SOCIAL GAME: T20 v THE PRIMARY CLUB OF AUSTRALIA AT REG BARTLEY OVAL, RUSHCUTTERS BAY ON WEDNESDAY 16 MARCH 2022:
Cancelled by rain
CITY & SUBURBAN ROUND 17 v THE PRIMARY CLUB OF AUSTRALIA AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SATURDAY 19 MARCH 2022
Cancelled by rain
CLASSICS OVER 50s ROUND 9 v BURWOOD AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON SUNDAY 20 MARCH 2022 : REPORT BY SCOTT WELLS
CCNSW were originally down to play the Sri Lankan Lions after missing this opportunity for the past two seasons due to wet weather. The week prior however, the Classics Committee changed the draw to a finals game of 1 vs 2 – being Roseville and Lions respectively.
As Roseville were down to play Burwood (whom we had already played earlier in the year) we were matched against them again – at Camperdown.
Whilst 1 and 2 played it out for a table topping match, 2, 3 and 4 were all very tight on the table leaving the final round as moving day. CCNSW were just ahead of the team who comprehensively beat us the round prior – Georges River. Roseville were top of the table by some 30 points ahead of the training group which left a remote opportunity (leaving the maths out of the explanation) for CCNSW to top the competition needing Lions to roll Roseville for not many and score very slowly losing no wickets.
But first we had to comprehensively beat Burwood by scoring 200+ and get all 10 wickets which was possible given we had beaten them well in the earlier round.
With regulars Ian Allmey, David Benson, David Craig, Richie De Silva, and Garry James not available for this game it was a slightly different looking side to previous games. Big Andrew Bachelard making his comeback from a near season ending leg injury, Jed Wesley-Smith offering to keep and umpire a full 40 and a young Brett James making his Classics debut for the club making up the 12. A side with deep batting and plenty of bowling options which has been our strength all year.
It was an unusually dry week leading up to the game so we were hoping for a nice hard wicket and dry, mown outfield. Unfortunately La Nina had different plans and dumped another load of wet stuff on the ground Friday. The pitch had been well prepared and the covers down in time thanks to the C&S Saturday team. However, upon inspection Saturday, somehow water under the covers had prevented any chance of play Saturday – as did the constant rain that morning. A call to arms was made Saturday afternoon to see if the pitch could be salvaged with Mike Pinter removing water off the covers and remove them for an inspection. The outlook was dire.
With no rain expected for the rest of the afternoon along with a stiff sea breeze expected and sun first thing Sunday morning, we decided to leave the covers off (Mike P with the assistance of some local soccer lads packed them away) with this being our only real option to get a dry pitch within 24hrs.
An early inspection on Sunday morning lead to hope we would be playing and with efforts to sop up some wet areas, the slight breeze and eventual sunshine left us with a playable pitch come 1pm. Special mention to the great clubman Mike Weaver who caught the 6:05am from Gosford to get the ground to help with the mopping up.
Game time – Skipper Scott Wells won the toss and showed no hesitation to bat knowing we needed to post a big total to stay in touch on the table. A few scoffs from Burwood were heard seemingly surprised at the decision expecting a wet deck but that was the chance we had to take.
CCNSW started steadily but busily with the two Mikes (Pinter and Weaver) opening up with the strike being turned over well until Weaves was adjudicated lbw. Sliding down leg – perhaps – a shiver went through the shed thinking we had a trigger finger at the helm. Enter Paul Nash who too started cautiously with the pitch playing a bit slow due to the dampness and the opening bowlers swinging the ball on tight lines. Pinter was the next to go chasing a wide one caught behind. Nash and Wells batted cautiously until drinks with both the Burwood openers and first and second changes bowling very tight lines and swinging the ball. beating the bat but still offering the odd loose one to score off. 2 for 53 at drinks with a platform to launch in the second 20.
Upon return Nash wasted no time in getting the runs to bring up his 30* retired. However this change bought the early dismissal of Ed Cross which saw Brett James making his Classics debut. The left handed batter seemed to throw the Burwood attack who lost their line and length which Brett took full advantage of after a watchful start 2 (11) launching a few into the hill to bring up a very good 30* (23). Greg Brooks entered the fray making his intentions clear in picking up the run rate (and running a 3) whilst at the other end Wells nudged his way to a very tradesman-like 31*. Leaving us at 3 for 119 after 30 overs. Brooksie departing after a hard hitting 24 – 147 with 6 overs remaining
With 3 in the “bank” 200 looked possible after a steady start with 7 or 8 an over required. Mick Tarrant, Martin Speiser, Andrew Bachelard and Stuart Ridge continued to push the score getting us to 171 with 2 overs left and retirees Nash and James seeing them well. 23 runs off the last two overs saw us get to 8-194 with Nash 46* and Brett James 49*. A very solid total on a tricky deck.
Keen to take the wickets required and with plenty of bowling options, CCNSW opened up with Tarrant and Ridge. Both bowled tight lines on the pitch which saw the score plod along to 2 for not many with Tarrant getting one to jump for a snick behind and Ridge the other not before toying with their resilient number 3 twice hitting him in the money makers much to the amusement of the other 12 players on the field and umpires. A double change was made with Brett James bowling well pitching the ball up seeing what swing could be extracted from a drying pitch and Brooks from the other end bowling his usual reliable tight lines. Brett finished up with 2 wickets to cap off a great day along with a direct hit run-out earlier. But still Burwood seemed intent and hanging around with only 4 or 5 wickets down at drink but for a miserly 34 runs.
Straight after drinks, a double change was again made with Wells (for the first time in 3 seasons) sending down a few leggies to try to break the shackles and Andy Bachelard bowling from the café end. It was Andy B who struck twice to get the break throughs needed and we were well on our way to a victory. Not wanting to risk another injury, another double change was made with Ed Cross from one end and Martin Speiser from the other to try to shake their stubborn batsmen out of their defensive mode and not letting them get comfortable. Enough was enough and with 6 or 7 overs remaining with the last pair offering nothing, the secret weapon was released with the skipper yelling – “warm up Weaves”. Truth be known, we were only stalling until Brooks came back with the beers and tonic water but don’t tell Weaver that.
Once Brooks was spotted with a carton on his shoulder, Tarrant and Ridge were bought back into the attack to mop up and swiftly did so leaving Burwood all out on 93 runs (Editor’s note: Burwood only had 9 players and we provided one sub in the field) and a comprehensive, deserved and expected victory to CCNSW.
A flurry of text messages post game with other teams and the dusting off and clanking of abacuses (abaci?) saw the results and bonus points filter in. Sri Lanka Lions had beaten Roseville by first sending them in and rolling them for 70 odd and then achieving the run chase within 50% of the overs securing 5 bonus points.
The League table saw Roseville drop to 4th by 1.3 points (effective 2 wickets or 26 runs) and Lions retrain take second place. CCNSW had done enough to hang onto 3rd place
The competition winner which no one had seen coming was Georges River who absolutely spanked Old Ignatians by scoring a mammoth 270 runs earning 43.5 points outing Lions by 1.1 points (22 runs or 2 wickets) and CCNSW by 2.3 points (46 runs or 3 wickets). Ironically, the ultimate winner didn’t play in the 1 vs 2 game.
Anyhow, a great, fun year which everybody contributed to and we toughed out a couple of close games whilst winning the games we should have won but for one blemish against Georges River who were the ultimate competition winners.
The Team was (playing 12): – Mike Weaver 2, Mike Pinter 9, Paul Nash 46*, Scott Wells (c) 31*, Ed Cross 0, Brett James 49*, Greg Brooks 24, Mike Tarrant 3, Martin Speiser 6, Andrew Bachelard 1, Stuart Ridge 9, Jed Wesley-Smith (w) dnb
The Result was: –
C.C.N.S.W.: – 8-194 (40 overs) (B. James 49*; P. Nash 46*; S. Wells 31*)
Defeated
Burwood C.C.(playing 9): – all out 93 (36 overs)
By 101 runs
FoW: – 1- 3 (M. Weaver); 2-19 (M. Pinter); 3-69 (E. Cross); 4-132 (M. Tarrant); 5-142 (G. Brooks); 6-143 (A. Bachelard); 7-157 (S. Ridge); 8-171 (M. Speiser).
The Bowling was: –: M. Tarrant 7-0-19-1; S. Ridge 6-1-11-2; E. Cross 2-2-0-0; B. James 5-0-15-2; G. Brooks 5-0-15-0; S. Wells 3-0-8-0, A. Bachelard; 3-0-8-2; M. Speiser 3-0-9-0; and M. Weaver 2-0-4-0
The Fielding was: –
Stumpings: – Nil
Catches: – One J. Wesley-Smith (w); and one to each of P. Nash and M. Pinter
Run outs: – One to B. James
Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to B. James; 2 points to P. Nash; one point to S. Ridge