CITY AND SUBURBAN ROUND 1: CCNSW vs YARALLA AT GODDARD OVAL, CONCORD ON SATURDAY 7 OCTOBER 2023: REPORT BY JAMES MURTHA
Our round one social game took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Goddard, which now features a stunning new pavilion and change rooms. We lost the toss and were made to field on a flat and hard looking wicket. Before the game the teams observed a minute silence to pay respect to Yaralla’s long time scorer who recently passed away.
Yaralla got off to a strong start attacking the bowling of Matt Leong and Ming Heng who shared the new ball. It was clear that the pitch would offer little assistance for the bowlers. Wrist spinner Henry Davis bowled first change from the pavilion end and drew the opening batter into a false shot early; the ball was skied and taken comfortably by wicket keeper Alex Cumming, officially getting us in the books.
The next two batters built a healthy partnership but did not get away from us due to lack of pace from resident spinners Adam Khamis (leg spin) and Mark Henwood (off spin). Yaralla went to drinks at 1-107.
After drinks, the batters continued steadily though Soren Hughes and Brett James kept the scoring rate relatively tight without any luck. Henry came back into the attack and struck again immediately to remove the set batter for 99 (!), Tom Robertson making sure of a difficult catch on the boundary. From the other end Jamie Murtha needed one over to make the numbers and bought a wicket, removing the other set opener with a gentle lob first ball.
Soren Hughes and Matt Leong closed out the innings with very tight bowling to the new batters, Matt snared himself two excellent wickets and together the pair made sure the total to chase was not insurmountable.
The teams retired to the pavilion for soft drinks and sandwiches graciously hosted by Yaralla before going about the run chase on a warm afternoon. Our batters didn’t get off to the desired start. Tom Robertson Alex Cumming and Jamie Murtha were all removed without troubling the scorers. Harry Bridge scored a good looking four before being dismissed.
Both Brett James and Soren Hughes offered some resistance but ultimately met similar fates to the other batters.
Gerry O’Shea was the star of the batting line up; he could do nothing but remain stoic as carnage unfolded from the other end. When Gerry was on strike, he was rock solid in defence, ran hard between the wickets and made use of excellent batting conditions with well timed shots to the boundary. The 62 year old received generous applause as he brought up his maiden half century for the Club.
Gerry eventually was dismissed for 55, but ultimately provided some confidence that there are better batting days to come.
Matthew Leong also had an inspired innings of 25, during which he made his partner run four, not once but three times! Matt and Ming Heng got us to a respectable score of 150 before Matt was dismissed to end the innings.
The result was less than desirable and started by losing an important toss, but the bowlers and fielders worked hard to keep us in the game and a few batters stood up and gave us something to cheer about. I have no doubt that there are better days ahead.
Off to Camperdown next Sunday where we will look to get our season back on track with a win against Colleagues CC.
The Team was (playing 12): – Tom Robertson 0, Gerard O’Shea 55, Harry Bridge 4, Alexander Cumming (w) 0, Brett James 15, Jamie Murtha (c) 0, Soren Hughes 20, Henry Davis 1, Adam Khamis 2, Matthew Leong 25, Ming Heng 11* and Mark Henwood (dnb)
The Result was: –
Yaralla CC.: – 5- 239 (35 Overs)
Defeated
C.C.N.S.W.: – 10-150 (31 Overs) (G. O’Shea 55)
By 89 runs
FoWs: – 1-3 T. Robertson; 2-30 H .Bridge, 3-31 A. Cumming, 4-59 B. James, 5-59 J. Murtha, 6-93 S. Hughes, 7-103 H. Davis, 8-107 G. O’Shea, 9-118 A. Khamis, 10-151 M. Leong
The Bowling was: – H. Davis 5-0-45-2; M. Heng 3-0-20-0; M. Henwood 3-0-25-0; S. Hughes 7-0-37-0; B. James 6-1-36-0; A. Khamis 3-0-19-0; M. Leong 7-0-38-2; J. Murtha 1-0-11-1; G. O’Shea 1-0-8-0
The Fielding was: –
Stumpings: – Nil
Catches: – 3 to A. Cumming (w) and one each to G. O’Shea and T. Robertson
Run outs: – Nil
Player points (awarded by captain): 3 points to G. O’Shea; 2 points to M. Leong; one point to S. Hughes