Tasmania University Cricket Club

Scores and Reports
Season 2004/05

First Grade

Round 10 v. New Town
Played at the University Oval, 15th. and 22nd. January 2005.
(Toss won by : New Town)

New Town : 170 Ben Hilfenhaus 5-58 Josh Bean 3-63 Gordon Kerr 2-31 and 183 Josh Bean 5-65 Gordon Kerr 3-48 Tom Roach 2-23

TUCC : 7/357 dec. Graeme Cunningham 116* Tim Paine 71 Rhett Lockyear 68 Shannon Bakes 56

Report (by Steve Kerr): (Day 1). With Clarence breathing down our necks for a spot in the four this was a game which Uni. needed and, given the Townies problems this season, should win. However the Uni. 1st. grade team seemed to have a habit of losing this fixture of late - here's hoping! The jovial curator Jason had brought up the wicket for the 5th. day (!) following its use at the U17 Carnival previously. It was already a 'road' anyway and Lurch can be quoted as saying 'If I can't score a hundred on this then I can't score a hundred" (or words to that effect) after the fourth day of its use. New Town won the toss (or Brad lost it - whatever) and decided to bat. Nessy was in the team but not allowed to bowl (or bat) which meant a return to the old order of Hilfy and Gordy opening the attack, Hilfy started from the Derwent end (??) and by the end of his first over the Townies were 2/0 ! A smart catch at bat-pad by Lockdog and a catch to Paine (TD). Can't get much better than that - or could we? Sure can - Gordy's first ball (his usual half-paced warm-up effort) got the edge and Paine (TD) accepted it with glee. A major disappointment to the crowd of Uni. faithfuls was that there were no further wickets in the over but at 3/0 they really are a hard group to please. But it wasn't too long a wait for the faithful - Lockdog repeated his 0.32 second reflect catch off Hilfy, Gordy deceived the batsman with cunning flight and Smithy took the regulation catch - New Town 5/15! Enter Nosworthy (who, with his medium-pacers is often Uni.'s nemesis). First ball faced - charge down the wicket and hit Gordy for four. Second ball a repeat and so on. 17 off the over saw the end of Gordy and the introduction of Beany. I'm assured by a New Town supprter that the reason for such batting is that he only has the use of one eye (which makes picking up the length of a ball somewhat difficult!). A true 'one-eyed' New Town player if this is the case. The next wicket didn't fall until 63 and it wasn't until Nosworthy reached forty that his batting style changed! Given the Townie's current strife their non-playing coach Butterworth (a distant relation to those others who play for Glenorchy) became a playing coach! Not surprisingly he was extremely scratchy to begin with, but survived. Hilf and Beany carried on personfully, Rhett had a few overs (and should have had a wicket had the umpire a hearing aid) and, eventually, Beany broke through with the score on 147. Hilf and Beany cleaned up the tail - Hilfy finally getting past his four wicket hauls (and getting a call up to the Tassie team) and Beany taking his 100th. 1st. grade wicket. And all this an hour after lunch! Paine (TD) and Lurch opened the batting for Uni. Would Lurch be good to his promise? Seven off the first over - it really was a 'road' by now. Kingy stroked a trademark cut shot to the boundary and then - disaster - a 'yes, no, yes' (expletive deleted) situation saw Uni.'s latest prospective centurian run out! No major dramas to a bat, the changerooms or wrists - Uni. 1/31. Given that score it is correct to assume that Paine (TD) had been a) batting very well and b) Lurch hadn't had much of the strike! The boxing duo were now together. A wonderful display of faultless batting ensued and the Uni. faithful were rapt. The pair put on 118 in even time before Paine (TD) was lbw and Lockdog out similarly shortly after. Richie joined in the fun, was joined by the skipper and the pair passed the first target with ease. Brad was out in the last over (playing on). Paine (NJR) is expecting to bat next! The pitch will be even flatter next week and there were 353 runs scored on day 1! Nessie should be bowling and with 6 wickets in hand and already a small lead Uni. will be looking for quick runs and the chance of an outright win. (Day 2). Another excellent Tasmanian day for cricket saw Richie joined at the crease by Paine (NJR), much to the latter's relief. The plan was to bat to about lunch and by then have a hundred or so lead before trying to bowl New Town out again and secure an outright win. China P. hit a quick couple of boundaries before being undone by some devious slow stuff and being caught at slip, to be replaced by Bakesy who was looking for some sort of score at last! Richie proceeded to bat as well as he probably has since joining the Lions whilst Bakesy took a while to find his timing. With some glorious drives and cuts Richie soon took his overnight score of 23 past 50. A generous round of applause from the other players and Uni. faithful? Not so. A coaching edict has now seen any recognition of a top 5 batsman reaching 50 being banned - they're all expected to reach that milestone! A hard man, Enrico! It did bring about a request from Lurch to bat at 6 from now on - request denied. Bakesy did find his touch and, with three huge sixes, made his own way to the un-applaused milestone, before skying another huge shot, this time to be caught in the covers. Richie had continued to hit any loose ball very hard (and to the boundary) and, by Bakesy's departure was in the 90s. The pair had put on 121 in 68 minutes off 106 balls - all very good stuff to watch and the proposed lead was now well and truly surpassed - and still 30 minutes to lunch! Richie had sped from 50 to 91 (and without any recognition of his 50 may well have thought he was still in the 40s) and then had none of the strike, both with Bakesy and the new batsman X at the crease. His century was not long in coming however - yet another boundary saw him hear much clapping from the sidelines. It had been a faultless innings - no slogging, everything that he wanted to hit coming off the middle of the bat, the good balls left. One of the best innings this reporter has witnessed from a Uni. player. Smithy hit a couple of good shots and then ran himself out! Richie had called for a second, X hadn't heard the call and, with both at the same end the Club President did what any Club President, lower order batsman, man in need of a drink would do - left his crease so that Richie would be home and ran flat out towards the Clubrooms. Tom Roach then proceeded to play a faultless innings, following on from his 90 in the two's last weekend. Not one 'play and miss' and so on whilst Richie went to 116* and the skipper called them in 5 minutes before the scheduled luncheon adjournment with a lead of 187. So - a lead of 187 with about 240 minutes to bowl out New Town for a second time. And now come the plusses and minuses in a game played over two weekends. Uni.'s two opening bowlers this season had been called up to the Tasmanian team and were at the other end of the State! Hopefully one or both will actually get a game. On the plus side New Town's non-playing/playing coach was probably suffering from last Saturday and wasn't playing today! So the opening attack saw Gordy downhill (he's been hoping for that for years but probably not in these circumstances). Joined by - Beany, with the new ball! No repeat of last week's opening devastation - we had to wait until Gordy's second over for the first wicket - lbw, New Town 1/1. Should have been 2/1 by the end of the over but for someone who had seen the ball so well whilst batting a regulation slips catch was grassed. Given the bowling attack available skipper Thommo rang the changes frequently - Rhett on for Beany, Roachy on for Gordy, Gordy on for Rhett and the second breakthrough gave Uni. their second wicket off Roachy - a good running catch at deep fine-leg by Gordy. Beany back on - and soon it was 3/62 with Paine (TD) taking a good catch off a thick edge. Next ball 4/62 - the quicker Beany flipper. Josh on a hat-trick and the end of resistance? Enter Nosworthy. First ball another quick one - hits the batsman on the toe, on the full, in line; to the dismay of all fielders, viewers and probably the batsman himself - not out! Things progressed averagely for Uni. approaching tea and even more initiative was called upon, especially whilst Nosworthy continued on his 'one-eyed' charge. Whilst Paine (NJR) attempted to show his warm-up drills to the skipper it was Samurai X who got the call up to buy a wicket. His first few balls well and truly fell into that job description. Oh that Rocket could describe the half-trackers that ensued - and one could nearly have got that wicket that was needed. By Smithy's second over he was landing them well (which meant that he wouldn't ever get anothet over) and there is no photo evidence of the event ever happening. So tea was taken - New Town needing to bat out, Uni. still needing 5 wickets. Having had his compulsary hour's break, Gordy came straight back on after tea. New Town were soon two more wickets down - the first a great caught and bowled; the second to brilliant diving bat-pad catch to Paine (TD) behind the stumps, after consultation with the square-leg umpire. Beany was still ambling in at the other end and got the next two - another lbw and then an amazing reflex catch at slip by someone who normally fields a wee bit further away! Still two wickets to get - Roachy back on. 5.30 and things are looking a bit harder. Rochy's first ball - Nosworthy lbw, and then maybe enough dissent to see him take a break from cricket for a while. New Town's last pair did not take the option of batting out the time - basically they just flayed! They got close but Beany got their last wicket (and his fifth) with New Town 4 runs short of making Uni. bat again. Really must add that Smithy bowled 2-0-5-0 and Paine (NJR) 4-2-8-0 So it's an outright for the good guys and maybe third on the ladder? Graeme Cunningham's innings was a joy to watch, the use of a very depleted bowling attack in the second innings likewise.

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