Monday 16th August
Australia A v Cricket Web Blue
Leading into the match there were concerns expressed by various players as to the readiness of the PDV Dome to produce quality cricket. With what many regard as the quickest pitch in the world, some batsmen shuddered at the thought of playing on it. With that in mind, Australia A had absolutely no hesitation in inserting the Blues upon winning the toss.
Craig and StUEy made their way to the middle and prepared themselves to do battle, but the former didn't last long until he was run out brilliantly by Symonds. Broncoman replaced him and looked in great form, stroking two fours through the covers and pulling twice for a couple more. He looked so set that his dismissal was doubly unexpected, dragging on whilst attempting to drive.
All the while the pitch wasn't causing too many horrors and Peter Young settled in comfortably. StUEy (dropped on 63, 125 and 127) charged on at the other end and reached yet another FC hundred from 157 balls. When he was finally out, his replacement was Toogood and he settled in nicely too. Both Young and Toogood reached quality half-centuries and added 89 runs between them. Alas Young was run out by Noffke and the innings looked like it might fold quickly with the Aussie bowlers suddenly getting charged up. An unbeaten half-century from prodigy Daniel Muhaffy held the situation in control though and the Blues were all out for 466.
Early success for Nath Patrick but then a long toil against the batting of Hussey (dropped by Jellett of Toogood on 46 and off Muhaffy on 77) and Love. The eventual breakthrough came via a fantastic catch at cover by Halsey, who then claimed Love a couple of overs later. Only Symonds and Bichel (dropped by Patrick off Muhaffy and Broncoman off Patrick) made any significant contributions from then in, but the likes of Hogg, Noffke and Bracken frustrated by sticking around for a while - 370 all out.
Having banked 96 runs on first innings, the Blues set about to play positively the second time around, but lost Craig early once more. Broncoman again looked in supreme touch and this time advanced to a half-century. His departure at 125/2 came at a time when run scoring seemed a bit tough against the soft ball. Still StUEy stuck to his natural game and blasted Hogg for 17 runs in an over, reaching his second century of the match from 136 balls. No one in the middle order succeeded at their attempts for quick runs and the Blues declaration came 6.3 overs into day five.
This left Australia A needing 349 runs from 84 overs, a chase which they started admirably. Broncoman dropped Hussey on 4 (off Patrick) and Muhaffy floored a return catch from Maher on 15. Those two chances hurt the Blues and 75 runs were added before the first breakthrough came via Muhaffy. Jellett later missed a very tough chance off Hussey's bat and Muhaffy's bowling and, despite a testing spell of legspin from Halsey, the Aussies batted to the close due a good partnership of 78 unbroken between Blewett and Symonds.
Cricket Web Blue 1st Innings 466 all out
Australia 'A' 1st Innings 370 all out
Cricket Web Blue 2nd Innings 252 for 8 dec.
Australia 'A' 2nd Innings 202 for 4
Match Drawn.
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England A v Cricket Web Green
The skies were overcast, but everything else was well-suited to batting at Cairns, so England A batted first on winning the toss. Age Master hinted that he may have bowled first regardless. Xavier Rose took the new ball and had Troughton dropped on 3 in his second over, Biased Indian the culprit. He would soon be reprieved, however, as he caught the same batsman for 5 in the next David Jr. over. Jr. continued to work up some sharp pace and troubled the batsmen, seeing Ward dropped by Sanz then Bell dropped by Indian.
The slippery hands spread and 'keeper Only put down Ward off the same bowler, David Jr. Hardly able to believe his luck, he was then replaced by Delkap. He and Sanz bowled tightly to contain the batsmen and England A reached lunch at 67/1. After lunch, Biased Indian wasted no time in dismissing the man he'd dropped, Bell LBW. Delkap followed up getting Shah and Indian was back in the act again as he dropped his third catch of the game, Pieterson off Rose.
Ward's eventual half-century at the top of the innings combined with Pieterson's solid middle order 40 and Ed Smith's 36 as the Greens pegged away on the flat wicket. Ultimately Rose sped in and wrapped up the tail quickly to haul another FC 5-wicket bunch - 236 all out.
The great job done by the Greens given the nature of the pitch was followed up by a good opening stand of 77. Kabir Ali took the first wicket and went on to snare 4 more. Only Cloete, with another thumping hundred, and Lord of Darkness showed any resistance from the openers downward and the innings closed on 261 - a lead of 25. The slim lead soon evaporated and the English openers started strongly.
Age Master missed a difficult chance to run out Ward before he'd scored and he went on to score a half-century, as did his partner Troughton. Troughton's was a destructive innings, particularly taking on Sanz and Delkap. Upon his dismissal the runscoring was far more tame as the bowlers set about to be patient. The Englishmen didn't look like getting out though, as evidenced by a wonderful hundred from the phenom that is Pieterson. That hundred, as well as Chris Read's 48 took England to 390 all out and set up a very difficult chase of 366 on a very much deteriorating pitch.
Cracks laced the surface and the bounce was unpredictable. The English bowlers were straight and on a length and a fierce riser from Silverwood took care of Eyes, fending to gully. Extra bounce also accounted for Cloete and then a ball from Cork crept under the bat of Loony Bob. It looked a really desperate situation, more so when Age Master flicked to Cork at short midwicket and then Blewy was given out LBW to a ball he clearly nicked onto pad. It seemed that everything was against the Greens on this day and that made Biased Indian's innings of 41 even better. In hellish batting conditions and against very good bowling, his knock was the glue for the dilapidated CW innings.
Xavier Rose came in with the score at 74/6 and not much left in the tank. His mindset was consequently to attack and, much to the delight of the home crowd, he launched Cork for consecutive boundaries and then took Kabir Ali for a massive six over midwicket followed by a four to the same area. With Indian he added 50 from just 40 balls and was finally out caught well at backward point just before day four's close.
Some 34 minutes were lost at the start of day five, but the England A bowlers wasted little time in finishing off the Greens when they got some play in.
England 'A' 1st Innings 236 all out
Cricket Web Green 1st Innings 261 all out
England 'A' 2nd Innings 390 all out
Cricket Web Green 2nd Innings 164 all out
England 'A' won by 201 runs.
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Cricket Web Black v Cricket Web Red
Before Season 7, the selection of Neil Pickup as Cricket Web Black posed several questions from the media. In his first game with the duties his team performed creditably but ended with a draw. Heading into the second game the hopes were to play more aggressively and force a result.
Pickup's quest started well and the home captain won the toss on good looking SCG pitch with some good bounce in it. He made the aggressive call and elected to bowl first. The rewards were immediate and Broadbent got Vimes with his first delivery. That would be the start of a very threatening spell from the Black seamer. Bugssy settled in nicely but never looked on top of the bowling and was caught behind of Broadbent eventually - 38/2. Mookerjee continued to bat solidly and looked a rock at his end of strike. With Marc71178, the 50-run partnership came up from 114 balls.
Finally Mookerjee fell to Blaster after a 3-hour vigil and Markus and Deeps failed to impact the situation after - 114/5. Just when the Reds captain looked set for a big score, his opposing number intervened. Marc attempted to slog sweep Pickup just after tea (bowling around the wicket outside legstump) and just topedged to be caught by Broadbent at short fine leg. Ash Chaulk had early dropped him off his captain's bowling.
The pitch, although still on day one, now had cracks in the surface due to the hot overhead weather and Pickup was preying upon them. He snared Ghansar and Jagaways to close catches and had Mr Ponting dropped by Eclipse at legslip when he was on 1. Ponting would take that life dearly and went on to score his fifth FC fifty batting at 9. Dave couldn't hang around with him, caught bat/pad, but Mr Wright did so admirably and batted for 35 balls in support and then ended not out when Mr Ponting was yorked by Broadbent - 217 all out.
Charged up by his fiery performance and success of the opening fixture, Mr Ponting steamed in and bowled a series of 95+mph bouncers in his opening spell. Rich_2001 and Eclipse were more than up to the task though and he was played for 20 runs in that 5-over burst. Dave had a very close LBW shout against Rich when he was on 2 and Hawkeye showed the ball to be clipping legstump. Before long the 150 partnership was celebrated from a handy 311 balls. At 156, Rich_2001 was deceived by a slower one from Ponting and offered a return catch, out for a well-played 71. Former Red batsman Jagaways replaced him at the crease and started on his way to a half-century of his own with positive play. Eclipse was in top form and looked as solid as they come, getting to 99 and then driving aerially to be caught low down at cover.
The middle order largely got starts but no one else carried past 50. The Reds seamers worked hard under the blazing sun but found nothing from the SCG surface. Ferd and Dark Hunter batted well but both missed out on fifties and the Blacks wrapped at a very impressive 449 all out. Dave had 3 catches dropped off him (including Chaulk twice) and thus finished with rather unflattering figures.
Faced with the uphill battle against a 232-run first innings deficit, the Reds took to the middle once again. Little did they know the devastation that would follow. Mookerjee and Vimes saw out the 10 overs left on day two and began the third day at 11/0.
The outfield by now was still very fast, but the pitch showed many cracks and invariable bounce - to the dismay and surprise of the Marc and co. Broadbent brought joy early on day three and bowled Mookerjee in the 19th over. The opening stand of 26 was now broken and all hell would follow. Bugssy, Marc and Deeps came and went amidst a fine spell of seam bowling from allrounder Dark Hunter, who claimed all three - 42/4. Ian Markus hung about for a bit with Sam Vimes until the Reds 'keeper was given out caught behind pushing forward to Neil Pickup. Replays were inconclusive but it ended Vimes' gutsy 84-ball stint nonetheless.
Blaster bowled full and straight and got decisions against Markus and Ghansar to go his way and suddenly the score was 56/7. Khan Jr got off the mark but was the next victim of Blaster's caught behind flicking down the legside - 60/8. The danger of being dismissed for the lowest Dev League total ever was even more real when Blaster took his fourth wicket and had Dave caught at slip with the last ball before lunch - 66/9.
Mr Ponting and Mr Wright resumed with the debacle almost complete. Ponting offered a simple chance to Pickup at midon off Blaster, but the Black captain floored it comfortably. He was then dropped by Rich off Pickup but would advance no further in his score as he pushed back to the same bowler to be caught and bowled. The Reds were all out for a record low of 94. An elated Pickup was speechless at the award ceremony.
Cricket Web Red 1st Innings 217 all out
Cricket Web Black 1st Innings 449 all out
Cricket Web Red 2nd Innings 94 all out
Cricket Web Black won by an Innings and 138 runs.
. Hopefully we can get our first win on the board against England A.
