19th June 2010
With a couple of changes of to previous weeks line-ups, notably the drafting of youngsters Rich 'Major' Hawking and Jack 'One Fingered Pressup' Wateridge, the 1sts were looking to continue their winning ways in the push for promotion.
Having not ammased a full 24 points in any game this season, Gay Gay 'PUSHED HARD' and won the toss and decided to break with tradition and have a bat first. Graham and Hollo took to the crease first up and began in fine style with a mix of good running and the odd boundary. Unfortunately, it wasnt long before they both edged behind for around 15-20 runs each (sorry about the inacuracy.....going from memory here). Naz and Stevie 'Bean' Harris went out and looked solid for a long time, although runs seemed hard to come by. They both lasted a lengthy time, seeing out some tight bowling and ticking along at 3 or 4 an over. Eventually though, they both found themselves a bit frustrated and ended their solid innings on around 20 for Stevie and 30 odd for Naz. This brought Damo 'Ze German' Wegener to the crease quickly followed by Rob 'Cheese' Noble. They continued along at a steady rate, following their own tight game plan, much to the frustration of Graham on the boundary due to the low run rate. Fortunately, they knew better, and the longer they stayed at the crease, the faster the runs came flowing. Damo soon reached the 50 mark placing some beautiful shots between the ultra defensive field (only 3 in the ring, everyone else out). In the last 10 overs, they 'PUSHED HARD' making 1s into 2s and much to Nobbys' disgust, the odd 3. Some lusty 6s from Nobby, and 4 after 4 from Damo acrued around 100 runs in the last 10, and guaranteeing an outstanding 132 not out for Damien. Nobby reached his 50 on his batting debut this season, eventually holing out to long on (just for a change). With less than 2 overs left Jack nurdled a few around, including a superbly cheeky shot off the last ball to eventually amass a whopping 283-6 at the end of the innings.
After the boys had finished their fairy bread and vegemite sarnies, we took to the field to begin our atttack. Jammer and Damo started off with the usual tight lines and movement in the air. The Purbrook openers looked set mixing in the odd flash to the boundary, although picking the fielders more often than not. Eventually the break through came bringing in the Purbrook skipper, who managed to reach 40ish before falling himself. Some excellent bowling from Graham and some right angle turning grenades from Major saw wickets coming at a steady rate. After 20 overs the required run rate for the opposition was a long way out of reach and they seemed to happy to shut up shop and aim for some extra batting points. A brief spell by Nobby Snr and some excellent stuff from Jacko eventually finished off the opposition for 146. Although had Jacko been paying attention in slips earlier, it could have ended sooner. Wickets were 3 for Jammer, 2 for Damo, 2 for Graham, 2 for Major and 1 for Nobby.
Max points achieved, and thanks to some other results going our way, we have pushed into 3rd in the table, with some big games to come, especially next week against a strong Flamingo side.
PUSH HARD next week fellas.
Up the Manor !!
Nobby Snr