Light Pass Cricket Club

Strangely after being unable to bring up a deck after 5 mm of rain last week Sandys curators miraculously got a pitch ready for play after 30mm of rain this week.  With a sticky wicket to play on the toss was going to be crucial and in a wonderful display of sportsmanship Sandy Creeks captain pledged to bat first if he won the toss, with this in mind the coin was finally flipped and the Sandy Creek Skipper showed no hesitation in promptly taking the ball first and having a trundle!
With only 31 overs to bat it was going to be important to put runs on the board from the first over.  Unfortunatelyy this wicket wasdifficultlt early and runs were hard to come by and the early loss of Wade Gripton made the task evemoreoe difficult.  Steve Hill and Richard Mattner got the score going with Dick making 16 before losing his wicket.  Hilly continued with Nathan Koch and the runs kept mounting but when both Kochy (3) and Hilly (30) went within balls of each other the pressure was firmly on the baggy greens.  Sean Schrapel got a start making 16 and Mick Braunack carried his bat making 18 not out but the rest of the side struggled and the lads had only accumulated 106 for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of their innings.
The defence was tough going for the baggy green bowlers as the pitch started to flatten out late in the day, but Brad Hunter and Mick Braunack toiled hard, bowling well without much success. Sandy Creeks set a cracking pace early and the first wicket fell with the score on 47 via Mick Braunack who also claimed the second wicket when the score was on 71.  The next wicket wasn't taken until after the score was pass when Sam Schmidt dislodged the opening batsman, but from then on it was a hitting contest as Sandy Creek enjoyed 9 overs of junk time knocking up 178 from their 32 overs.  The A1's first encounter with the newest side in the comp on their home ground left a sour taste in the mouth of the lads on several levels and will undoubtedly provide them with plenty of motivation for next time.
The “T&S” Man of the match was Steve Hill.

 A2's – The Wanderers played the second week of their fixture against Sandy Creek in a 1st versus 2nd clash at Stockwell Oval.  Defending their total of 188 the lads bowled on the weekend on a soft pitch after Fridays down pour which was a relief for the Skipper after batting first last week on a similar deck.
The resulting first session was nothing short of remarkable as Syd Miller and Mick Baumann demolished the oppositions top order taking 6/33 from the first 15 overs .  Both bowlers were bowling in good area's and reaping the rewards. Syd claimed a wicket with the second ball of the day and Mick took the second with his first ball.  An excellent effort in the field backed up the bowlers with only one chance going down for the day.  The Keeper and slippers were kept busy with 5 wickets falling behind the stumps.  After the drinks break the wickets kept coming and the last scalp was taken by Syd with the score on 36.  Amazingly 8 of Sandy Creeks players made 1 run or less with 6 ducks recorded in the inning.  Syd Miller was sharp and accurate taking 5/20 from 12 overs while Mick Baumann's swing bowling was rewarded with 5/16 from 11 overs.

Skipper Simon Davies enforced the follow on and Sandy Creek came out for another hit. As so often happens when a good side have been bowled out cheaply in an innings, Sandy Creek proved much harder to dislodge once they were defending the outright.  Syd Miller took an early wicket but the next partnership was slow and effective, chewing up overs and the new ball with out adding much to the scoreboard.    Syd bowled well again taking 1/9 from 5 overs while the other bowler recorded similarly low stats early.  Mick Baumann added another wicket to his tally taking his tally to 6 for the match and Chris Sims claimed the wicket of Sandy Creeks most reliable batsman of the match when Tim Rowbottom took a screamer at mid wicket.  Mick Finished with 1/20 from 7 and Chris took 1/30 from 6 after taking some stick in his last 2 overs.
Sandy Creeks big gun fired late in the match when the outright was only a slip chance and smashed up 72 not out hitting some big 6's to add some credibility to the day as Sandy Creek successfully avoided the outright making 3/131 before the end of play.  The “Stockwell Hotel” man of the match was Mick Baumann.

 A5's – The 5's played Nuriootpa at Stockwell No.2 on the weekend and bowled first on the damp expanses of the second oval.  A combination of good bowling, fielding and a slow oval allowed the boys in the baggy green to bowl out Nuri for 152 in the last over of play.  Dan Hausler was excellent early taking out Nuri's dangerous top order and claiming 3/17 from his 8 overs and Brad ellbourn was also in good form with the ball taking 1/13 from 6.  Nuri's middle order got going and provided most of the runs and it took some hard work by Jarrod Koch and Pup Gerhardy to subdue them.  Mick Gerhardy took a bit of punishment but did claim a scalp. It would be interesting to know what the date was the last time “Ct W Lehmann, Bld M Gerhardy” was entered in a scorebook.  Jimmy Braunack did well late in the innings taking 3/23 in a good spell and Paul Koop finished the innings with a run out.
The chase started well with a steady 41 run opening partnership between Brad Ellbourn and Jimmy Braunack getting the ball rolling.  When Brad was trapped LBW for 20, Mick Gerhardy Joined Jimmy and the pair continued to graft runs against some tough bowling. Mick was bowled for 22 with the score on 84 but the required run rate was also mounting and when Jimmy was bowled for a well made 46 it was going to take some fast runs to get the innings back on track.  Wayne Lehmann and Nigel Koop were both casualties of the run chase while Dan Hausler continued to provide hope at the other end.  When Dan holed out late in the innings for 30 the task got to big and the lads finish their 40 overs with 6/137 only 19 runs short.
The “Dimchurch Vinyards”  man of the match was Jimmy Braunack.