CITY & SUBURBAN ROUND 16  v  PADDINGTON AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL, CAMPERDOWN ON  SATURDAY 12 MARCH 2022

Cancelled by rain.

MASTERS  OVER 40s ROUND 9  v GEORGES RIVER     AT BLAND OVAL, RIVERWOOD  ON SUNDAY 13 MARCH 2022 : REPORT BY MIKE WEAVER 

CCNSW Masters were hopeful of a good result to end their season in their final match at Bland Oval, hosted by Georges River. 

Blues captain Ian Allmey won the toss in conditions which made scoring, via more conventional means at least, difficult. The pitch was quite normal for a Bland Oval track and the outfield, as could be reasonably expected, was thickly grassed and boggy in some areas. Good to stomp around on though! Sincere thanks to the Georges River club for the efforts they made to get the ground prepared up to a playable standard, considering the previous weeks’ record deluge of rain. 

Stuart Ridge and Tim Croft opened the bowling with Tim steaming in from the car park end. ‘Crofty’ had been chaffing at the bit for a run, his recent CCNSW net practice efforts testimony to that. And he didn’t disappoint. Operating at very good pace he soon had Georges River opener Hillman caught at mid off for 2 and number 3 Doran ‘nicked off’ to wicketkeeper Scott Wells, for a duck, to have Georges River 2 for 2 after his first over and just the second of the innings.

‘Ridgy’ was keeping things tight at the other end as the opposition crawled along to consolidate. A bowling change for the tenth over saw Paul Nash collect the wicket of Smith, snapped up in the gully by Mike Weaver. ‘Weaves’ managed to hang on to the chance at his second attempt after the ball flew to his outstretched right hand. Unfortunately Paul strained his calf and could not continue his one over spell. 

With CCNSW well on top, a relatively easier chance given by Georges River batter Gerard was put down off Paul’s replacement Lee Witherden, also in the bowler’s initial over. Never the less, both sides went to drinks with Georges River battling at 3- 29. Andrew Dadswell had replaced Stuart Ridge from the far end and had bowled extremely well. He was very unlucky not to  obtain a wicket on the day, keeping the Georges River batters guessing with his very accurate, very subtle and very tricky changes of pace and flight. 

In the ‘second stanza’ things changed around a lot as the ball got older and a lot softer. Georges River opener and Over 50s Australian representative, Todd  O’Keefe, accelerated his very watchful and responsible start and began to hit the Blues bowlers around. After he retired on 42* , CCNSW couldn’t take advantage of a run out chance and although eventually having Gerard caught in the deep by Ed Cross, off Soren Hughes, were unable to take any other wickets. Georges River batter, Mag, attacked the bowling ruthlessly to also retire and see his team to a very respectable 4-154 at the close. 

The CCNSW bowling fell away markedly in comparison to the first 20 overs and in the entire process another three catches went down, one off GR batter Whittall’s first ball faced, to rub salt into the wounds. A half hour rain delay after 37 overs ended up reducing the match to a 39 over per side affair. The rain had softened the pitch up a little as well, which was not to Cricketers’ Club’s advantage. 

This could not be held as an excuse though. The Georges River bowlers attacked the stumps and off side lines relentlessly with maybe only one or two short of a length deliveries that could have been hit, over the whole innings. It was an impatient batting display by CCNSW overall. Some batters seemed  not prepared to knuckle down enough to avert a batting collapse, after two very good deliveries knocked over key men Allmey and Nash for ducks. Tom Robertson was also adjudged lbw for 4 runs in what was possibly an unlucky decision for him. ‘Nashy’ received a ‘rip snorter’ of a ball, that swung very late from middle to off stump, to knock out his off stump high up. 

Scott Wells and Mike Weaver both seemed in good touch yet both were unable to get full value for shots played right along the ground, aside from Scott’s nice hook to the short fine leg fence. Scotty, in an abnormal dismissal for him, holed out a drive to mid off.

And in pursuit of his sixth single run, Weaves tried in vain to nurdle a ball to the onside, which straightened from leg to off and lobbed off the back of his bat, for a sharp catch at second slip. It was an impatient shot in the conditions and situation. 

Ed Cross and Soren Hughes both had their castles knocked down with the score on just 25. Lee Witherden then hit his first ball received straight to mid off to be caught for a golden duck, with again no addition. It was definitely difficult to score at this point, for all the wrong reasons. It seemed Lee had been rushing to get his pads on, to get out to the middle in time, as he obviously, and perhaps justifiably, wasn’t settled at all by the situation. At this stage the CCNSW boys might have been thinking about finishing the game off early, to get to the local Riverwood Tavern, to watch the NRL. 

Fortunately for the Club, Stu Ridge isn’t that interested in NRL and at 8-25, Tim Croft was simply not going to give his wicket away. Both men demonstrated a proud, stubborn application and resolve that had been missing from most of their team mates.  

Stu chewed up 48 balls for 8 runs, finally looking to gain some kind of ascendancy, before getting himself caught, dancing down to the wicket to try to gain the said ascendancy. Last man Luke Holman succumbed to the second best ball received during the innings, unluckily bowled, to record the fourth Blues duck on the score sheet.

So Tim was left defiantly stranded, unbeaten on 21*, his highlight a booming six over the far mid on boundary of the back foot, to complete a fine match performance for himself. The final team score of 57 runs just managed to beat the record lowest club score in Masters and Classics. So well done boys…

In what can only be described as a difficult Masters season for so many reasons, CCNSW were again well led by their skipper Ian Allmey on the day and the team accepted the defeat in typical good grace. 

As…there’s always next season !!!

The Team was (playing 12): – Tom Robertson 4, Ian Allmey (c) 0, Mike Weaver 5, Paul Nash, 0 Scott Wells (w) 7, Ed Cross 5, Soren Hughes 2, Tim Croft 21* ,  Lee Witherden 0, Stuart Ridge 8, Luke Holman 0, and Andrew Dadswell (dnb)

The Result was: –

Georges River C.C.: – 4-154 (39 overs)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 10-57 (27.5 overs) (T. Croft 21*)

By 97 runs

FoW: – 1- 5 (T. Robertson); 2-5 (I. Allmey); 3-6 (P. Nash); 4-15 (S. Wells); 5-21 (M. Weaver); 6-25 (E. Cross); 7-25 (S. Hughes); 8-25 (L. Witherden); 9-57 (S. Ridge); 10-57 (L. Holman)

The Bowling was: –: S. Ridge 7-1-30-0; T. Croft 8-2-24-2; A. Dadswell 8-0-23-0; P. Nash 1-0-5-1, L. Witherden 9-3-32-0; T. Robertson 2-0-17-0; S. Hughes 4-0-20-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – Two catches to E. Cross and one to each of S. Wells (w) and M. Weaver.

Run outs: – Nil

Player points (awarded by umpire): – 3 points to T. Croft; 2 points to A. Dadswell; one point to L. Witherden  

VINTAGE  OVER 60s ROUND 9  v LINDFIELD     AT CAMPERDOWN OVAL CAMPERDOWN   ON SUNDAY 13 MARCH 2022 :   

Cancelled by rain.

SOCIAL  v  THE BRADMAN FOUNDATION XI    AT BRADMAN OVAL,  BOWRAL   ON SUNDAY 13 MARCH 2022 :  

Cancelled by rain.