1st Grade Report vs Northern Districts - Round 11 |
1st grade provided a true team performance, and the first two-day victory of the season, against highway rivals Northern Districts. Well bowled James Kennedy! Day 1 Greg Lewis had been leaving training early all week (or is that all year??) to help JK's uncle roll the Waitara pitch. So, when the coin fell in Packman's favour, 'Buck' Colley and 'Mirrors' Lewis were sent out to bat. Unfortunately Steve pushed at one early on and was caught behind. Blair Lindsay joined Mirrors, who was punishing anything over pitched and looking very confident. Unfortunately Mirrors then received the 'only ball that moved all innings' and managed to feather it behind. At 2-51 we needed a partnership, Packman and Lindsay provided one. Neither batsman looked troubled in their innings, with Blair's six over square leg and James' driving being the highlights. Unfortunately a mix up saw both batsmen finishing at one end, with James the unlucky batsman to be dismissed. Blair was out soon afterwards, caught and bowled for an excellent 68. From then onwards Reece 'Cleetus' Bombas combined with the middle and lower order for a series of relatively small partnerships. Only James Kennedy provided meaningful support. JK played his most aggressive innings... ever. JK's batting has improved out of sight over the last two years and two fours, both lifting the spinner over the infield, were indicative of his hard work. A partnership of 55 important runs saw Reece and JK get the score to 342. Unfortunately after JK's dismissal, Dylan 'Jonty' Connell was out first ball.
Reece Bombas makes a big impact on the field, as well as off! There were a couple of memorable off-field moments, all involving the supposedly banned mobile phone. Reece thought tea was the perfect moment to update his facebook status to 'fighting hard'. Dylan Connell took it upon himself to assume the identity of a certain teammate and rekindle his courting skills, via text message. Needless to say he was called a paedophile ' true story. Day 2 Although 342 is an imposing score, an excellent pitch and the fact a 2 day victory had yet to be achieved, meant 1st grade were not at all complacent. Marcus spoke concisely 'bowl line and length, and take your catches!'. We began well, Dylan bowling an exceptional spell. Both Dyl and JK picked up one each to have the Rangers 2-17. A partnership of 40-odd developed, but at a very slow run-rate. Elliot Richter bowled very accurately at this point (and all day), building pressure with dot balls. He finished with 0-20 off 13 overs. Dylan managed to find the edge of the opening batsman three times, with the final chance being snaffled by Iain Beverley. Soon afterwards, Dan Smith picked up the valuable wicket of Nelson after an over of play-and-misses as well as edges, quickly followed by Rod Hokin. ND's were 5-58. Despite a streaky partnership developing in the middle of the Ranger's innings, Gordon bowled very steadily. Dylan produced a gem of a delivery to clean bowl one of middle order players and break the partnership. From this point onwards the Stags bowlers dominated (there was no ruth). JK came back to finish off the tail and the last five wickets fell for just 7 runs. Northern Districts were all out for 123 after 53 overs. The Stags enforced the follow on but on a now very flat deck and with tired bowlers it was difficult to penetrate the opening partnership. With Evans next in line to bowl, the captains agreed to finish proceedings. Finally a two-day victory and a dominating one as well!! Our inconsistency has been our downfall this season so we must continue our hard work and step up next week against Penrith. Finally, I couldn't finish the report without notifying Gordon players/supporters about the Central Coast enigma that is Reece Bombas.
For those interested, Reece has three points which, if completed correctly, will ensure you 'pick-up' (this is legitimate):
Good luck. Harry Evans |
1st Grade send the Rangers packing
Despite the score of 342 all out, the Stags could definitely have scored 400+ if a middle order player had stuck around with Reece. Still, this was a great batting performance from the top order. Reece finished on 87* a superb innings of patience and placement ' words generally not associated with Bomber. Hopefully there are many more runs to come.
All year Reece 'Cletus' Bombas has been acting as dating coach for the single men of 1st grade. You can't really argue with his record either:
