5th Grade Report vs Sutherland - Round 4 |
Useless bloody skipper. There is a rule, somewhere, buried within the laws of this great game, which allows the captain to nominate another player to do the coin toss for him. The 5th Grade skipper should utilize this rule. Every bloody game. Kenner's 90 was one of the few talking points... along with his 2 wickets To say we were behind the 8-ball from the start was a bit of an understatement. Beauchamp was looking a picture; the grass was short, the pitch was rock hard and the temperature would make it uncomfortable to be chasing leather all day. Added to this, the Stags had a bowling attack that opened up with Millar - into the breeze mind you ' who had injured himself lifting the covers onto the trolley before play. The ball barely reached the other end before it was dispatched into the distance. And dispatched we were. 380 odd runs came from the 80 overs in the day. It was a long day in the field chasing the ball through the Beauchamp carpark and retrieving it from Roseville, Lindfield and, towards the end of the day, as far as Sutherland. A couple of crucial catches went down. Both were struck firmly but should have been taken. We needed them. As a result, nearly 200 runs were scored by these two bats after those chances were grassed. Our intensity in the field was not up to scratch. Although there weren't really any misfields, overthrows or other mistakes, players were not anticipating in the field. Not expecting the ball to come to them. Not wanting the ball to come to them. There were a lot of stationary bodies throughout the day and not enough support given to the bowlers who had to toil away on a lifeless deck. I will not dwell on this much longer than to say our best bowling performance, after Millar had kept it very tight from his end early, was from Richie 'Sticks' Kenner, with a couple of consolation wickets at the end of the day. After almost leaving the field in protest, after Wigham was given an over before him, the man with more moving parts in his bowling action that any other person known to mankind struck with his first ball ' a mistimed swot at a ball travelling well down leg side that caught the top edge. I was told that Kenner's insistence in the group huddle that 'it was all planned' was reminiscent of Trevor 'The Angry Ant' Watling who used to drum into his troops the idea of line and length. Before having a bloke caught on the boundary from a rank short ball. Day 2 could only get better. Some good work from the groundsman saw a deck that was in good shape, although still a little soft, after all the rain during the week. Unfortunately, neither of the openers were able to adjust quickly enough to the deck 'popping' early on. It was imperative that they saw us through the opening 10 overs or so, until the deck settled down, and then built a platform to attack during the later session. I have been told, and all those playing at Beauchamp should be aware of this, that you can almost score twice as many runs in the session after tea if you have wickets in hand. The deck always flattens out and becomes a pleasure to bat on. Losing those two wickets for just ten runs meant we were not looking to good at this stage. Any dreams of getting 400 went out the window. However, Kenner and Wigham set about rectifying the innings. Sitting back in the stands, it was a pleasure to see Wigham flourish in these conditions. He waited for the ball to come onto the bat and guided plenty of runs behind square on both sides of the wicket. When he had to, he dropped his hands and wore the ball, rather than risking popping it up to the men in close. Kenner, usually a quiet accumulator of runs, was patient, determined and looked like he wanted to see out the full 80 overs for his side and club. It took a full 90 mins for him to get his first 10 or so runs. But it was just what we needed ' from the openers.
Jono carves one out through the covers Another close all to Kenner, who was very lucky not to be following Jono back to the sheds, saw the team's luck even up and we went into tea was 7 wickets in hand. At this point I had to leave the game and field for the injured Stephenson in 1st Grade. However I was told that after tea the deck had settled out and Kenner began to put the Sutherland bowlers to the sword. McKeith, Selby and Qureshi all had the chance to capitalise on an afternoon in the sun, plenty of overs and plenty of red ink next to their name come the end of the day. All three failed to support Kenner and quickly followed each other back to the sheds. Fonseka, looking to find some form before the game against his old club, joined Kenner and soaked up the pressure. The field came in closer and men were to be found all around the bat. A patient start to his innings and an application that wasn't evident in the previous batsmen saw him there the whole way to the end of the game. Kenner was unlucky not to be there at the end, but an edge through to slip brought his innings to a close a handful of runs short of what would have been a well deserved 100. This brought Cam Brown to the crease and, after a few hairy runs, was dismissed with half an hour or so to go in the day. Kinney took his place out in the centre and when he feathered a ball through to the keeper there were 2.2 overs left in the day. It was down to Fonseka and Millar to see out the day and ensure that the Sharks did not return home with any points. As McKeith was entertaining those in the stands with his wildly fluctuating preferences for the age of his love interests, Cam Brown's sister dropped by and then wisely left before McKeith could do any damage. Best any women under 18 - or over 50 - stay well way from the game. With an imploring shout by the Sharks on the penultimate ball of the day for an LBW that hit Fonseka directly in line with the middle but somewhere around his Adam's apple, and the final ball left untouched, the game was over and the Stags had seen out the day, 9 wickets down, still 140 runs behind. From the start of the day, the Sharks never really pressured the batsmen, having a ring field with a couple of slips. It wasn't until the ship had almost sailed that they began to turn the screws. Perhaps they should have declared the previous week or simply just got under our noses from the start, but we were happy not to concede points, knowing that next week we will have a stronger bowling attack with plenty of potency. Let's get this season back on track Stags. Kris Colley |
5th Grade takes away a well-earned draw
