Match Reports and Summary

Grand Final – Barkly St @ Home

The grand final saw us face off against Barkly St who had won fairly convincingly against Royal Park Reds.  We had played Barkly St earlier in the season where we had had them at 7/136 before their captain came out and smashed us all over the park making 153no and taking his team to 8/325 at the close of play, not a fond memory.

This time I was able to win the toss, better late then never and sent Barkly St in as the predicted temperature for the day was to be about 30 degrees, but the following day was expected to reach 37.  The opposition got of to a slow and cautious start, scoring at about 2 runs per over, which indicated that they were intent on batting for a very long time.  We were able to take our first wicket in the 31^st over with Barkly St on 78 runs.  We continued to get steady break throughs for the rest of the day but were never really able to gain full control of the opposition.  At the end of the first days play Barkly St were on 8/194, which I wasn’t to unhappy with but knew that we had to come back tomorrow and finish the innings off as quickly as possible and not to let them make to much over 200.  As it turned out, it took us another 16 overs to get the last two wickets and cost us another 26 runs, the final score being 222.  Gaurav had the pick of the figures with 5/41 off 25 overs, which is an awesome effort in a grand final, well done mate.  Hussain also bowled extremely well, pretty much bowling for half of the first day to tie one end down and return figures of 3/66 of 32 overs.

Our batting got off to a reasonable start with Anand and Hussain both getting starts but not going on with it.  Hamish and I again combined to make another partnership, this time worth 84 runs.  At the close of the second days play we were at 4/157, needing another 66 runs to get first innings points.  The game was pretty much in the balance after two days worth of play, Im pretty sure that Barkly St would have fancied themselves to take the remaining six wickets and make sure that we were not able to get to their total and I was reasonably confident that if Hamish and I could make a start the following week then we would be in with a very good chance.  After a nervous week were I spent most of my time thinking about the coming weekend, I was runout without adding to my score.  To make matters worse Nick was also runout for 1 as well.  Both of these run outs could probably be attributed to someone who shall remain nameless, lets call him H. MacGregor, no we’ll call him Hamish M, anyway it doesn’t matter who it was, things were looking fairly grim. This was when Rajat joined Hamish at the crease and both batted extremely well to take us through to 7/232, securing the first innings and putting us in a very strong position to win the game.  Hamish was finally dismissed for 98, being very unluckly to get so close to making a century, an awesome innings and a match winning one at that.  We were finally dismissed for 263, a very good effort and our highest total for the year, the perfect time to make it.

We then had to bowl 20 odd overs at Barkly St to finish off the first days play and we knew that they were going to come out swinging, which is exactly what they did finishing the day on 1/106, quite a poor session from us, enough said.  The following day saw a much better bowling performance from us with Gaurav and Hardik again doing most of the damage, Barkly St finally declared on 9/227 setting us 187 to win outright and giving them approximately 50 overs to bowl us out and snatch victory from us.  Again we lost quick wickets to begin with and for just a moment it looked like things were going to go pear shaped, the innings falling to 3/33 off 10 overs.  Rajat and Hamish were able to combine and hold the innings together and lasted for 29 overs before Hamish was dismissed for 38 runs.  Rajat and I then batted for most of the remainder of the innings to deny Barkly St a win and ensure that we were able to win the premiership.

I would just like to say well done everyone, its been a pleasure to be able to captain you all and I’m proud to be a part of a premiership side.  I would also like to thank everyone for being patient with me in my first year as captain, and I would also like to thank everyone who has given me help with the numerous areas of captaining in particular Hussain and Anand. Congratulations boys on an excellent season and for winning ourselves a premiership!

Semi Final – St. Francis @ Home

The semi final saw us facing off against St Francis, the team who finished first on the ladder and who had outrighted us earlier in the year by dismissing us for 40 odd runs in the first innings.  But this was a different game, we were playing with a full strength side, we were playing at home and finals are a different ball game all together.

I lost toss, continuing my form for the year, but the opposition chose to make us bowl which is exactly what I wanted to do.  Our fielding effort right from the start was awesome, our opening bowlers were bowling excellent lines and lengths and were bowling with a lot of fire, our fielding was very sharp and we backed our bowlers up completely, with not a single catch being put down.  We managed to dismiss St Francis for 69, an effort that I don’t think anyone expected.  Gaurav and Hardik were again the main destroyers returning figures of 3/16 and 3/13 respectively.  We were also able to create two run outs which is an indication of the pressure our fielding was putting the batsmen under.

When our turn to bat came, we fell right into the trap that I knew that we had to avoid, which was loosing early wickets.  When I arrived at the crease we were 4/31 and looking very shaky, the opposition had there tails up as they knew that they were a chance to steal the win from us if they could get a few more wickets.  Again Hamish and I battled for a couple of hours to rescue the innings and managed to take us to 4/95 at the close of play.  We were both dismissed without scoring the following day, with Hamish making a match winning score of 42.  After loosing a few more quick wickets Nick and Gaurav were able to put on a 47 run partnership before the opposition finally conceded.

A superb bowling display which the opposition were not able to stand up to and was what put us into a Grand Final.  Well done boys.

Round 11 – Sunshine Heights @ Home

Well, this game will probably stick in my mind for one reason only, the umpiring.  Some very dubious decisions made by the opposition such as calling a straight forward caught and bowled a bump ball, soured what was generally a good fielding performance by our side. The end result was that we dismissed the opposition for 183 when realistically they should have been dismissed for much closer to 100.  There was some good returns for our bowlers with Gaurav finishing with figures of 15.3 overs 2/33, Hardik with 2/34 off 16 overs and DJ returning 2/38 off 9.3 overs.  Ashmore also chipped in with a couple of break through wickets from what would not normally be considered wicket taking balls, the old saying of ‘shit gets wickets’ definitely applied here.

The batting didn’t get off to a very promising start with us falling to 5/77 when I came in to bat at number 6.  I knew that we had to win this game to even make it into the finals, so I wasn’t going to let this one go.  Hamish and I combined to make an 84 run partnership which ultimately steered us to victory.  I did my usual brain fade when I was told I was on 47 and probably played a shot that could only be described as idiotic to get bowled for 49, what a moron.

A game we just scraped through to win, but it doesn’t matter a wins a win and we made it to the finals.

Round 10 – Maribyrnong Park @ Home.

This time I was able to win the toss, but probably regretted my decision soon after I made it.  I chose to bat in what was some pretty good conditions, but soon saw the team collapse in a heap to be all out for 73 runs.  Only three team members were able to score over 10 runs, being Anand, Hussain and Ashish.  There was no real excuse for such a poor display of batting as the opposition bowling attack was bowling with much pace or getting much swing.

After taking to the field with a massive job of trying to avoid losing within the day, Roy produced an amazing spell of bowling to produce the figures of 7/23 from 10.3 overs.  He was also supported again from the other end by Gaurav who was bowling with a lot of swing and excellent lines and length.  After a tense few final overs we were able to dismiss Maribyrnong Park for 70 runs and picked up the first innings points.  Anand and Hardik were then able to guide us to the end of the day to be 0/45.

The next week saw Anand and Hardik initially doing quite well by adding another 19 runs before Hardik was dismissed.  After that it was a replay of the first innings with the team losing all 10 wickets for 41 runs.  A disgraceful effort by all involved, including myself.

We then had to try and repeat the previous weeks performance and pull ourselves out of the heap, but we had pushed our luck to much.  The opposition had too much time in which to make the 108 runs required and did so with about 7 overs to spare and 5 wickets in hand. 

Even though there were good efforts made in the field, especially to be able to dismiss the opposition for 70 runs, the batting was just no where near good enough.  Its all well and good to want to go out and play your natural game and be aggressive but some people should ask themselves, if you play like this and throw away your wicket, are you doing the right thing by the rest of your team?

Round 9 – Royal Park Reds @ Poplar Reserve

The start of Round 9 saw a fairly wet day, and as usual I lost the toss and was told to have a bowl, which at the time wasn’t what I was really hoping for.  As it turned out though, things worked out really well for us with Roy destroying the oppositions top order while Gaurav was bowling well and keeping it tight at the other end.  After 20 overs we had the opposition at 7/41.  After that we got a little sloppy in the field and dropped a couple of easy opportunities as well as missing quite a few balls in the field.  The opposition was able to put together an 8^th wicket partnership of 60 runs and were dismissed for 109.  Roy finished with very nice figures of 4/38 from 15 overs.  Nick also bowled well to finish with 3/13 from 7 overs.

The start of our innings saw us lose DJ quite early on but Anand and Hussain were able to bat quite nicely and steer us to 1/50 at the end of the days play.  The following week saw some steady partnerships from the top order with Anand making 30, Hussain 45, Samin 22 and Hamish 16.  I came in just as we passed the opposition and tried to lift the run rate before being dismissed for 27.  We were finally dismissed for 175, with the innings suffering from the same problem that we have had all year in that no one was able to go on to make a big score.

After being dismissed we sent the Royal Park back in to try for the outright and had some success early on, but after missing some chances and a lack of energy in the field the extra four points went begging.  If we had been able to finish off Royal Parks first innings when we had them on the ropes, it probably would have been a lot easier to get to the outright win.  All in all another solid performance, with a few areas that had room for improvement.

Round 8 – Moonee Valley @ Home

Well again I lost the toss, nothing new there, the opposition decided to bat first in conditions that were good for batting but weren’t really going to disadvantage us to much.  Roy and Gaurav opened the bowling and bowled quite well.  Gaurav bowled one of his best spells of bowling this season taking one wicket and was unlucky not to get a few more.  I then brought DJ and Nick on who both ripped into the opposition batting line up, with DJ taking 4/17 and Nick in his first appearance in the B Grade for the year taking 3/14.  Hussain as usual came on in the later overs and got a few cheap wickets cleaning up the tail.  We dismissed the opposition for 87, a really impressive effort both with bowling and fielding, with no dropped catches for the innings.

Our innings got off a little shaky with us losing a few quick wickets before Hussain and Hamish steadied the ship and took us home to reach 4/88 in the 20^th over.  Hussain made a solid 46 and Hamish finished on 15 not out, looking very good in his first game back after breaking his finger.

Another very good win for us.

Round 7 vs Sunshine Heights
Washed out.

Round 6 – Barkly St @ Robert Barrett Reserve

Well this was probably another one of those games where I would be fairly happy to have it erased from the memory banks.  Right from the start not much went right, in what could only be described as perfect batting conditions I lost the toss, and what a surprise the opposition captain told me that he would have a bat.  Again our opening bowlers struggled to bowl consistently and were unable to remove the opening batsmen.  The first drinks break saw us with no wickets and the opposition being on about 80 odd runs.  Aseem was able to give us the first break through and soon picked up another two wickets from a spell of bowling that really brought us back into the game.  Hussain was also bowling well from the other end and at tea we were in a very strong position to have the opposition at 5/124.  Things continued well for a while after the tea break with Barkly St being on 8/170 in the 61^st over.  This is when things went really wrong for us when the opposition captain came to the crease and proceeded to take our bowlers apart in an innings that included 17 fours and 7 sixs to finally end up on 153no and have his team on 8/325 at the end of the days play.  It must be mentioned here that Im not sure that I have seen a poorer performance in terms of fielding with numerous misfields and quite a number of catches that should have been taken.

The next week saw us get off to a reasonable start with Dane and Alkesh batting quite well before Dane got out for 16 in what he would probably agree was a fairly soft dismissal.  But, probably not as soft as the way I got out by glancing a full toss on my pads straight down the throat of the fielder at backward square leg.  After that a few of our batsmen were able to get starts but we were never really in the game and were finally dismissed for 166.

In the end we probably fielded ourselves out of the game and let the opposition get out of jail.  Special mentions go to Aseem and Hussain for a good initial spell of bowling, Dane for fielding extremely well for the entire first day, and Alkesh for continuing his good form with another solid 44 runs, and also to Fordy and Tanveer for sticking it out at the end and putting a little bit of respect into the final score.  A very special mention has to go to Ashmore for finally making a run in the B Grade, well done mate.

Round 5 vs Merlynston Hadfield @ Home

For this round I was finally able to win the toss, my first from 3 efforts.  Having won the toss, I decided that the conditions were pretty good for us to have a bowl.  Again our opening bowlers struggled with their lines and lengths although Hardik was unlucky not to get a wicket when yours truly put down a chance in the slips.  The first break through came when Hussain got a wicket in his first over.  We were then able to mostly take wickets at regular intervals with the opposition managing to get a number of small partnerships going.  In the end we were able to dismiss them for 185 mostly due to Hussains outstanding bowling with final figures of 7/42 from 21 overs.

The batting saw us start a little shakily to be 3/41 after 16 overs, but Alkesh and Samin were able to guide us to the close of the first days play with the score on 3/63.  The following week saw us lose Samin early on but Anand and Alkesh were able to create a partnership of 78 which was ultimately the partnership that would set up the win for us.  Alkesh was finally dismissed for 55, a very well constructed innings.  Anand also batted well for his 42.  We were able to chase down the total for the loss of 8 wickets to get ourselves back on the winners list.

A solid effort all round.

Round 4 – St. Francis @ Raener Reserver (By Hussain)

Every now and then there comes a match which as a captain you never want to
forget. It is the absolute nadir of your skills and the absolute peak of
disaster. I would like to think that a captain or any player who suffers such
horrors emerges from it a better player. I for one know that I shall not
forget the game I had against St.Francis for sometime.

It was a hot day and when at the time of the toss, there were only 9. I won
the toss and chose to bat, thinking we had a better batting line up and would
be able to post a competitive score. Alas for foresight.

I sent in Anand and Alkesh to bat but they departed really quickly and that
was the tone for the innings. Dulanka showed shades of form but succumbed to
his eagerness and youth. I succumbed to my front foot in front of the wicket.
The innings was so abysmally played by us that even a description of it
struggles to fill a paragraph. In the end , we managed 45 runs.

The lunch was a quiet affair and we thought our best position was to attack
and so we did. The bowlers tried their best and did well, for about 4 balls
per over, the remaining two were either long hops or too full and were
mercilessly butchered. We took about three quick wickets and there was a
glimmer of hope that we might get them quickly as well, but a dropped chance
at midwicket was the only chance the two batsmen gave and both went on to
reach hundreds.

The second innings was started by us with purely playing the day out in our
minds. And Anand started spectacularly. Not used to the drubbing we had
received, he attacked with vigour and ran with venom. Dulanka supported him
ably. But Anand fell and house of cards fell apart. Dulanka got out once again
infuriatingly by trying to bludgeon the ball out of the postcode and the rest
simply poked and prodded their way back to the pavillion. I was the last one
to fall, trying to look for a gap.

From this match, I can say that I learnt a lot of things (especially where to
put my front foot). To the rest of the team, I can say that the bowlers tried
really hard and so did the fielders, but at times working smarter is better
than working harder. Kudos to Anand for his very good attacking batting and
awesome keeping in the match.

Round 3 – Bye

Well to start off the season our first round saw us playing Maribyrnong Park at their home ground at Walsh Reserve.  I lost the toss and was told to have a bowl, which was what I was going to do if I had won, so I wasn’t too disappointed.  Our opening bowlers struggled with their lines a little before Gaurav broke through with two wickets in quick succession, one of which was a juggling catch that Ashish managed to have 5 or 6 attempts at before finally controlling it.  Our bowlers struggled to maintain consistent lines and lengths and as a result the opposition was able to score mostly in boundaries.  DJ was able to bowl well with a lot of swing and was rewarded with 2 wickets.  Hussain bowled a superb spell of leg spin bowling to take 3/22 off seven overs to really put us in control.  Gaurav also finished strongly ending with very nice figures of 4/27 off 8 overs.  In the end we were able to bowl them out in the 35^th over for 154.