3rd Grade vs Campbelltown-Camden - Round 11 - 2011/12

It was a long journey to Raby 2, and even longer for me. As I arrived at the newly refurbished facilities of Campbelltown-Camden I was more than impressed; especially as I was greeted with the news that we didn’t have to share a changeroom with another team. The changeroom was filled with positivity as we headed out to inspect a relatively hard but grassy pitch before our warm up. We awaited a few late comers - Harry ‘Disco’ Turner and Ian ‘Cargo’ Higgins if I was to mention some names.

Adam "Flem ball" Fleming - part of a successful opening pair

We had a solid warm up followed by a not so surprisingly poor coin toss in which Hoppa lost and we found ourselves out on the field bowling first. Campbelltown’s openers kept out some very tidy bowling from Adam ‘Flem ball’ Fleming and Julian ‘Midnight’ Stephenson, who bowled some nice lines at good length and managed to get a bit of bounce from the grassy wicket. After a catch going down early in the slips, it wasn’t too long before Jules had his man, pulling a shorter ball straight to Turner at square leg.

This started a small tumble of wickets. Shortly after this 2 more wickets fell in the same over from Flem, both LBW, proving bowling full and straight with the new ball will get wickets.

The bowling continued to trouble the batsmen as the run rate was going not much over 2 an over for the first 20 or so overs. Hoppa brought himself on for a short little spell and trapped another victim in front of his stumps to claim his 500 and something’th wicket.

It was an all too familiar sight as the Campbelltown boys found themselves 4 down for 30 odd and in a bit of strife.

Despite the prediction of a local Campbelltown meteorologist, the rain was in fact falling from the sky at this point and began to get a little heavier. Covers were brought on and play was shortly delayed until it eased up. After the break James Kidd came on to bowl, 2 balls after the break a full pitched ball on middle stump struck the pad of yet another of Campbelltown’s batsmen.

Jules "Midnight" Stephenson - the other half of the opening bowlers

The middle overs brought about a longish but relatively inexpensive partnership due to some really tight bowling from Tjaard Tait, Harry Turner and James Kidd, who bowled to the field whilst the opposition batsmen were rarely able to pierce the field and looked for few singles. A few catches were put down but we stuck to our plans and kept it tight all the way to the end as Flem and Jules came back on for the last 6 overs. Jules dismissing their only batsmen to score a 50 in the dying overs, leaving us with an uncertain score of 6 for 142 on a pitch that was starting to get flatter. And the sun starting to come through the clouds was about to make it a little bit dryer and flatter.

However, Hoppa was unsure about what the new ball could do to us early, so we still had a fair bit of work to do.

Harry Turn(tables)er and Hoppa headed out to bat after lunch to chase down the low total. The first 2 overs were a little shaky as balls were whizzing past the bat and popping off a length; the total looked as though it might be a tough chase.

Harry didn’t last long, copping a good ball and he was trapped in front and on his way.

Harry Turner makes a contribution with the ball before missing out with the bat

Damon or Damien (as he prefers) ‘where’s my bacon and eggs’ Livermore, trounced his way out to the middle with the swagger of a guy that owns a Mercedes Benz and can keep his lights on all day. His innings started well, working the ball around the field, rotating the strike around to Hoppa at the other end who was swatting balls all over the park. The aggressive batting of both Hoppa and Reg unsettled the opposition bowlers, and they had changed the bowling about 4 times in the first 10 overs. Runs were flowing easily and fielders continued to chase balls around the park.

"Reg" Livermore looks to his trademark hookshot, whilst "Hoppa" Howitt celebrates his 50

After 1 for 4 we raced away to 1 for 120, Hoppa reaching his half century in 20th over. Reg soon followed suit and brought his half century up shortly after. With a win well in sight it was the bonus point that we were now after. ‘Cargo Bar’ Higgins went in after Hoppa to work a few singles around looking to support his partner at the other end (and possibly improve his average) and chase down the few remaining runs. Both batsmen were still there in the 27th over when the runs were chased down with 8 wickets in hand.

A convincing win for the Stags. Well worth the long drive.

Special mention must go to Clem Bromwhich and Adam Cubbage, who, despite not contributing with either bat or ball made a long drive for a game of cricket with their team mates… TFC guys.

James Kidd