MATCH REPORTS FOR LMS SUNSHINE COAST CUP MATCHES PLAYED ON SUNDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2013 Game 1 – North Shore Tavern v The Muppets (10am) North Shore Tavern and The Muppets met today for what the betting public had labelled the ‘preview to the grand final’. The other 4 teams may have something to say about this and only time will tell. I am not within this ‘betting public’ per se; I’ve just overheard this on various social media sites and also in various pubs and clubs and radio stations. But what a game it was – 11 wickets, 433 runs and a twang of controversy to boot. The Muppets won the toss, elected to field and were immediately placed on the back foot by some show-stopping hitting by Chris Crowe. Crowe would soon depart for a mind-boggling 24 from 7 balls, however not before he had inflicted substantial damage. Eli Ten Dam, on debut for The Muppets, caused Crowe to sky one high into the air, leaving the competition’s leading keeper John Lobwein to take an extremely difficult catch. The ball went miles in the air, bringing snow back with it, and was swirling viciously and relentlessly as it raced back down to earth. Lobwein, cool as ice, was easily equal to the task and pocketed an epic, crowd-pleasing catch with a fearless flamboyance and unmistakable charm. (John – told you I’d write you up nicely mate). Dan Wright strode in next and showed some impressive skills, punching several wonderful drives to the fence with ludicrous ease. He got 21 in the end (12 balls); however just as he and resident NST opener Andrew Donnison (or ADONIS for short) had settled, The Muppets’ Luke Hepworth arrived at the crease. Bowling with superb pace and control, he shocked Wright’s stumps with a searing Yorker. Shane Blake would suffer the same fate, being unable to settle this week, also being yorked to death by Hepworth for 3. The tide was turning – however yet another debutant, Pat Burns, entered the crease just as ADONIS moved through the gears. Donnison went from 13 off 8 balls to retire on 53 off 18 balls, searing 40 runs off his last 10 deliveries – another incredible innings. Burns, at the other end, was steady early on, admitting that he ‘didn’t see any’ of his first 8 deliveries. Slowly he shed the rust and produced some stunning shots on his way to an excellently paced 51* (25 balls). Jon Keam, yet another debutant, was fluid in motion and graceful in timing on his way to a wonderful cameo of 36 (16 balls) before getting out caught to the omnipresent Muppets poster-boy Josh Wilkinson. And then, as always, there was Tom Suhr. Be it openly sledging Pat Burns about the rustiness of his early innings, to getting off the mark with a beautiful square-cut for four from the first ball he faced, Tom Suhr once more made his mark on the game immediately and entertainingly. No home runs for him this week, but he would finish the innings 29* (13 balls), with NST reaching an awesome 216/4 from their 20. Hepworth (2/23 off 3), Ten Dam (1/21) and Wilkinson (1/34) were the pick of the bowlers on what was once again a tough day to bowl. Chasing 217, The Muppets sent in father-son duo John and Sam Lobwein. Sam would fall first, bowled by a beauty from ADONIS for 6. Soon thereafter disaster would strike again, twice, with John (1) out caught and the unfortunate and dangerous Hepworth being out to the dreaded ‘double-play’ also for 1. The Muppets were 3/8 off 1.2 overs and looking down the barrel of some real trouble. Suhr kept ringing the changes as the deadly Chris Gorfine and the elegant Brennan Wruck set about restoring these chaotic opening moments. The pair put on a neat 35 (14 balls) before Wruck would lose his off stump to a peach of a delivery from the man himself Tom Suhr; out for an excellent cameo of 14 (6 balls). But his side needed more. Steve Ontatzis was next in and looked a little shaky early on. Gorfine kept his cool launching into some impressive stroke-play, once again almost killing me in the process with an even deadlier straight ‘slap-shot’ that whizzed past my face in alarmingly close proximity. Shortly after his attempted homicide unto me, Gorfine too would fall, out bowled for a highly impressive 33 off 15 balls. Enter Josh Wilkinson. He crunched his first 2 balls to the fence with textbook looking cover drives. He and Ontatzis set about adding some respectability to what fast approaching a lost cause. But, as the saying goes, t20 is a funny game. As the overs ticked by the pair grew in confidence, and Steve O started laying into the bowlers. He would retire on 50 from 21 balls, bringing Eli Ten Dam to the crease. Ten Dam turned strike early on, yet also grew in confidence. Realising the difficult run-chase to hand he hit some mighty shots before holing out to catch of the day (snared by Dan Wright, who dove forward to clutch an awe-inspiring catch just millimetres from the truf) for a neat 21 (10 balls), bringing Steve O back to the crease. O and Wilko hung in the game for dear life, with NST relentlessly pushing further ahead in the match. The pair hammered away, drawing closer and closer (Wilko passing his 50 off 22 balls along the way, another brilliant innings under pressure), until the situation read 22 required off 10 balls. Then 10 required off 5 balls. Andrew Donnison, bowling the final over, snared Steve O for an incredible 73 (29 balls) and suddenly there was the LAST MAN STANDING in Josh Wilkinson. In the heat of the moment The Muppets forgot to install a square-leg umpire and I myself did not notice this during these epic final moments. Wilkinson timed an on-drive down to that man Tom Suhr and set off for 2. Suhr swooped on the ball like a bird of prey and launched a powerful throw in toward the striker’s end. A huge dive by Wilko, a direct-hit from Suhr, which ricocheted off the stumps and across the boundary for 4, and the appeals roared high into the sky. All players, and myself as bowling umpire, turned to look to what the square-leg umpire would say. AND THERE WASN’T ONE! After cursing myself for not double-checking, thus leading this epic encounter into the mirth of a bit of controversy, it was decided that, since it was too close for me to call (especially from the bowler’s end) we’d make the decision not out, give Wilko the 2 runs, but not include the 4 runs that resulted from the direct hit. I wish to thank NST for their champion sportsmanship and mellowness in helping the game through to a proper conclusion. Such an incident shall not happen again. 8 required from 3 balls. A well-run 2 left it at 6 from 2 balls. Donnison slid the penultimate ball in towards Wilko’s pads but Wilko was up to the challenge and crunched the ball high and long over the mid-wicket boundary for 6! A win to The Muppets and the single-best game I’ve ever umpired in LMS history. I wish to say hats off to both sides for what was an excellently close rollercoaster of an encounter that went right to the wire. Wilko finished unbeaten on 64 from just 27 balls. With the ball, Andrew Donnison took 4/36 to maintain his staggering average of 50 runs and 4 wickets per match. He was supported by Tom Suhr’s pace (2/43) and the intelligent left-armer Chris Thompson 1/39. For the moment it was The Muppets by a nose. Or, if you are an NST supporter, you might say it was The Muppets ‘by a square-leg umpire’. Watch this space. Game 2 – Scoats v Suncoast Telstra Tweakers (12pm) Scoats would bat first in another high-scoring, closely fought encounter. They sent out ‘The Ben’s’ who set about pushing hard from the get go. Ben Murphy used his innings to sharpen up for his 2.30pm golf tee-off and Ben Schofield continued his electrifying form as the score roared along to 0/74 off 6 overs. Murphy would retire on 50 from 20 balls, Schofield 50 from 22 balls – an incredible start to the innings. Murphy was savage on good-length deliveries, lofting high and long down the ground, Schofield continued his slightly unorthodox but incredibly effective leg-side scoring with some impressive clips, sweeps and full-blooded pull strokes. Next in was Alex Ward, closely followed by Sam Marusic. Ward remarked early into his innings that the team arrived at the ground directly from a night out in Brisbane, noting that ‘but for a few roadies I don’t think I’d have made it today’. Fortunately for Scoats, Ward did knock down a few roadies on the drive as he held the middle overs together like glue, running twos at will and turning strike impressively, as he and Marusic continued the momentum set by ‘The Ben’s’. Marusic, after revealing his insane gamble of not wearing a box (then getting smacked in the thigh very close to ‘that area’) got snicked off for an impressive yet brief 11 (7 balls), a nice clean take by keeper Reese Hunter. Ward then combined with skipper Gerard Butler Jack Nicholas for another excellent stand, with Ward going from 19 off 14 to score 21 runs off his last 8 balls before being out caught for a well-made 40 (22 balls). Nicholas also kept his foot firmly on the accelerator, launching into several wild drives down to or over the boundary. He would fall for 36 (16 balls) attempting to continue the relentless attack on the Telstra bowling unit as though he was a Telstra customer who was not happy with their fees. During the carnage, Heath Judd took wickets at regular intervals in the latter part of the innings to snare 4/39 from his 4, and Adrian Hunter chipped in with 1/35. Luke Oliver’s off-spin was coming out beautifully in his first over, capturing a leading edge, however the sun got in his eyes and he put the ball down, also doing himself in with a grade 2 calf tear – a sorry loss for Telstra as he appeared to be the one who’d put the brakes on today. Doug Jones (8 from 3) was run out and Hayden Power (3 off 2) was bowled by a ripper (to which he showed his sporting colours by saying to the bowler ‘awesome ball man wow’ – a pleasing sight to see as umpire) to bring in Scoats’ cult-figure Matt Ambrose. He continued his winning ways by turning strike to get 5* off 4, with Ben Murphy coming back in to continue where he left off by lofting his way to 60* from 23 balls – a supreme innings that lifted Scoats to an intimidating 212/5 from their 20. Telstra, employing a ‘pick-n-stick’ methodology, sent in the suitably named Hunter brothers, Adrian and Reese, once more. Reese was run-out in drama-heavy circumstances last week so the crowd sat, breath held, hands clenched into fists and mouths agape, waiting to see what would happen this week. The answer to that question is simple – more than they (the crowd, and possibly the brothers themselves) could ever have imagined. Adrian displayed a bloodlust for the Scoats bowlers as he crushed his way to 24 before getting a glove on one down the leg-side (whereby Schofield did the rest as keeper). His 10-ball innings set an excellent platform by which the Tweakers could attempt to climb into this challenging chase. Callum Wilson, owner of the highest score last weekend, came in next and crushed his first 3 balls to the fence. In attempting to continue this pattern he miscued one to be out for a crazy cameo of 12 off just 4 balls. Next in came Bryce Judd, and he and Reese Hunter set about solidifying after a couple of quick wickets. The pair scorched the bowling, with Judd punching some impossibly well timed cover drives to the fence and Reese Hunter hitting the ball to all parts with alarming ferocity. Hunter would retire first, 50 from 19 balls, closely followed by Judd (51* off 18 balls) – incredible batting. Tweakers remained on track, but Scoats had other ideas in mind. Hayden Power, sporting some interesting bruises after a ‘night to remember’ in Brisbane on Saturday, produced a fine cameo-spell of leg-spin, with the ball rearing off good lengths, turning sharply, and Power displaying some impressive control of flight and dip as the ball fizzed down the wicket. Martin McKenzie would feel the wrath of this guileful spell from Power as he lost his off-stump to a real gem, one that broke the eye line and shocked his stumps – out for a first-baller. At the other end Carpenter turned strike before he too would fall, yorked by a peach of a delivery. He fell for 3. Heath Judd continued his MS Dhoni-esque lower-order hitting abilities and showed great form immediately in his innings. Wounded lion Luke Oliver would join him, crafting an inspiring 10 from 6 balls before falling LBW to a ripper of an in-swinger from Scoats’ gigantic left-arm paceman Doug Jones. This wicket brought Reese Hunter back to the crease with plenty of work still to do. The required run-rate was still hovering around 10 and Scoats had found substantial rhythm in the middle overs. What happened next was breathtaking. Scoats toiled away, however the rate required slowly diminished as Hunter resumed his innings with a nerveless, raw aggression and a keen eye. His incredible scoring rate saw him reach 85 from 29 balls, leaving just 29 runs required (from 4 overs). A smirking Heath Judd intentionally farmed the strike for himself, smoking an impressive four and a powerful six, leaving 2 runs required from 12 balls, with Hunter on strike and on 96. Hunter cracked a vicious pull-shot, off a no-ball, to the fence, raising his 100 off 33 balls and winning the match for his team! It was a supreme batting feat, both for the high score and the pace at which it was scored. Scoats gave it their all but fell marginally short today, the victim of this outstanding individual performance. It wasn’t all doom and gloom for them as Nicholas furthered his reputation as a genuine all-rounder with 2/49. Jones reeled his figures back to snare 1/45 after a wayward start, and Hayden Power (1/15) produced some unplayable leggies alongside Ben Murphy’s mixed bag of deadly off-spin and unbridled pace (1/15 also). Congratulations to both sides for some incredible individual feats mixed in with excellent sportsmanship, great fielding and impressive team unity. Game 3 – Sunshine Moths v Maroochydore OPs The final fixture of the day saw the new-bloods Maroochydore Ops take on the enigmatic Sunshine Moths. OPs would bat first with lean, strong and tall openers Greg Armstrong and Richard Mallinder. Sunshine Moths would open up with their deadly seam attack of Sam ‘dream-team’ Schmidt and Pete ‘vanGolden’ Holden. Greg Armstrong, in possession of a pure, free-flowing technique, got things moving with some clinically placed drives into the gaps. At the other end Mallinder crept along, settling quickly into the pace and style of this format. Armstrong leathered some quality shots in his brief stay before being out stumped (by debutant keeper Anthony Campbell) for an exquisite yet all too brief 21 from 8 balls. I say all too brief in terms of being a spectator, such is the pristine technique he possesses. The wicket-taking bowler was Adam Walsh, striking in his first over of LMS. Throughout his 3 over spell he showed an intelligent mixture of flight, length and turn with his around the wicket slow-left-armers. Andrew Schlaer was next in and he and Mallinder moved smoothly through the gears as they shed years of rust. Muscle memory is a fascinating thing, and Mallinder, once on 20, started to crunch some amazingly expansive strokes as he motored from 20 off 13 balls to retire on 50 from 22 balls, a master-class. Schaler too felt the rust of the early season but opened up to hammer his way to a well-made 39 from just 20 balls before falling to the wily seamer Liam O’Mara. Being the kind of friendly yet competitive comp it is, Suncoast Telstra Tweakers had lent OPs two of their batting stars Heath Judd and Callum Wilson. Wilson was unfortunately run out for a DIAMOND duck, but Heath connected with the ball from the outset, blasting his way to an impressive 32 from 12 balls before he fell to the dreaded double-play rule (at the time time Schlaer fell). Amidst this Dave ‘Beachcomber’ Riley attempted to settle into rhythm after advising he was still sore from last week, however trouble would strike early into his first over with a little twinge ending his spell abruptly. Resident ‘everyman’ Ryan Tierney finished up Dave’s over and Ryan-O bowled some impressive turners amidst some hectic batting. The double-play placed two new batsmen at the crease in Kris McCue and Matt Shotton. McCue would fall to a ripper of a delivery from O’Mara, out bowled for 4, but Shotton settled nicely, blasting several outstanding strokes on his way to an excellent cameo of 30 from just 14 balls before he too was out bowled, a ripper of an inswinging yorker by the deadly Sam Schmidt, who showed great control throughout his spell. This left Tom McCue and Mallinder to finish off the innings, the target of 200 getting closer in their crosshairs. McCue showed an intelligent cricketing mind by piercing gaps to rotate the strike early into his innings, allowing Shotton and then Mallinder to crunch into some heavy hitting, however he too found a rich vein of form, blasting some impressive boundaries on the way to an impressive 15 (7 balls) before he was out caught-and-bowled to newcomer Nick Jackson, who also ran-out Mallinder for another double-play. Mallinder made an attractively menacing 59 off just 25 balls. OPs would end their innings all out for exactly 200, a fine effort first up. Sunshine Moths were led by Liam O’Mara’s wonderfully controlled 3/13 (3 overs), Nick Jackson’s at times wayward yet nonetheless effective 2/42, Sam Schmidt’s steady 1/31 (4 overs), Walsh’s 1/33 and, naturally, Pete Holden’s 1/42. 201 to win, Moths opened up with Walsh and ‘vanGolden’ with the pair starting well. Walsh turned strike before being bowled for 4, a snorter of a delivery by Schlaer, however Holden was in special form, blasting his way to 22 before holing out on his 9th ball. He crunched 3 x 4s and 1 x 6 in his brief stay, and had the crowd screaming ‘MORE, MORE’ as he departed yet again for an all-too brief cameo. Sam Schmidt, alongside Nick Jackson, stepped up to the plate, the crowd cheering all the way as they recounted his ridiculously entertaining 42* off 10 balls the week before. Enter, once again, evergreen Yorkshireman Richard Mallinder. Possessing a run-up similar to that of Graham Dilley, Mallinder showed incredible control and alarming pace throughout his spell. Schmidt played his third ball off Mallinder by crunching a beautifully timed off-drive. I hurried out of the way as a means of preservation, thinking the ball would scorch along to the fence. Cool as a cucumber – Mallinder stuck out the right paw mid-follow-through and snared an outrageous caught-and-bowled. Ice cold. The highly dangerous Schmidt was on his way for just 2! Enter now Liam O’Mara. Liam scored 80 unbeaten runs last weekend at an awesome strike-rate of 200. After welcoming a child into this world on Friday (congratulations to you and your partner) he made his way to 9, looking the part once more. Yet disaster would shock the Moths once more and he would be out bowled on his 7th ball, another huge hitting megastar back in the sheds. Resident batting-shepherd Ryan Tierney, whose mixture of power and patience held the Moths together last week, tried to stem the increasingly steady flow of wickets with newcomer Jackson. He too lost his off stump for just 6 and things were looking grim. Dave Riley was next in and he busied himself in attempting to settle quickly to create a suitable launchpad. During all of this Jackson ground his way through the gears with impressive focus, crunching his way to retire on 50 off just 23 balls. During his innings he showed immense power in key areas and an undeniable unflappability during a testing time in the innings - another hugely impressive debut. Anthony Campbell’s stay at the crease was, unfortunately, very short – getting out for a golden duck after being caught on the fence, an excellent grab by Kris McCue, to give the relentless Schlaer another wicket. Campbell was excellent behind the stumps and I look forward to seeing him avenge this dismissal in the coming weeks. Jackson returned, crunched a boundary and then was also caught for a well-made 54 (25 balls). And then there was one – Beachcomber Dave. He smirked as I revealed he needed to basically hit 98 off 35 in 2s, 4s and 6s. He did a fine job, though it was never going to be enough, and his innings of 40* (41 balls) included a particularly favourite statistic of mine in that he only scored in boundaries or extras, with actual 0 running between the wickets. Moths would end up 7/137 from their 20, outmatched this week by a well-oiled unit. OPs showed some incredible control, knowledge and skill, with their main bowlers being Andrew Schlaer, who capped off an excellent all-round match, snaring 3/24 (4 overs), Kris McCue 1/24 (4 overs, after at one stage having 0/20 off 2 overs) and Matt Shotton 1/32 (4 overs, at one stage having 0/30 from 2 overs). It must be noted that Greg Armstrong kept very well throughout the innings; however my favourite bowling/fielding/keeping feat of the day went to that man Richard Mallinder. He snared 2/9 off 4 overs at the mean old economy rate of 2.25 runs per over! He showed peerless control and extracted excellent bounce and pace from the bat-friendly deck. A good win first up for OPs, however Moths should not be too disappointed. They stuck it out until the very end and played the game in typically excellent spirit and fashion. OPs rejoiced their victory with a team photo and a couple of well-earned beers. I toast them for their demonstration today and also for the fact that this comp is now complete with them. Three matches per week, no bye round, and another fierce yet friendly competitor for the other teams to mix it up with. And so, after promising I’d shorten things this week, this report is actually around 24% larger than the previous one. I blame all of you players – if you all just stopped playing such incredibly exciting and noteworthy cricket I could get this done a LOT quicker. I am, of course, being facetious – it has been a wonderful fortnight for Ben and me, and you have all provided much more than we could have ever hoped for in such a short space of time. We’ve had 100s, countless 50s, insanely quick scoring and some wonderful spells of bowling. Thanks very much for reading, if you got this far – well done and thanks very much! Until this coming Sunday, best regards, LMS_Dayne.
Posted on: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:43:28 +0000
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