Match Reports – South Brisbane – 17/08/2014 Play commenced at Balmoral with the match-up of 2v3 in South Brisbane Div 1 – the Unwatchables taking on Monsters Inc. Unfortunately for the Unwatchables, they were suffering from the same problem a lot of professional teams face come finals team – a sadly depleted roster, with a number of players interstate, but they called in enough favours to put 6 men out on the field, and sent Monsters into bat. Despite the lack of fielders (I’m led to believe that they played with 5 for the first half) they managed to keep Brett Baxter (33) and Nathan Smith (26) relatively in check, Monsters building steadily. The introduction of Paul Ellison, coming out of a 25 year retirement at the urging of brother-in-law Ged McMahon proved a revelation, as he picked up from where he left off all those years ago, sending down a succession of slow arm balls that reaped him 3 wickets for 33, and put Monsters on the back foot somewhat. Fortunately for the Monsters, Tom Pitts (27*) and Brendon Denn (40* off 26) were on hand to up the run rate in the latter half of the innings, and pushed Monsters up to 5/143 after their 20 overs were up. With bat in hand, Unwatchables lost one of their rookie openers first up, but they still had a number of regular batsmen on hand. The issue was that they kept picking out fielders in the deep, as Monsters bowled a tight line and held their catches. Ged McMahon (24), Jordan Woodhead (23), Bruce Picone (34) and Chris Erfurt (27) all got starts, but couldn’t go on and hit that match-winning 50, and when Paul was bowled for 6, Unwatchables were all out for 114 after 16 overs, to leave Monsters the victors by 29 runs. I am reliably informed Ged will be speaking to some of his teammates about their commitment! So Monsters through to the final, and a likely showdown with Brisvegas Blasters looms. Game two for South Brisbane Div 2 saw 3rd placed Conor and the Jets up against 2nd placed Thunder Strikers, with the Jets opting to bat first. The Strikers got off to a good start when they removed openers Trent Manton (11) and the dangerous John Bullion (22) relatively cheaply – although their runs came in quick time – before removing Conor Dowdall for a duck, and Rory Dowdall for 17, to give them 4 wickets on the board, and not too many overs down, Dilip Yadav and Justin Stanislaus sharing the early scalps between them. At the other end John McKenna was scoring freely, but just needed someone to stay with him, and you can usually rely on family to stick by you, Peter McKenna joining him and getting the innings back on track, slogging 50* off 20, to put the Jets right back in the hunt. The tail hung around while John continued scoring runs, eventually piling up 75* off 39, as Monsters drove their total onwards and upwards to 5/185 at the end of their 20 overs. When defending a total you want to get off to a good start with the ball, and the Jets did that, removing opener Dilip Yadav cheaply – however, as he’s often done this season, Justin Stanislaus came out with attack on his mind, and blazed 38 off 17 to get the Thunder Strikers up and running. At the other end, Ravi Gandhi pushed on to a half century before retiring, while Harshad Jakatey hit a half century of his own, and Thunder Strikers were looking in control. But the Monsters bowlers wouldn’t go quietly – John McKenna backed up his earlier batting effort to take 1/27 off 4, while Torban Berquier took 1/15 off 3, strangling the tail of Thunder Strikers, and ensuring that the run rate rapidly escalated. Despite Ravi Gandhi eventually being able to return to the crease, Thunder Strikers ran out of deliveries, finishing on 5/175 after 20 overs, 10 runs shy of the target. The final game for Div 2 had first placed Soy Quearns and the Wood Moths taking on 4th placed Raging Johnsons – since migrating over the bridge at the start of this season, Moths have been the dominant side in this div, and were looking to seal their spot in the finals. New recruit Eugene Hawkins has been a revelation this season, and he reminded Moths of his value, lumping 53* off 21 at the top of the order to get Moths going with a bang. Although Doug Tapper and Danny Gray went relatively cheaply, that master of cameo appearances Jeff Provians was on hand for yet another performance, and he didn’t disappoint, flogging the bowling to all parts on his way to 48 off 15. Soy Quearns stroked 20, Tim Moores 17*, and although their bowlers went cheaply, Moths still had 6/173 on the board with their 20 overs up – for the Johnsons, Nathan Green was the standout bowler, taking 2/16, Ryan Grebert 1/18, Malcolm Verner took 2/20 and Cameron Daniel 1/28. Geoff Palmer and Glenn Verner opened for the Johnsons – Glenn eventually perished for 33, chasing quick runs, while Geoff anchored the innings, hitting 55* off 34 before heading back to the hutch. Moths had welcomed back gun opening quick Dave Carruthers for this match, and he, Callum Wardrop and Tim Moores soon settled into the groove, all 3 bowlers sending down four economical overs each, to ensure that even if the wickets weren’t tumbling, neither was the required run rate. When Matt Baker eventually fell for 46 and Nathan Green got a first baller, Moths were ahead of the curve, and so it proved – they restricted the Johnsons to 3/152 after 20 overs, to seal the victory by 21 runs, and booked their spot in the final to take on Conor and the Jets.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:25:11 +0000
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