Colts Report vs Randwick - Petersham Green - Round 11 |
The Colts side, looking as strong as it has been all season, made its way out to Snape Park on a semi-warm day to take on what looked to be a fairly formidable Randy-Petes side. While sitting in the change rooms, many wondered about what we should do in the sweltering heat if the toss was won. Unfortunately, despite Fonsey's legitimate suggestion to bat first and go home, it was the home side that decided to have a stick. Dave Leiboff works hard on a very hot day out at Snape After much delay due to the opposition skipper being unhappy about the amount of grass on the deck, and calling up the groundsman to mow the pitch, we set out to get the early breakthrough an hour and a half later. It was Dan Lake who managed to force the opposition skipper into a false stroke and picked up an early first wicket for the Stags. A few overs later, Dave 'Boffy' Leiboff collected his first for the day. After a much awaited drinks break, it was Armstrong and Millar who had a go at trying to break a steadily building partnership and, after some tight bowling, Skip picked up his man. Nic Franklin then came about bowling his quick bumpers and was rewarded with 2 wickets with a great catch to Skip in the slips. Unfortunately, as has happened in several previous games this season, the Colts side was once again on the wrong end of some suspect umpiring decisions, including an edge that our clubmates sweltering out at Penrith were likely to have heard. For some of our players who've not played in Colts this season, they quickly realised how hard you have to work for your wickets. Their innings finished with some great death bowling by Boffy and Nic, and they finished with 7/204. Our opening pair had no intentions to have to stay around longer than they needed to, and set about chasing the total quickly as the outfield was running fast and the deck fairly flat. Unfortunately, Tim Van Zuylen was dismissed early, so Nic was at it again, batting sensibly but putting the bad ball away.
Benny Armstrong does a great job, whist his father and brother watch on A 20 run over, breaking the shackles of their best bowler ' and batsman - and the bonus point was in sight for the Stags. At this point, we still needed over 8 runs an over and Nic and Paul were well aware of the skipper's wishes to pick up an extra point after the disappointment of the previous week's match against UNSW. It came down to the 29th and 30th overs, where we needed 16 runs to win. The first 5 balls of the 29th over went for singles and then Paul Campbell strode down the track, his team's interests ahead of his, and tried to knock the ball long down the ground. Unfortunately for Paul and the team, the ball cannoned into the stumps and he was dismissed for a well-constructed 59. The 30th over saw the Stags needing 11 runs to pick up the bonus point. Nic tried to do it in two balls, and succumbed to the first of these, spooning it to cover and departing for 83. Red ink would have been his preference, but the bonus point was his first goal and, similar to Paul, was selfless in his pursuit. A Paul Dietz single from the next, followed by a Brendan Grey single, followed by another Dietz single. The stage was set 8 runs from 2 balls. Two clean hits. Two new batsmen, fresh from the sheds. The bowler charges in and Brendan takes an almighty swing, but misses the ball. 8 runs from 1 ball. It's all over. Or so we thought. The final ball of the 30th over was sent down. Down the leg side. Down to the boundary for a total of 5 wides. Suddenly we were back in the game. 3 runs from the final ball of the 30th over. Brendan didn't miss this time. Smashing the ball down to long on for a boundary and securing the bonus point victory! All in all, it was a solid fielding and bowling effort that allowed the batsman to play their own games, and with a solid key partnership of 137 between Nic and Paul, the win always looked inevitable with the Stags almost doubling the Randy- Petes run rate. Another good win boys. Looking forward to taking on Bankstown next week. Ben Armstrong |
A bonus point win against Randwick-Petersham Green
His quick scoring attitude was passed on to Fonseka who unfortunately had a swing at the wrong ball. Enter Paul Campbell, and he immediately looked as though he'd been batting all day, quickly hitting some nice shots to push the score to 2/93 off 15 at drinks, keeping comfortably ahead of the required run rate. Soon after drinks, both batsman took the liking to the spinners, and absolutely pumped them all around the ground, with Franko bringing up his well earnt 50, closely followed by Paul.
