**Season Openers**
Cricket Web Red 286 & 367
Australia 'A' 271 & 342
Cricket Web Red won by 40 runs
Men of the match: Vishnu Reddy & Marc71178
Coach's Comments:
A few scary moments in this one. When Australia was 142/1 in the 2nd innings it really looked like they would pull off a win. Then captain Marc71178 brought himself on to bowl and took wickets in his 3rd and 5th over to set the Aussies back. Reddy and the other bowlers then finished the job. It was allround a very encouraging performance by the Red team. The batsmen found it a bit tough in the first innings, but the dependable Eyes Only held in there and got a good total built around her.
The heroics then moved to the bowlers, as Yaju, Reddy (career best haul) and Dave all bowled really well and Australia 'A' lost 6 for 67 at the end of their innings. Batting with a slim lead, contributions came throughout the order against top bowling by Bracken, with crucial knocks from Marc71178 (another half century without carrying on though...), Imran Khan Jr. and Pratyush Agarwal. Great start to the season!
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New Zealand 'A' 462 & 61/3
Cricket Web Green 152 & 370
New Zealand 'A' won by 7 wickets
Man of the match: RJ Nicol
Coach's Comments:
I was speechless whilst watching this performance by the Cricket Web Green team. After labouring in the field for a day and a half, the Green seamers finally dismissed NZ. There were only two truly notable bowling performances - that of Xavier Rose and Master Blaster. Rose proved extremely penetrative in short spurts, but needs to work on his stamina. Master Blaster was the typical veteran which is needed - tight line and length. The batting wasn't much better than the bowling, and the score was 87/8 (!) before SquidAU (very impressive) and Xavier Rose ressurected it somewhat.
Still, following on the Greens were never really in it anymore, even though they showed much better application in the second innings, boosted by an outstanding century on debut from Jason Toogood. Brilliant innings indeed! Not a very pleasant start to the season, but with such a lack of experience in the team, this one can be forgiven.
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Veterans XI 465 & 272/5d
Cricket Web Blue 273 & 345
Veterans XI won by 119 runs
Man of the match: ME Waugh
Coach's Comments:
Not much to say here except 'Mark Waugh'. When Waugh scores two dominant hundreds in the game (although dropped twice on 5 by Jamee999 and on 99 by Vimes in the second innings) you're not going to have much of a chance. The rookie seamers were really shocking in the first innings against the might of Waugh and Richards. Only David Kennett of the quicker bowlers showed the correct application. It was spin that did the trick, however, manifested in Tom Halsey with career best figures.
Batting, a few batsmen got starts but then threw it away. Back in the field early wickets went to Nath and Hallett, but Waugh did the trick again. Bhooth Nath and Patrick Fisher were the picks of the bowlers here in a better effort on the flattish track. Chasing a huge target, almost everyone got starts again, but frustratingly fell away to admittedly good bowling. Much work to be done.
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India A 346 & 367/3d
England 'A' 338 & 267
India A won by 108 runs
Man of the match: G Gambhir
The overpowering Indian batting talent shines through again.
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South Africa 'A' 201 & 297
Zimbabwe XI 284 & 218/5
Zimbabwe XI won by 5 wickets
Man of the match: GW Flower
Zimbabweans get it done against their fellow Africans.
