4th Grade vs Penrith - Round 7 - 2011/12

We arrived at Killara hoping to turn around the start of the season. Despite the rain throughout the week and overcast conditions, captain Shane Lin won the toss and elected to bat. Openers Mitch Kleem and Anthony Sherman played posiively, dispatching the loose ball to the boundary. Mitch kleem (20) was the first to fall at 1-45 after setting up a good foundation. When Anthony Sherman (25) lost his wicket at 2-57 it seemed as if the team was in a good position.

MItch Kleem hits a four thyrough covers

However the middle order having kept their form from the previous games built a collapse which soon saw the score at 7-67. The pitch did give some assistance to the bowling side, although there was no excuse for for such a collapse. Someone needed to steady the ship and this was done by some good aggresive batting by Shane Lin (39) and Adam Fleming (10) keeping the scoreboard ticking over at the other end. Their partnership of (51) was vital as the score was now looking respectable at 118. With Gordon soon all out for 123 we knew that it was going to take some good bowling to knock over the Penrith side.

Penrith got off to a good start with one of their openers showing some good intent and scoring some quick runs. Charlie Bangs (1-51) bowled very sharp with the ball hitting some good areas shaping away from the batsmen. With the score at 1-43, the total of 123 did not look that far away. The wicket at 2-63 brought upon by some rapid, accurate bowling by Alex Fleming (4-24) and Alex Lines, (2-26) lead to a cluster of wickets bringing the score to (5-77). Fleming and Lines were both desperately trying to show they could bowl faster than one another. May it also be mentioned that none of these wickets could of been possible without pic's work in the slip cordon, as he was seeing the ball as good as ever grabbing four catches in total. 

The bowlers failed to maintain the pressure on Penrith as they passed the total with three wickets in hand. With another thirty or forty runs on the board the game would have been completely different. Hopefully the batsmen can do some work over the week and find some form in the last game before the Christmas break, which will be a T20 against Northern Districts. 

Tom Carruthers