CCNSW TEAM V NSW POLICE AT BRADMAN OVAL, BOWRAL ON FRIDAY 28 APRIL 2023

SOCIAL GAME ONE  (T25) v NSW POLICE AT BRADMAN  OVAL, BOWRAL ON FRIDAY 28 APRIL 2023: REPORT BY JAMIE MURTHA

The CCNSW team were fortunate enough to play at Bowral’s beautiful Bradman oval. There were blue skies and sunshine overhead for most of the day. The pitch was good for the end of April, a hint of green and some softness which we thought would offer assistance to the bowlers. Captain Brett James won the toss and elected to field. The Police lent us an 11^th fielder for the first ten overs.

NSW Police are known for their reputable batters and this match was no exception; their two openers had excellent technique and plenty of shots to choose from. Both Toby Forbes and Avi Bhandari were unlucky not to have wickets in their spells, with a couple of tough catches put down. 

Brett James and Jamie Murtha each took a wicket, Brett set up the opposition number 3 with a lovely inswinger, while their no. 5 nicked a straight one to the safe gloves of Michael Weaver. The bowling and fielding were generally very good from our side but the NSW Police batters got the rub of the green and put on a solid 2-196 in their 25 overs.

Tom Robertson and Mick Doherty opened the CCNSW batting, Tom scored 11 off the first over including his trademark lofted square drive for 6, which landed somewhere in the streets of Bowral. Mick played some nice drives, but sharp fielding saw him caught for 3, Tom was out shortly after for 25.

Michael Weaver and Avi Bhandari put on a nice 50 run partnership, Michael (17) worked the ball around to put Avi on strike, Avi took advantage of the fast ground scoring regular boundaries on the leg side in his score of 43, his knock kept us in with a slight chance. Soren Hughes and Sumeet Kudal were required to bat with intent early, which was exactly what they did; however two more good catches saw them both depart.

At this stage, the equation was around 80 runs required off the last 6 overs. Brett James batted superbly, scoring 45* in good time, he and Jamie Murtha were forced to run hard and pinched a few steals, they put on 52 runs together in those 6 overs, but unfortunately still fell 27 runs short of the target. On the day the result felt closer than the scorecard suggested, (Ed note: loss of an 11^th fielder for final 15 overs of Police innings could have been material) but despite our best efforts it was 1-0 to NSW police and time for a lunch break!

The Team was (playing 10): – Tom Robertson 25, Mick Doherty 3, Mike Weaver (w) 17. Avinash Bhandari 43, Soren Hughes 3, Sumeet Kudal 8, Brett James (c) 45*, Jamie Murtha 22, Toby Forbes 0*, Henry Davis dnb;

The Result was: –

NSW Police XI: – 2-196 (25 overs) 

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 7-169 (25 overs) (B. James 45*; A. Bhandari 43)

By 27 runs

FoW: – 1-22 (M. Doherty); 2-26 (T. Robertson); 3-63 (A. Bhandari); 4- 92 (M. Weaver). 5- 93 (S. Hughes); 6-113 (S. Kudal); 7- 165 (J. Murtha)

The Bowling was: – T. Forbes 3-0-14-0; A. Bhandari 4-0-38-0; S. Hughes 3-0-26-0; B. James 4-0-39-1; J. Murtha 4-1-26-1; H. Davis 4-0-38-0; S. Kudal 3-0-19-0

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – Nil

Catches: – One to M. Weaver (w)

Run outs: – Nil

SOCIAL GAME TWO (T20) v NSW POLICE AT BRADMAN  OVAL, BOWRAL ON FRIDAY 28 APRIL 2023: REPORT BY MIKE WEAVER

CCNSW bowled and fielded brilliantly in the second game, a T20 affair. Some well thought out words were delivered to the team by Captain Brett James prior, to which all the boys responded. CCNSW fell into disarray though in the chase of only 140, at one stage 7 wickets down for 36 when into the 11th over.

The CCNSW plan was keep it full to the ‘big lefty’ and to not drop confidence in the face of a few boundaries that were to be expected from good batters The bowlers stuck to their plans despite the Police, who won the toss,  taking 22 off the first over, another 17 of the second and being 2 for 58 runs after the first 4 overs.

The rot started for the Police when gun opening bat and Bankstown first grader, Ethan, was too casual in returning to his crease, after a mix-up with his partner. A good throw from the deep by Henry Davis was relayed expertly by Toby Forbes, straight into ‘keeper Weaver’s gloves, leaving the absolute minimum for him to do to remove the bails. A wicket against the run of play and the Blues seized the initiative. 

After being told to ‘fire up’ by the skipper, Avi Bhandari’s pace picked up considerably and he was unfortunate not to get the Police no. 3 Rocky, first ball, forcing an inside edge low to the keepers left side. Against some intimidating opening batting, both opening bowers Avi and Toby had not lost their confidence, as instructed. It was a real show of mental fortitude.

And before long, Avi got his man with the ball of the day, which swung away and jagged back in, to knock out middle stump. His second scalp was via an opportunistic stumping of the charging no. 4, Cook. Then Toby Forbes.  got his deserved wicket by sticking to the plan. After having beaten the batter with a hooping out-swinger he had the ‘big lefty’, Hamish, caught in the deep by Henry Davis. After an initial hammering, this huge breakthrough set it up nicely for the change bowlers, to pit their skills against new batters. 

Soren Hughes and Jamie Murtha did an exceptional back up job from the southern end, changing up their pace and delivering to well set fields. This resulted in further nicks off each bowler. The ‘keeper took the chances this time, much to the team’s delight. Around these two catches, three others were well held inside the ring – by Soren at mid on, Tom Robertson at deep gully and Avi Bhandari at mid-off – to bring about five wickets in the consecutive spells of overs delivered from the far end of the ground

The leg spinners, Henry Davis and Sumeet Kudal, bamboozled with little reward from the other end before the skipper delivered the tightest spell of all. Superb death bowling by Brett James for another inside edge, caught at the wicket in the last over. NSW Police all out for 139 in the 20^th over after being 0-39 in the second!  Ten for 100 was the collapse, and that’s T20 cricket. A few boundaries were struck and the momentum that the Police had at the start, was never allowed to be regained.

It was a great experience for our guys to play against these classy opening batters. It showed the bowlers that if you go in with a plan and stick to your guns, you can succeed against quality opponents. 

After a nervous and possibly emotionally tired start by the CCNSW players (in fading light, I must add), a face saving partnership of 62 between Mike Weaver (20 off 22 balls) and Soren Hughes (44* off 33 balls) with Soren Hughes dominant, was the catalyst that enabled the Blues to get to the one hundred run mark in the 19th over, recovering from 7-36 in the eleventh over to 8-98 in the nineteenth,. The seeing conditions were not good in the final overs.

When Weaver was dismissed off the first ball of the nineteenth over for a somewhat fortunate but fighting 20 runs, CCNSW still had a shot at victory (42 runs needed with 11 balls to go) albeit a long shot in the conditions. Soren never stopped going for the win with a bullocking, defiant, unbeaten innings, smashing the bowling to the fence on both leg and off sides. Sensibly choosing to play predominately off the back foot, he struck the ball powerfully from a very stable base. 

It was all too much to do in the end for CCNSW, who tried everything, including using Mr ‘Forbes Senior’ (Andrew Forbes) to make up the numbers at no. 11 (Toby’s Dad), but to no avail.

There were several positives for the Club from these games, despite the losses. And the off field beers and speeches afterward was just one… 

And CCNSW Man of Match and Match Day organiser, Soren Hughes, another…..

Plus many other inspiring individual efforts. 

The Team was: – Mick Doherty 3, Tom Robertson 4 , Henry Davis 2, Toby Forbes 1, Jamie Murtha 12 , Brett James (c) 6  . Avinash Bhandari 1. Soren Hughes 44*, Mike Weaver (w) 20, Sumeet Kudal 0, Andrew Forbes 2*

The Result was: –

NSW Police XI: – 10-139 (19.1 overs) (S. Hughes 3-22)

Defeated

C.C.N.S.W.: – 9-103 (20 overs) (S. Hughes 44*)

By 26 runs

FoW: – 1-7 (T. Robertson); 2-10 (T. Forbes); 3-10 (M. Doherty); 4- 23 (J. Murtha). 5- 25 (H. Davis); 6-25 (A. Bhandari); 7- 36 (B. James); 8- 98 (M. Weaver); 9- 98 (S. Kudal)

The Bowling was: – A. Bhandari 4-0-34-2; T. Forbes 3-0-35-1; S. Kudal 2-0-10-0; J. Murtha 2-0-9-2; H. Davis 3-0-14-0;  S. Hughes 4-0-22-3; B. James 1.1-0-7-1

The Fielding was: –

Stumpings: – One to M. Weaver

Catches: – Three to M. Weaver (w); One each to A. Bhandari, H. Davis, S. Hughes and T. Robertson

Run outs: – One to T. Forbes