Wednesday 10th September
Cricket Web Red vs Masters XI
OD - Chef de Groot Trophy - CW Oval
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
Cricket Web Red captain Håkon Mørk played his finest one-day innings to date and set up a truly memorable win for his team. After the Reds had slumped to dire straits at 134-8, Mørk scored a composed half-century with the least of the tail-enders for company, and set up a competitive total of 209 all out. Even so the Masters XI looked to be chasing the score with ease, until a truly inspired performance by Martin West proved decisive.
The Masters XI had settled in at 177-3 and needed well under 3 per over to complete the game. But a miscue by a well-set Brian Lara (65) kept CW Red in the hunt. Running around at midwicket, West took a good catch to complete the wicket. He then proceeded to fire up with the ball to quite spectacular effect. In the space of 10 balls he rattled through the batting order with 4 wickets. Still not content West bowled outside the offstump and had Kemp edge to a flying Mørk, who took a terrific catch to round off the dismissal. Shane Bond entered with his team, recently on top, struggling to get the 17 needed for victory. He and Chandana added 7 more, then West completed his 6-wicket haul as Chandana sliced the ball to short third man. It completed perhaps the best victory of the season for the Reds, if only due to the fighting spirit on display.
Earlier the Reds lost both openers cheaply, but recovered well enough through David Kearsley and James Robertson, in partnership of 67. But when the former was bowled for 42, the innings went into freefall. CW Red lost 6 wickets for 38 runs and invited their skipper to play hero. The support from David Kennett was invaluable, though he only scored 15 runs in a definitive stand of 70 for the 9th wicket.
Cricket Web Red Innings 209 all out (49.2 overs)
H Mørk 59*, DA Kearsley 42, JA Robertson 37
SK Warne 4-36, SE Bond 3-41
Masters XI Innings 200 all out (43.4 overs)
BC Lara 65, Imran Farhat 38, DM Benkenstein 33
MP West 6-39
Cricket Web Red won by 9 runs.
Men of the Match: H Mørk and MP West (Red)
Cricket Web Blue vs Cricket Web Black
OD - Chef de Groot Trophy - PDV Dome
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
Though back to full strength, Cricket Web Black were pushed right to the limit by Cricket Web Blue, as the match at the Dome went right down to a bitter end. The rivalry between the two teams seemed to be the driving force, and fired up early on when Camps was dropped by Stedman before he had scored. Typical to form, however, Kev Gough got his man, as Camps was caught by Dan Smith at slip for 10. Always a threat, Dinu DeSilva took his place at the crease, but only scored 8 when casual running accounted for his wicket.
Matt Smith then picked up Pete Young before he could settle, and CW Blue were in strife at 61-3. Alas, the superhuman powers at Sean Fuller would not be discounted. He forged an attractive partnership with Stephen Young and Blue fortunes took a turn for the better. The two added 141 and batted into the 42nd over. The Blacks then fought back to run out Young with a spark of brilliance from Gelman. He walked for 67 from 68 balls, but left Fuller en route for another century. Indeed, when the opener was dropped by Blackman on 93, he looked destined to reach the milestone. But a ball later Matt Smith did enough to deceive him with a change of pace, and the umpire agreed that he was hit in line with offstump. The legend gone, normal service resumed, and CW Blue 27-4 from the remaining 6.2 overs.
The score of 236-9 appeared well within range of the Black top order when they began the chase. The openers battered 76 runs during a woeful opening 10 overs, and it was a very unlucky dismissal that separated the pair. Ash Chaulk gloved a ball down the legside to be very well held by Cricket Web XI gloveman, Alex Crampton. Even so the runs flowed, and after James Stedman was caught for 42, the hundred was raised in the 15th over. Manan Shah proceeded to test the depth of the Black batting with the wickets of Dan Smith (8) and Alex Blackman (1) in his next over. Suddenly he had figures of 3-18 and the Blacks wobbled at 111-4.
Andrew Cloete gathered all his experience and ran like a teenager between the wickets, compiling a crucial half-century to get the chase back on track. He needed company to do so, however, and Dan Speirs keenly obliged with a courageous innings of his own. The partnership of 93 was ended by a Sriram legcutter in the 34th over, at which point CW Black needed just 34 with 5 wickets still in hand. However, Sriram complicated that equation further when he bowled Gelman (4) to end a probing wicket-maiden. Speirs remained on 51 and desperately sought company to see the chase through. But although he tried to farm the strike, every time he handed over to his lesser teammates, they fell in disastrous fashion.
Matt Smith played a booming drive against Andy Maina and only succeeded in edging through to Crampton for 0. And in the next over, Gough was run out by DeSilva after indecision turned madness. Sriram then needed just one ball to deal with Nath Patrick, and uprooted his offstump. He was the third player to register a duck in the innings, and invited Neil Pickup to accompany Speirs. He negotiated his first two deliveries, so CW Black entered the final 10 overs needing 22 with Speirs crucial to the chances of victory. And perhaps he should have pushed forward, but the batsman remained rooted on the crease when the ball thudded into his pads and Maina's ensuing appeal turned successful. Dan Smith stared on expressionless from the dressing room, in disbelief that his team had imploded so spectacularly to lose the match.
Cricket Web Blue Innings 236-9 (50 overs)
SE Fuller 93, S Young 67
KJ Gough 4-38
Cricket Web Black Innings 215 all out (40.1 overs)
AP Cloete 58, DG Speirs 53, JE Stedman 42
G Sriram 4-41, M Shah 3-47
Cricket Web Blue won by 21 runs.
Man of the Match: G Sriram
Cricket Web Colts vs Cricket Web Green
OD - Chef de Groot Trophy - Fardin Qayyumi CC
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
In testing conditions, Daniel Towns played a perfectly-paced innings to set up a comfortable win for Cricket Web Colts over Cricket Web Green. Towns was dropped on 12 and again on 91, but was never phased, and scored a boundary and a single off the last two balls of the Colts innings to bring up an even ton.
The Colts batted first and scored 285 all out. Bosco Fitzsimmons (4) and Will Kerr (10) were early casualties, but Arunava Das slipped back into the swing of Dev League cricket with an innings of 85, highlighted by sublime timing and skillful legside play. He lost the company of Chris Butler for 32, but Towns proved a worthy enough partner. The right-hander was dropped by Ben Read behind the stumps before he truly got going, then proceeded to settle in at the crease with clever rotation of the strike and the odd expansive drive. At the dismissal of Das in the 41st over, the innings was set up well for a big score - on 221-4 - and a stunning cameo by Mike Wilson (24 from 15) ensured the goals were met. All that was left then was to see how Towns progressed toward his hundred, which he did in dramatic fashion.
There was a swagger in the step of the Colts when they took their turn in the field. But even so they had to overcome a celebrated CW Green top order. Nick Scott and Ben Read looked to be involved in a spirited stand as the score moved to 70-1 after 13 overs. Andy Pimpkins then entered the attack and dealt for both men in his initial spell. Thamba Mamesh (10) hit consecutive fours and then loosely picked out Kerr at backward point, and an air of implosion hung about the Green camp. Kyle Wright called upon Mike Wilson to all but confirm the result with the wickets of Corrin (34) and Garven (17). Down the order Callum Dinnen tried to close the gap with an innings of 38, and Josh Forner hit a useful 22, but the Colts cruised to victory by an easy 50 runs.
Cricket Web Colts Innings 285-7 (50 overs)
DP Towns 100*, AS Das 85, CR Butler 32
BC Cunningham 2-43
Cricket Web Green Innings 235 all out (47.2 overs)
NG Scott 41, CJ Dinnen 38, M Corrin 34
A Pimpkins 4-41
Cricket Web Colts won by 50 runs.
Man of the Match: DP Towns (Colts)