1st Grade Report vs Parramatta - Round L/O 6 |
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 First Grade report vs Parramatta at Old Kings
As the clock hit 10am, the boys found ourselves in Merrylands with the Parra boys instead of in bed with our girlfriends! Match referee Marcus carefully watched as 'Great man Ghandi' Nicholson won the toss and elected to bat on a wicket that looked as though it had 240 plus in it. Cam 'I must sit on my girlfriends lap at all times' Eccles and Wilbur 'bowl me a full toss and I'll SeeYouLater!' Smith were cautious early to good a first 10 from Parra. (Brendan "why use two hands" McDonald improvises) Reece 'My hair is a vert ramp' Bombas arrived when Cam cut one to the keeper and looked good until he too was out cutting. James ' Can you paint my house after work?' Packman came and went and when Rodney 'I have a dog whistle for a voice box' Hokin was out in a period of cricket impersonating the collamity of 60's Country and Western, we were in strife at 4 for 115. Ben 'Agassi' Garratt came in and forehanded a few beauties whilst Wilbur compiled his neat 50 at the other end before falling victim to yet another fully on 65. Both Benny and 'Ghandi' Nicholson fell trying to up the rate for team, and when B 'I can't speak German' Mac fell for 21 it was up to our trusty quicks to continue their onslaught from the day before. This was not to be and our innings terminated on 182, some 40 or so short of par. (Will Smith proves to Tiddles how he actually does flight the ball) This brought danger man Wood to the crease, the key to Parra's line up for some years now. Julian ' Upside down Head' Stephenson stormed in and cut one back to dismiss him LBW for one, leaving them 4 - 56. BMac then drifted one in to bowl their No 6, and Nicholson claimed his first of two in a timely spell to dismiss thier captain with a catch that met all 1 million strict criteria needed for Packers to catch one!!!!!!!! Nicholson then bowled a ball that went off the HawkEye radar before gently kissing the No 9 on the toe, brilliantly decieving him with a slower ball for 0. Whispers of 8 points were rife..... Julian then opted for a more 'unorthodox' method in taking a great catch to dismiss the hard hitting keeper, and when a BMac quicker one bowled Jackson for 4 it was locked and loaded. 8 points. 14 for the weekend. WE'RE BACK!!! (Jules Stephenson and Brendan celebrate his unorthodox catch. Jules must have caught it in his pocket) It was great to be able to sing the song twice in a couple of days, and singing it with so many of the old boys on the Sat (including Gerry Elkan, the great man that penned our song) was an experience not lost on the boys in a team very proud of a strong tradition at our great club. *Webmasters Note Having now been asked on two previous occasions (strangely enough both at Bankstown Oval) to act as the First Grade team manager I always wondered what it is that the manager does. On my last assignment as manager at Bankstown earlier this year when long time manager Ian Packman was ill, I had to go past their home and collect the bag from Gilly. Upon reaching the ground and wondering what was inside I found: Two packets of snakes (three weeks past used by date) an empty sun cream tube, five empty packets of dressing tape, one pair of scissors still in its packet, an empty water bottle, two packets of 2002 chewing gum, one packet of Nurofen Plus, one packet of codiene, one packet of panadol, three loose aspros, an empty tube of dencorub, a spare sun hat flat in the bottom of the bag and three 200 over cricket balls. Having completed the day still unsure what the manager does, I thought I would investigate further at Old Kings last Sunday. Now I know what he does all day:
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The bowlers spoke of having to come hard at this young Parra line up and when Dylan '........' Connell snicked off the opener with a peach, signs were ominous. 'SeeYouLater' Smith's off spin was introduced early with great effect as he soon had the other threatening opener LBW, and then brought our new friend into the game due to a neat stumping off Iain 'I don't work yet am always too busy to do the covers' Beverley. 
After only 7 days since 'black Sunday' the boys showed the character of a team hardened by a Grand Final loss to dispell any thoughts that we are not the real deal this year. With only two games till Christmas the training and enthusiasm is far from fading. 
