3rd Grade vs Randwick-Petersham - Round 13 - 2011/12

We arrived at Punchbowl to be pleasantly surprised at the condition of the playing surface. A slight amount of grass and a firmish appearance. Absolutely outstanding for the amount of rain and poor weather we have had all week. We knew a lot of other games would be either washed out or rain affected. Hopefully a win here would consolidate our top 6 rank.

In my 20 years of grade cricket, I don't have too many fond memories of the Petersham Oval wicket. 

Damon Livermore, batsman and author 

A 4 innings match was common and being dismissed twice in a day was even more regular. But the pavilion, with all its memorabilia and its top class afternoon teas, was highly regarded. The Pavilion was even making an appearance during the lunch break segment on the cricket show. ...as a commentator. That's how good it was.

Things have changed now. The wicket was great and the Pavillion was .......the toilet bowl. A smell often associated with a prank of enormous proportions. The change room was not the greatest place to be.

Anyhows, in many companies, if you do a bad job, for long enough, they simply ask you not to do the job anymore or just not to come back in on Monday. Let's be honest. It's not the coins fault. Ask Pic. It's the bloke who we send out there to represent our team, our club, our state. Howitt has got to go! Edward Howitt - you're fired ! 

We can ramble on for hours about how it comes down to luck.....it's always a 50 /50 chance....call tails south of the harbour....whatever! Its going to cost us a premiership one day! I vote Clem to do it. Hi Clem.

Lost the toss and sent in. The wicket was soft and seamed a little early on. We can cope with this now; in fact we dominate on a wet seaming wicket. Howitt, who only wants to open the batting so he can win player of the year ahead of his old mate Fester, takes his positive attitude about marriage and applies it to his batting. Gets on the front foot early, goes over the top, has a crack at anything wide and he will not be home late for dinner.

He just goes and smashes the ball to all parts of the ground while Harry Turner sits and watches.

At the score on 60 from 10 overs, Tom Beverley noticed an attractive woman with a baby in a pram fast approaching. As she noted, 60 from 10 overs was a good score,that confirmed that she was in fact a male and that the baby was indeed a rolled up blanket. If she didn't mention the score, (real women don't understand the score) we may never had known....and Tom may have had a date for Valentines Day.

Howitt's 44 from 43 balls set the tone. Reg joined Harry at the crease to form a memorable partnership. Reg's 88 was regarded as one of the best ever at Petersham Oval. Harry and Reg's running between wickets was brilliant. With the outfield so slow, singles and twos were crucial. Harry continued to blunt the Randy Petes attack. His solid determination to bat for long periods of time is commendable and now i am glad to see the runs are piling up next to his name each week. Reg and Harry put on a 100+ run partnership before Harry was run out on 66. A great innings. Missy batted with a bit of intent again this week and is showing that his form is returning at the business end of the season.

A few cameos at the end proved important as we reached 247 from our 50 overs. (Damon Livermore 88, Harry Turner 61, Ed Howitt 44, Ian Higgins 26).

We should have made 249, but Cubbage thought it would be good to run the first one hard and push for 2 on the last ball. Unfortunately, Cubby was run out attempting the 2nd. Unfortunately, Cubby also ran 1 short. Good effort Cubby, I've got Shayne Lin's number for you.

With the phone ban lifted for the lunch interval, we could see oceans of red headed our way on the radar. So when we returned to the field to bowl at the Randy Petes' batsmen, rain started to fall after just one over. Covers were called and full credit must be given to the Gordon ground staff. A commendable job indeed.

With the rain not as heavy as the radar indicated, play was resumed with the loss of just 6 overs and the target reduced to 217 on run rate.

We bowled reasonably well but drifted a little too much on leg stump early doors, providing easy runs to the vacant mid wicket area.

As the sun stuck its head out in the afternoon, the wicket firmed up and turned into a good batting track. wickets were hard to come by, so excellent fielding was crucial in this period.

However, wickets fell at regular intervals but the Randy Petes' batsman scored quite quickly with their aggressive shot selection.

Kris Colley looks to score runs down the ground 

With the score on 6 for 130, their number 7 played and missed a few times but found a liking to Taity's offspinners, bombing 3 consecutive sixes. There was a possibility that this guy could win the game single handedly. But our steady heads in time of immense pressure, turned the screws and forced the run out of the year. I don't want to talk about it further but it was pretty damn impressive.

Our bowlers toiled away as usual.

Effeney 1 for 20, probably bowled the best lines and was unlucky not have a few more wickets. James Kidd 3 for 31 bowled a fraction short but got the breakthroughs we needed. Tjaard Tait 2 for 29. Came back well after being hit for 3 consecutive 6's to post impressive figures. Adam Cubbage 1 for 27. Best wicket ever. Pushed the James Gatting look-a-like back onto his stumps. Classic Cubbage delivery.

But what won us the game was the outstanding fielding. 3 run outs really changed the game. A great effort from all the boys. 

We kept the chirp up in the field the whole time and the energy we created was exceptional.

With 3 more games to go, we need to continue this roll we are on. We are often given the worst of the conditions to bat on and we bat with intent and determination. We have bowlers that can change the game but most importantly, we have the fielders that can carry us to a win!

Yours in Cricket

Damon Livermore

PS: To the gamblers in our team, you are wrecking homes and hurting feelings. I know who you are and betting on dot balls while I am batting is very hurtful.