Tasmania University Cricket Club
Scores and Reports
Season 2007/08
First Grade
Round 1 v. North Hobart (Kookaburra Cup)
Played at the University Oval, 20th. October 2007.
(Toss won by : North Hobart)
Rhett Lockyear 113 Graeme Cunningham 111* |
Jo Hoang 3-35 Rhett Lockyear 2-28 Gordon Kerr 2-56 |
view full scorecard
The new season arrived and the opening day was like no other in recent memory for many reasons. Firstly there was not a cloud in the sky and 20 degrees forecast. Those congregated were trying to remember the last time that had been the case! And more importantly when was the last time that Uni. had two centurians and a bowler taking a hat-trick? There are those who may trawl the stats but I'd be so bold to predict that they would be wasting their time. The Oval and the strip looked better than ever - great work Jason. Uni. welcomed back two old boys (Gordon Kerr after a spell in the bush and England) and Ben Coombs (a spell with Lindisfarne and time in Queensland). A new captain in Richie and with Beany absent due to a family bereavment it was a very young team that took to the field. Oh - and a few new rules should get a mention I suppose. A foot fault gives a batsman a free shot, two 'power plays' (one to each team) and only eleven players in a team this year. The 'power play' was getting a lot of discussion - when to use it as the batting team? Who calls it - the batsmen or the skipper? The last question was succinctly answered by the Uni. captain - "the two at the crease can call it - but if they do and I'm not out there they'll be playing second grade next week". 
North's chose to have a bowl first and it seemed that they had made the right decision early on. A new opening partnership of Scooter and China L (yes, we're back
to two 'Chinas' in the team) found the going tough with the pitch doing a bit early. Both had departed by the 7th. over and Lockdog and China P settled in to set
things aright. When Painey the Elder went the soring rate was just above two but Rhett seemed to be finding a bit of touch. Remstar (obviously brought into the side
to use his leggies instead of Beany) batted patiently and turned the strike over well, giving the Dog a chance to begin to flex his muscle(s).
Rhett did have a life in the twenties when he swep a ball straight to short fine leg who kindly decided to grass it. Remi finally succumbed to running up and down the
pitch and did a hammy. Play was delayed whilst Scotter padded up as a runner but probably shouldn't have bothered as he was only out there for two balls before
lack of hamstring work saw the end of Remstar.
This brought Richie to the crease. There had been some discussion amongst the gathered faithful about the new batting order. Rhett and Richie have been batting at 3 and 4 for the last couple of years. Now we had Rhett at 4 and Richie at 6! They were the two highest run scores in the TCA last year. Was this ploy going to pay dividends or back-fire? Rhett was now powering along quite nicely and was about 46 when joined by Richie. Four overs later Lockdog had brought up his 50 and Richie was on 23 (off 16 balls). 34 overs gone and Uni. had moved to about 130. 
The final 16 overs should be something that any fans of batting will remember for a long time. The shots that were played by both of these guys were phenominal.
North Hobart didn't know what hit them (nor did the car in the street over the hedge, the hedge itself, the road). Richie went through three bats in his innings, the
North Hobart bowlers watched the ball racing for fours or flying for sixes and the amassed fans just looked on in awe. Sorry - missed Richie's 50 but he obviously
made that! And we still hadn't taken our 'power play'!
That was taken in the 41st. over. What ensued was utter and delightful mayhem.  I'm given to understand that this block of 5 overs yielded 75 runs! Rhett had
reached 97 with Richie on 91 and someone said he'd need a six to catch up. Next ball - you've guessed it and both were on 97. Richie got there first and Rhett
two balls later. The carnage continued with the Dog at one point taking guard facing square leg! Eventually he holed out with a couple of overs to go and Rosco
made his First Grade debut, no further wickets falling.
An amazing batting display and obviously the tactics worked. Absolutely brilliant to watch. Gordy took the new ball with Fenna and North began in much the same vein as had Uni. Fenna made the breaktrough with an edge taken low down at slip by Richie (does he ever drop one)? 
The run-rate started to climb of course and, with so many bowlers available, it would be easy to ring the changes. The slower bowlers were always going to do better on a first day of the season wicket. The coach's son-in-law was always going to be the danger and he hit some hefty
shots. Scooter replaced Gordy and led out with a wicket maiden - a catch at long off. I'd like to note here that that was due to the skipper dropping mid off back -
great thinking.
Then some more great catching by Richie to dismiss JD off the first of the spinners. What ensued was an unfortunate display that would earn North's a large minus figure in the Spirit of Cricket thingy - but I'll leave that up to the proper authority to sort out. All I'll say is that I haven't seen anything like it in TCA cricket. Matty Lister joined in the classic catches comp. as well and North were now well and truly behind the eight ball. Coombsy had a couple of overs. Matty Lister came on and was to bowl a straight 9 overs. Chris Free was now hitting the ball (nearly) as well as the two Uni. stars and things started to look too close for comfort. Whilst the run-rate was over ten an over Norths, all of a sudden, were scoring ten an over. With nine to go it was back to Joey and Gordy to see out the innings (and a victory?). Free was caught in the deep trying to keep the rate up which allowed a sigh of relief from the faithfull. And so to Joey. Nick behind - out; next ball middle stump - out; third ball (fielders up even though we still had to win the game) hit on the pads, on the full, dead in-line with middle stump - out! You beauty - and was Joey a happy chappy! Gordy demolished the castle next over and that was that. A great victory for this young team. Great captaincy, good fielding (won't mention the sitter here Fenna) and a good spirit. Some of the best striking of the ball you'll ever see (but I hope to see more this season) and a win first up. What a day.  |
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