Tasmania University Cricket Club
Scores and Reports
Season 2004/05
First Grade
Round 8 v. Kingborough (Kookaburra Cup)
Played at the University Oval, 18th. December 2004.
(Toss won by : Kingborough)
Brad Thomas 3-24 Scott Nichols 2-16 |
Brad Thomas 70* Nick (JR) Paine 28* |
This match against the ‘Enemy from the South’ was transferred to the Lions’ Den from Kingston Beach Oval because the pitch at Kingston had to be dug up during the week as it was ‘substandard’ according to the TCA. Oh well, we got a home game for our Christmas function so it worked out well in the end. Apologies to third grade and Under 17s who missed out on turf matches at Uni and at Kingston Beach respectively. The day promised to be hot, very hot! Scooter and China L arrived back from the Under 19 carnival (with 6 hours of sleep between them!) and Scooter received a generous round of applause from the boys for making the Australian Under 19 team. Kingborough wanted to toss early so we did. Brad wanted to bat but he lost the toss and we were sent into the field. Brad took the new ball with Hilfy due to Nessie’s court appearance in Swan Hill cum 12th man duties for Tassie in Sydney. The skipper showed he has lost nothing with the ball (even though he hadn’t bowled all season and hadn’t taken a wicket to this point in time) by claiming the first two wickets and they were BIG wickets too! He had Clark Senior caught at the wicket by the shortest and slowest ball ever bowled and trapped their dangerman Gloury in front. Hilfy chimed in by having French caught by Lurch in the slips and in the mad celebrations the skipper managed to run through the keeper Paine and give him a bad corkie above the knee. With TD Paine off the ground, Paine (NJR) donned the gloves. And it wasn’t long before he was called in to action. The skipper chimed in with another BIG scalp when he had the retiring DiVenuto caught at the wicket by Paine(NJR). We all clapped Pete off and got on with it. 4 for 41 and we were looking good. China L was introduced to the bowling crease for his first over in first grade cricket and he claimed the wicket of Williams, trapped in front whilst falling over and sweeping in the same motion. 5 for 55 and we were still looking good. Our fielding was spot-on except for the replacement keeper who was dropping everything except for the important ones! But it was getting hotter! Lovell and O’Connell formed a little partnership before Bean claimed Lovell and Barwin chipped in for one as well shortly afterwards. Clark Junior didn’t last long as he was run out by a combined effort from Barwin and the keeper Paine (NJR). 8 for 108 and everything was looking rosy. O’Connell and Swards combined for a frustrating 42 run partnership before Scooter trapped O’Connell in front for a well-made 59 runs. Scooter yorked Knott off the next ball and the Knights had fallen on their own swards – all out for 150. Given Scooter's hectic schedule in the coming months he may well have to wait 'til the first game of next season to complete his hat-trick - Guinness Book of Records suff - a hat-trick completed in 9 months! Not a bad effort but it would take some getting with our slightly depleted batting line-up. Even so, Scooter and China L were returning from the national carnival as ‘success stories’ in their own right and their confidence levels were very high. We had every reason to be very confident. The umpires walked into the rooms at the break and told us we had been penalised 18 runs for bowling our overs too slowly and left the room. That didn’t make a lot of sense to us considering that we had bowled spinners all day, we had run between overs and we had bowled them out in the 48th over. A quick look at the rules book confirmed that we had until 2:45 p.m. to bowl the overs and it was only 2:24 p.m. at the time. The umpires did what John Howard can’t do and said sorry. It came out very hot as Lurch and Bakesy took the field to pen up our innings. Both players were looking very solid. A blistering off-drive for 4 from Lurch and a clip off he toes for a boundary sixer from Bakesy were the stand-out shots. Lurch got a pull shot off the splice to short mid wicket and we were 1 for 30. Bakesy and Thommo combined for a 24 run partnership before Bakesy was dismissed. Scooter (run out dubiously) and X (giving Diva his last wicket in grade cricket, he was probably his first as well!) fell cheaply and at 4 for 74 we were looking a little shaky.  However, Paine (NJR) and the captain came together and immediately they looked comfortable together. They started slowly but after a while they began to set the place on fire (right about the time Bakesy was setting his arm on fire getting the spit roast started). In one over China P hit O’Connell for two 4s and a towering 6 that hit the clock on the scoreboard – a very timely stroke!
 Brad’s innings was nothing short of superb. He played all of the shots in the book and demonstrated why he is held in such high regard by all of his peers. He is batting as well as he ever has done. He is completely on top of his game. He knows his limitations (and there aren’t too many) and plays within them.
 It was left to Paine (NJR) to cap off a fine day by hitting the winning runs and the two of them embraced in a victorious (and relieved) fashion and strode off the ground with great pride.
We shook hands with the opposition and belted out the club song. Two wins from the last two matches before Christmas sees us in the four. Given our traditionally strong finish to the season we should be aiming for the top two. On with the spit……….Let the good times roll…….. |
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