Metalfold Industries Bloomfield Premier 3 vs Old Boys CC
Round 5 looked as if it was going to be a non-event as rain overnight and on Saturday morning left things rather damp. After some people somewhere met, it was decided there would be a delayed start. As is so often the case in cricket, as soon as the call was made it dried up and by 1pm that call was made to look rather silly. So with a game set for a 2pm start and reduced to 32 overs things got underway.
Trout won the toss and with the humidity and chance of rain later in the day, decided to have a bowl. Old Boys opened with Joseph Ward and Stephen Wales. Benjamin and Trout kept the Old Boys openers reasonably well contained but were unable to make an early breakthrough. Just as things were starting to look a little ominous, Ben finally claimed the all-important wicket of Joe Ward who was caught by Randy with the most casual catch at ground level you are ever likely to see.
That opened an end for us to attack and with Eric Forman (Chris) and Zach with the bowling duties that is exZachly what they did. As usual the scoresheet is a mess thanks to PlayHQ so I am unable to tell you exactly what happened other than Eric Forman got the wicket of Stephen Wales and then Zach brought the house down by rattling the sumps a few times. Kurtis and Sukhyeet had a bit of a crack to see if they could remove a late little partnership between Joe Waaka and Steven Pretious (?) but it was Jason Bary who eventually finished things off. Old Boys all out for 81.
Jase and Eric Forman opened the batting and were determined to get us off to a fast start. Eric in a shocking break from tradition started flailing his bat round like he was fending off a gaggle of deranged Geese. Perhaps it was the fact his strike rate had breached the 100 barrier for the first time or maybe his overinflated ego just got the better of him, but Erics innings came to a crashing halt after he hit a fine ball from Thilina Herath straight to Joe Ward and was out for 23.
Jason was happy being the “Anchor” at the other end while Trout picked up where Forman left off. With the same inflated ego and slightly crazed look in his eyes Trout took to the bowling like a post apocalyptic Labrador chowing down its first piece of rat jerky in over a week. The boundaries flowed and Old Boys had no answers. Bloomfield winning in the 8th over with Trout finishing on31* and Jase 18*.
MVP- Zach 3, Jase 2, Chris 1
Accelerate Automotive Bloomfield Premier 4 vs PNBHS 3rd XI
Your humble match reporter has been playing Manawatu club cricket since before Rick from United was grumpy and before Ben and Gary were out of nappies. I have vague memories of taking guard against a left arm over T Rex prior to that whole asteroid thing (I scored a glorious 17 off 53 in a tight loss).
And what I remember most are the great games. Like we've just experienced 3 out of 4 this month. Umpiring as we squeak through to a one wicket win against United. Slow and steady and fantastic calm controlled batting. And then a last over loss against Freyberg that was equally exciting with huge pressure from our bowlers causing panic.
But this week against Boys High 3rds was special. I could write a blow by blow about good bowling and bad catching. About George's wickets and Greg and Dave and Rowan batting well. About Boys High's 7 foot Max with an awesome swing of the bat. About some quality Boys High fast bowling destroying Greg's face then stumps. But sometimes cricket is a game of stories not scores. They are about teammates huddled round the scorers as we chase down a formidable total. About old legends stepping up in supporting acts. About a great club man smashing us close to a win, but running out of runs to get both a hundred and a win for the team.
With two required to win, Trimmy 98*, and John who's done so much to steer us close misses a pull shot and has no idea the Bloomfield watchers (both teams now; thanks lads) are cheering the miss.
End of the over. For f*#ks sake Trimmy, don't get a single please, you deserve that ton. Fast ball, pitched up, front foot forward, easy swing of the bat and we go crazy on the sidelines as Trimmy wins the game and reaches his ton with yet another huge 6. This is why we play this game.
MVP- Trimmy 3, George 2, Greg 1.
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