A Grade Round 3 (Eden Valley @ home)- We welcomed the winless EV to B. Joyce Oval, winning the toss and taking the standard approach against EV and fielding first. The visitors had been hamstrung by a local wedding, with the object of Champ’s long standing Man Crush the most notable omission. Vern (3/43) had two early wickets to his name, including that of “Sausage” Stevo. From 2/22 the visitors would base a number of partnerships around son-of-a-gun Mallet (86), with stand in skipper Starick (52, only 8 of which were run) handing out some late punishment. 8/222 after 40. In addition to the Vernado, Lukey and Bluey would claim multiple scalps, while we held most of our catches in the field. Two batsman generally not known for free scoring or inventive running between the wickets, Champ (45) and Bundy (47), had us off to the perfect start, but from 0/94 in the 17th over we staggered to 3/99 at drinks. A series of small, but important partnerships were then built around late inclusion Ben J (56*), 55 needed from the final 10 overs. The equation then stood at 20 from 4 overs, and then eventually 7 from 1. Danny and Vern would fall early in the over, 9/217 with 3 balls remaining. Jav, with fly-in psychologist AJ’s advice lingering at the back of his mind, scampered the most important single of his life, leaving Ben with 2 balls to score 5 runs. With the clock approaching 7pm, Umpire Vanderkamp ruing a missed dinner arrangement, and the tension palpable; Benno (now known as “Bevo”?) would lift the 239th ball of the innings over the mid wicket boundary for 6, delivering us a victory in a finish that will go down in LRCC folklore. In addition to the top order batting, the efforts of Chad (17), Hoff (21), Smoggy (11), KC (10), Danny and Jav were valuable. The newly dubbed “Splinter” (KC) would be proud of his disciples, who rather fittingly spent the night consuming pizza. B Grade Round 4 (Birdwood away)- Confident of a maiden victory, we travelled to Birdwood to confront the Bulls. Batting first, it was the hosts who held sway during the majority of the opening session, at one stage sitting on 5/185. As has been the pattern this season, we would perform a “Sorbent” and clean up the tail end with minimal fuss, taking the last 5 wickets for just 7 runs, leaving us with 192 to chase. Frustratingly 102 of those runs were scored by one man, John “05/06 GF Hero” Morley, who made a rare appearance for his adopted club. 7 different bowlers would snare a wicket including Liam (2/15), while much-travelled debutant Matt celebrated his first week in Lenswood with a tidy 2/3. Back in February we successfully chased down a similar target at the Velodrome, and at 0/60 we appeared on track for a repeat effort, Age (40) and Sakola (17) looking comfortable. But a collapse of 4/6 dented those hopes, before Mark (63) rejuvenated our fortunes. Unfortunately though his wicket would bring our demise, falling 30 runs short with 10 overs going unused in a match that lacked the usual B Grade oddities. Next week- The A’s travel to Paracombe, a ground that has been about as welcoming as the Techodrome in recent years. The B’s have a bye.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 08:32:05 +0000
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