1st Grade Report vs Bankstown - Round 2 |
A place still fresh in our minds from last years final, 1st grade returned to Bankstown Oval expecting a tough couple of days cricket. Rob Edwards is congratulated by Jules after his first half-century for the club As it turned out, Saturday consisted of rain, more rain, a plethora of chicken burgers and a "head off". The highlight was the "head off". For those unfamiliar with a "head off", basically it is a show down of the melons, 3 measurements are taken and added together to determine the physical size of a players head. The judges of the competition seem to think a regular head comes in around the 190cm mark. Connell took the event with massive measurement of 204 cms. Daylight was 2nd with Bombas taking the wooden spoon with tiny 176cm's. Monday's coin toss was always going to important given the rain we had over the weekend and consequently Gordon were sent in by Bankstown. The openers Beau "Buzz" Casson and Iain "Bevo" Beverley ground out a difficult opening patch with the new ball doing heaps. It did not take long before Buzz unleashed a trademark pull shot, dispatching Jackson Bird for 6 over the square leg boundary in the 3rd over. Under the difficult circumstances, this was an amazing shot which left the opposition slip cordon gob smacked. Beverley went first and Casson followed shortly after which brought Reece "Bomber" Bombas and James "Jamma" Packman to the middle. Again, positive batting seemed to be the way to go and Reece pushed forward where possible an executed some beautiful cover drives. Jamma followed suit and began to find rhythm and timing as lunch approached.
Celebrations ensue after Nicholson snares a ripper Rod "Rocket" Hokin was called upon quickley. Armed with his "mysterious" Irish piece of willow (seriously boys, do yourself a favour and check this thing out at training, it is amazing!), Hokin constructed a positive innings that gained momentum. Unfortunately he lost potential danger man Matt Michael to a ball that kept low and Gordon looked in slight trouble. With a "Go B-Mac" from Marcus, Brendan McDonald stormed out through the gates on a mission. Ready to take down the Bankstown attack similar to last season, B Mac batted without fear from the outset and put some great strokes together. Unfortunately on 22 he feel victim to Bird having put on some crucial runs with Rock. Hokin continued to improve. B Macs dismissal provided an opportunity for Edwards who was making his debut with the bat. Edwards approached his early innings with caution from the outset which worked in favour for the young man. Hokin and Edwards built "a true partnership". Both players took the pressure off each other by turning over the strike. Hokin looked unstoppable at times. Rocket started to really time the ball on the front foot and even brought out the occasional pull shot for the crowd. Similarly, Edwards continued to create havoc behind square. The boys witnessed some of the latest of late cuts with incredible hand speed, squeezing the ball into impossible places which created frustration for opposition skipper Waugh. Unfortunately Hokin's innings came to a close, LBW on 79.
Typical Hokin, classy through the off-side Now it was our turn, and the bowlers were looking for some pay back in a short spell prior to tea. Nicholson and Connell set off on a track that was getting flatter by the second. The "bustling" Connell was inspirational with his tireless work rate and gave "The Dogs" nothing early on. Nicholson was a class above and applied an enormous amount of pressure on the openers. This lead to Gordon's first wicket for the afternoon where Nicho turned Ridley inside out who edged to Beverley. Stephenson replaced Nicho and bowled with patience and vigour. His consistent line to the left handed Gane paid dividends and was well caught by the horizontal Nicholson in gully. A handy spell from Stephenson set the platform for the Buzz and B Mac show. B Mac played a crucial role by frustrating and restricting the scoring at his end whilst Buzza applied the screws from the other. Once Casson trapped Cassell in front without playing a shot, he was away. Buzz and Mac were creating an atmosphere and the stags were on the verge of breaking through. The infield consisting of "Matt "Cake" Michael, Jamma, Rod "Rocket" Hokin and Bomba" lifted and worked even harder in the ring. Special mention must go to Ian "Missy" Higgins who replaced the injured Edwards in the field and covered plenty of turf. Bowling into gail force winds, Casson continued to bamboozle batsman and prove how good he really is in the testing conditions. After deceiving Keen with a massive leggie, Buzz was unlucky not to pick up Waugh straight away by creating 2 chances. "The Dog's" kicked the score along with a brief partnership before Waugh finally hit one to Jamma at long on. Buzz continued to create havoc on a wearing surface and kept us in the game with fine support from Connell and Nicholson at the other end, however the game was slipping away from us as we required to take 6 wickets to win. With the weather closing in, an eerie scene was set with Bankstown requiring 31 off 35. With the deadly combination of Nicholson and Casson proved too tuff for Bankstown and in the end they feel well short of a target they should have reached. To restrict Bankstown from taking the 6 points was an incredible effort in the end and a job well done to those who bowled at the death. The match resulted in a draw. Some would argue that having played 9.5 hours, 120 overs of cricket for no result was a tad frustrating. I believe we can take a lot away from last weekend. Once again we demonstrated we are now playing a tougher brand of cricket. There continues to be an excellent vibe amongst the side and team harmony is at a high. More importantly we "out - enthused" our opposition, which is what we set out to achieve and looked the better side. Had we won the toss, I imagine we would have been home by 2pm, just in time to catch the friends marathon on Arena + 2. Paul Stevo (stand in Manager for the unwell Packers on Monday) mentioned and confirmed that this side has the potential to grow and improve. The ability is present and we should build on this early season momentum and take it to West's this week. Iain Beverley |
9.5 hours for a tough draw against Bankstown 
The wet ball continued to seam around without reason as we lost Bombas and "The Skipper", Nicholson in quick succession. Packman continued to guts the difficult circumstances out until a good spell from Thompson brought his innings to a close.
Stephenson came to the crease and supported Edwards well by turning the strike over which allowed Edwards to power on. Even on one leg, Edwards continued to dominate and demonstrated how strong he is with a huge six over the square leg boundary which rolled into the fruit market across the street. After 65 overs, the skipper pulled us in as Gordon declared 8/232.
