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Duckpond Bill - 11th December |
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All grades got a start on the weekend for a change so perhaps the run of fortnightly cricket is at an end. The A1's and A4's suffered defeats at the hands of Gawler Central but the A2's continued their good form with a solid win against the Tigers at Stockwell.
A1's – The A1's travelled to the Dog track to take on Gawler Central in an important one day clash on Saturday.
Gawler batted first and their openers took a liking to the usually tight opening combination of Tim Taylor and Sam Schmidt. That coupled with the compact oval and some poor catching allowed Gawler to get of to a frighteningly quick start and when the first wicket fell the score was 106 in the 14th over. With the opening stand broken the bowlers started to regain control as good spells by Wade Gripton and debutante Bradley Hunter squashed the run rate. Grippo's 2/24 was by far the best spell of the day but Bradley's 1/34 was remarkable as he was hit for 18 from his first two and maintain his composure on debut.
The rest of the innings was pretty good with the exception of a couple of missed opportunities but Gawler still posted a formidable 217 on the back of it lightening start.
Even at the dog track it was going to take a good effort to chase down the total and a good start was imperative. Unfortunately the search for early runs resulted in two wickets and when Richard Mattner fell for 24 proceedings were looking grim. Wade Gripton kept his cool through out the innings but when he was dismissed for a well made 51 the tail was exposed and in the end the lads were bowled out for 122 with 4 overs to go. The Man of the match was Wade Gripton. A2's - The Wanderers played Gawler Central at Stockwell on the weekend in a match that offered the victor a top two position on the ladder.
Skipper Simon Davies lost the toss and the boys in the baggy green were sent into bat. The side got off to a mediocre start with a couple of early wickets falling on the unusually lively Stockwell pitch but in form skipper Simon took control in a solid partnerships with Tim Rowbottom and then Mathew Mattner putting the side in a solid position at drinks. Simon was dismissed shortly after the break for 49 but the middle order kept the ball rolling and good hits from Andrew Nash (33), Adrian Hoffmann (24) and Ryan Schiller (29 n/o) gave the lads a very defendable 215 run total.
After the impressive batting display things got even better for the boys in the baggy green when Syd Miller produced a trademark spell of seam bowling, devastating Gawler s top order with support from Mick Baumann who was swinging the ball both ways. At one stage the lads had Gawler 5/18 in the 11th over with Syd taking 4/14 and Mick 2/18 in the end. Gawler had no answer for the onslaught and shut up shop hoping for the dark clouds to open up and save them with rain. Simon also noticed the weather and made bowling changes to speed up the over rate. The introduction of Tim Rowbottom and Simon Davies kept the runrate under control and the over rate ticking along nicely. Tim ended up taking 2/24 including the last wicket that sealed the win and consequently top spot on the ladder with one game to go before Christmas. Gawler Central only managed 105 runs. The man of the match was Graham “Syd” Miller. A4's – The A4's also played against Gawler Central on the weekend in a very short one day match a Stockwell No.2.
Batting first the young A4's got off to a disastrous start losing their first 3 wickets for less than 10 runs, Jimmy Braunack showed some grit opening the batting and making 14 before hitting one straight back to the bowler. Jimmy's wicket led to another run of wickets and playing two men short the lads were rolled for a mere 55 runs, M. Laubsch was the only other batsman to show resistance scoring 13 not out.
The defence started well with a devastating spell by Justin Sparks put some doubt in the Tigers minds early, the handy left armer claiming 4/20. Simply put the lads never had enough runs to defend and despite a spirited attempt at protecting their score it was not enough and Gawler Central passed the total 5 wickets down. Dan Hausler was the next best of the bowler taking 1/11 from 5 overs. The man of the match was Justin Sparks. |