Asbestos Surveys Bloomfield vs Palmy CC
It was clear upon arriving that cliffords mind had been churning cricket related thoughts all week as there was to be a few changes made to our batting and bowling line up this week. After seeing the lovely deck that had been prepared for us at Ongley11 and noting our lack of chances this season to set a target, Clifford won the toss and put us into bat.
Clifford and Big Doggs recieving some helpful batting advice from expericanced Bloomfield veteran and skilled batsman Craig Dawson.
Clifford decided that this week Gaz would move to bat at 3 and he and Aaron would open the batting. The bowling from Max Chopra and Nick Brown was something to behold. A lot of late swing and some purchase off the pitch made it clear that this wicket was not going to be easy to score off. Just when our batsmen were starting to look under control Clifford received an unexpected full toss which he hit straight to gully where the catch was taken. Umpire Dawson was adamant the ball was legal, so Clifford had to go, Out, bowled Max Chopra for 7. Gaz, batting at his new spot at 3 didn’t really take any time to get acquainted with the new position, nicking his first ball through to the keeper.
Ben's cake he baked himself.
That brought Kurtis to the crease and together they steadied the ship. For the next hour or so it was a fine display of solid batting. Big Doggs continued the scoring while Kurtis played a very un-Kurtis like innings grinding out a good 18 off 35 before being bowled by Vaishak Madu. After his match saving innings last week Lazer would have been brimming with confidence coming out to bat on another pitch full of inconsistent bounce. Lazer and Bigg Doggs batted well until Big Doggs mistimed one to mid-off and on yet another contentious call the catch was given and he was sent on his way for a brilliantly played 47.
A happy Big Doggs before getting out.
Ben’s wicket was yet another speed bump for his team but once he was out of the way the runs continued to flow with Craig Trim and Lazer hitting 5 boundaries in the next 3 overs before Lazer was bowled by a great delivery from Max Chopra. With only 6 overs left in the innings Steven Rowlett and then eventually Craig Dawson would help Craig Trim add as many as possible to the total, but a superb display of bowling allowed only 1 more boundary from Craig Trim. Even so they were able to add a further 24 runs to the total with us ending at 190/8 after Craig Trim was out caught on the last ball of the innings.
Another stunning Manawatu day.
The second innings started a little different for us this week with Big Doggs replacing Ben opening the bowling. Gaz started us off at the Lido end and was hit for 3 off his first ball by Shawn Thomas who was clearly not there to mess around. Big Doggs started well and built pressure at his end before Gaz was able to find his line and trapped Chris Duke in front LBW. With the ball swinging Aaron followed Gaz’s over with5 stunning deliveries before taking David Ladderman’s off stump on his 6th delivery.
Cricket happening.
Craig Dawson and Ben then came on to bowl and started out with some very tight lines. Ben, who was clearly to unfit to be bowling in such conditions, was the first to make the breakthrough removing the dangerous Shawn Thomas for 20. The heat then got to him and he was replaced by Craig Trim but not before Craig Dawson took the wicket of Renju Joseph.
The two Craigs continued to bowl well but it was clear a partnership was forming between Max Chopra and Dave Deverall that would be hard to break. With palmy at 60/4 at drinks we were in desperate need of a breakthrough. With only a 191 target a few good overs from Palmy could take the game away from us. Kurt Poppe was the man with that breakthrough removing the solid Max Chopra shortly after drinks. Unfortunately, that only made things worse for us when Jitto Thomas came out and started bludgeoning the ball to all parts of the ground.
Pretty normal.
The partnership was worth 30 odd runs before Ben came back and removed Dave, caught by Gaz at cover, and then a few overs later, Jitto bowled for 39. Nirav Patel and Nick Brown came out and started hitting well but the damage had been done in the middle overs and time had run out for them to reach the target, running out of overs, and finishing at 164/7.
1000 Runs for Kurtis and Big Doggs!
Another long, but enjoyable game with both teams putting up strong performances on a wicket that took some working out. Also a massive congratulations to Aaron and Kurt for both passing 1000 runs for the club this week.
MVP- Aaron 3, Lazer 2, Kurtis 1.
Accelerate Automotive vs United CC
Did CricHQ deduct 5 runs for each wicket we lost?
Sun was shining, perfect day for cricket. For something different, most our team was at the ground early, that probably had United anxious of what was to come. We won the toss and chose to bat. Good choice.
Chris, a split second before he was bowled.
Chris and Jason opened up again, trusty old opening partnership that always works a treat. Jason, feeling like there’s going to be lots of runs here because he’s scored a few at this ground in twilight, chopped one on in the second over, departing for one of those many runs. Trout strolled out to meet Chris in the middle, just to wave him goodbye in the 9th after scoring 8. Roadhouse (Rowan) and Trout did a bit of batting while yarning about a fishing trip they were doing the following day, so not wanting to sacrifice the body for a decent cast, Trout thought it would be best to spoon one up to Rick at square leg and go back to put his feet up, for a measly 16 off 39 balls. From there, not a lot happened other than United ripping through our batters. As planned beforehand, 57 all out seemed like a par score on this tricky pitch. Well batted to Rhys getting not out for nought.
After being bowled Rowan started wondering if his eyesight was failing.
The United batsmen seemed jittery walking out to chase down this intimidating total. Their nerves were not yet settled when Trout grabbed the ball to open the bowling. However, due to that fishing trip the next day, he decided not to do much with the ball so gave everyone else a go. Randy, Chris, Jason, Sukh and Rowan, in that order, all had a turn with the only successful candidate being Chris, picking up the wicket of Michael after he top scored for the day with 38 off 28. Easy win for United, chasing it down in the 12th over. Yet another game lost due to Greg not scoring any runs in the tail but at least we all got home in time to watch the Black Clash game.
Absolute athlete.
Off to play our old mates Dannevirke next week, what surprises will that bring.
MVP- United bowlers 3, United Batsmen 2, Corey Bary 1 (for having to write this)
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