3rd Grade vs Hawkesbury - Round 9 - 2011/12

Thirds turned up for the first match of the new year, ready to burn off some Christmas pudding, but surprisingly were greeted by a pitch that was a worrying grey colour. On closer inspection, the decision to leave the white covers off on Thursday night to let the square get some moisture had left the wicket too wet to start on time.  

Damon "Reg" Livermore was particular fond of the leg-side boundary

Eventually it was decided to start at 12, 2 hours after the initial start time.  Some players called for a super over to decide the match, but it was determined that the match would remain 20 overs a side, with the start to the 5ths match also pushed back. 

As per usual, Howitt (now engaged!!) lost the toss and the Stags were sent into bat.  We expected a slow wicket, with some unpredictable bounce.  However, although we had the worse of the conditions, the 2 hours of sun had dried out the wicket and it played much better than we expected. Howitt opened and, after dispatching two balls for six with his trademark wrench over the (very) short Killara boundary, was dismissed for 22 off only 8 balls.  Livermore then joined Turner and together they built on the rapid start and we were flying along at 10 an over.  Harry scored a well made 28 off 25 balls and Reg was particularly severe, smashing 68 off 36 balls. His only undoing was yours truly saying that we could be about to witness the first Gordon T20 100. Reg was dismissed the next ball!

After a bit of hiccup mid innings, losing 6/46, including Dowsley damaging his ankle while getting run out going for a single he would never consider taking in any other form of the game, we were suddenly 8/152. However, some impressive hitting from debutante Bromwich (17 off 10) and a late innings cameo from Fleming (38 off 14), including 3 sixes in a row, got us to the very satisfactory total of 200. Thornborough (10 off 15) also deserves some credit for holding the team together while wickets fell around him, ensuring we batted out the 20 overs.

The author of this report, resting a sore ankle, wasn't able to field and thus can't comment in specific detail as to the energy and application in the field.  It is safe to say, however, that we went from being very confident to very worried, very quickly, as is the way with T20s.  The Hawks came out of the blocks flying and were over 80 after 7 overs and 2/100 off less than 10 overs. After a few economical overs, we were able to peg the Hawks back a bit, but it was very tight all the way - 30 off 3 overs, 17 off 2, 13 off 1 with 3 wickets remaining. 

Howitt stepped up to take the last over. Watching from the sidelines, I knew the next batsman in was a left hander, who would have easy access to the short boundary and, in a strange way, I was hoping a wicket didn't fall! The first two balls both went for 2 runs and then Hoppa snuck one through to clean bowl the batsman and the left hander walked to the crease. 3 balls left, 9 to win, 2 wickets in hand, left hander on strike. 

Ed Howitt, man for any situation, impersonates a flamingo during all the hustle and bustle of a T20 match

As dreaded, the next ball angled in to the pads and was slogged for 6 over the short boundary. Suddenly it was 3 off 2 and the Hawks were in the box seat.  Howitt though is the right man for a tight situation and crucially managed a dot ball off the next ball, which was hit straight back to him, meaning a single off the last would still result in a Stags victory.  This proved to be the case as the ball was hit into the batsman's pads and rolled a short distance away on the off side. An amazing win by the smallest of margins!

Credit must also go to Adam Cubbage (1/21 off 3) who bowled some tight leg spin when the Hawks were threatening to race away and Adam Fleming (4 overs for 20 runs) who was the most economical of the bowlers, including keeping the penultimate over to only 6 runs. Thanks also to Jack Colley and Ben Armstrong for their assistance in the field.

Right, enough of this crazy cricket, back to the real stuff.

Nick Dowsley