning and on Sunday afternoon for Second XI. Time to check your alarm clock Justin.
The Road Ahead: Sandhurst face a two day game against QEO co-tenant Bendigo in a must win game for all three senior grades.
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