Asbestos Surveys vs Marist CC
PLATE FINAL
For the final game of the season, we came up against Marist in the Plate Final. Captain Clifford lost the toss this time and we were put into the field. We had the advantage of playing on this same pitch the week before and knew it would not be an easy one to bat on. Ben, having struggled with a hole on the popping crease the week before opened the bowling from the MCA end and in a change to proceedings, Kurtis opened from the Lido end. Kurtis got things rolling by bowling Krishna for 8 followed closely by the run out of Kurt McNamara by an excellent bit of fielding by Trimmy at fine leg. The big wicket of Sujay Prabakar was next to go after surviving 2 close LBW shouts he missed one from Kurtis and was out for 7. Ben, keen not to let Kurtis think he was an opening bowler, got in on the action bowling Seth Hewage 2 balls later.
Perhaps a little shell shocked at 19 for 4 in the 5th over, the Marist batsmen shut down. 3 overs later Lazer pulled out the catch of the season, diving along way forward to his right to pick up the fine edge off Rudi Van Heerdens bat. With both Ben and Kurtis with 2 wickets each they were replaced with Gary Francis and James Pilcher to try and make some further inroads. Maris were 40/5 and batsmen Seth tavendale and Kirshwin Reddy tried a different approach with boundaries coming more often. Unable to find his length Gaz was replaced by Craig Dawson and who immediately found a good line and length and mixed with the inconsistencies in the pitch he was very difficult to get away. Pilch was the next to take a wicket getting Seth, caught for 14. Craig Joined the party in the next over removing Dimitri Rados.
Marist were in trouble at drinks at 82 for 7. Kirshwin was making things difficult for us by rotating the strike so that he faced most of the deliveries and a lot of those deliveries started finding the boundary. The score had ballooned to 110 before a stunning piece of fielding by Captain Clifford ran out Navaneetha Krishnan. That opened up an end and Damian capitalised be removing Michael Tunnicliffe. Ben came back at the other end and finally got the wicket of Kirshwin Reddy, out bowled for a very good 65. Marist finishing their innings 113/10
Our batting was easily our biggest strength over the previous weeks and there was no reason to think it wouldn’t be today. That changed pretty quickly with Aaron out facing his 2nd ball for 0, caught at gully off the bowling of Kirshwin Reddy. After a good showing with the bat last week Ants was set to go again. Marist had other ideas and sent him on his way in the 2nd over. Kurtis joined Gaz at the crease and things looked to settle as they got us through to 30 for 2. That soon became 30 for 3 as Rudi Van Heerden trapped Gaz in front LBW for 11. That seemed to inspire Marist as their bowling got tighter and scoring became very difficult. Pilch had joined Kurtis at the crease and was looking solid and as the strike ticked over things started to swing back our way.
Marist weren’t finished. With the score at 50 Rudi Van Heerden picked up the wickets of both James and Kurtis putting us in a bit of a pickle. Our lower order hadn’t batted since January so it was fair to say there was a few nerves flying around. With Lazer, Trimmy and Craig Trim still to bat things were still in hand. But after Trimmy went for 9 and Lazer for 4 and the score at 95 for 7 it was going down to the wire. Craig Trim was still batting well, and a solid looking Craig Dawson looked for a moment as if they were going to get it done but another good ball from Rudi saw the end of Creaky with the score 103 for 8. With flashbacks of our 2-run loss against Wanderers the year before Damian made his way out to the middle. The score ticked ever closer and with 3 runs to win Craig went big to end the innings. Unfortunately, it was only his innings that ended, out caught for a very important 20.
That brought experienced number 11 batsman Ben McKelvie to the crease. With nerves of steel he strode out to the middle with fierce confidence. Damian was on strike however and he was able to hit a quick single to get us within 2 runs of victory. The next ball Ben glanced down the vacant leg side for 2 runs with Ben and David redeeming their Wanderers failure and getting us across the line. Bloomfield 114/9.
So that leaves us with a 5th place finish again. Well done to Maw haws for winning the grade.
MVP- Ben 3, Kurtis 2, Damian 1
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