Cricket Web Green v Cricket Web Colts
in CWBCC Stadium
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
Cricket Web Green showed glimpses of good cricket against Colts, particularly in the first innings, where they built the advantage they would later rely on in the closing stages. However, they nearly threw it away, and but for good spells of quick bowling from Bryce Cunningham and Xavier Rose, Colts may have made up the required 40 runs.
Green batted first, and after Andrew Garven inside edged Thomas for 15, Rob Malone and Nick Scott built a solid partnership, batting through to lunch without any further trouble except for the aerial sweep that went past Kyle Wright's fingertips. In the same over, Malone swept to square leg again hor his fifty, but fell shortly after lunch to an excellent catch from Greg Thomas.
Colts bowled very well after lunch, but wasted their chances, and once again Green wrested the match away from them. With Lezama dropped on nil and Dravid three times in four overs, the two put on 96 for the sixth wicket, and after Goughy whipped in with 28, Green totalled a respectable 319, the highest first-innings total of the day.
Colts collapsed in two bouts. First from 50 for nought to 54 for three, then from 165 for four to 239 all out. Only Jasotharan and Hancock managed to contribute a significant flow of runs, while Towns was the only one to put together an innings of significant length. Credit must go to Xavier Rose for patient and consistently quick bowling, which yielded three wickets for 46, all top-order batters who were beaten for pace.
Green had a cushion of 80; or so they thought. However, Nick Hancock's spell provided the most remarkable passage of play. After the openers had gone for 11 and 6, Scott and Rodgie looked to calmly bat out the day before pouncing on the third morning. Instead, Hancock claimed a brace of wickets, and coupled that with plenty of seam movement on the third morning which gave him three more wickets. Rodgie was left stranded on 45 not out after Thomas cleaned up the tail, leaving Colts 199 to chase.
However, laden skies, a wearing pitch with unpredictable bounce, and no one really possessing the necessary grit to bat out the fourth innings, meant that the target was always going to be difficult. Pitt and Burke batted solidly together for 19 overs, but Cunningham struck thrice with ten deliveries, before another Jasotharan-Towns partnership. Jasotharan did miss the ball with the bat once during his 28-ball innings: a ball delivered over the wicket hit the thigh pad after seaming back in, Colts were in deep trouble. Batting well into the night didn't help, and Colts lost Towns and Hancock before stumps, leaving 84 required for the final four wickets.
Bharat was the last recognised batter, and after Weber left after a brief cameo, she was forced to hit the runs required. She attempted it, hitting nine off Cunningham's first over, before dragging a drive into Dravid's waiting hands. That left the clean-up for Cunningham, who got figures of six for 33 after an excellent spell of bowling, which also included Wright being dropped the ball before Cameron held him.
Cricket Web Green 319 all out (Malone 63, Lezama 59, Scott 51, Dravid 51; Wright 3/83, Weber 2/32)
Cricket Web Colts 239 all out (Jasotharan 73, Hancock 42*; Rose 3/46, Cunningham 3/48)
Cricket Web Green 118 all out (Rodgie 45*; Hancock 5/25)
Cricket Web Colts 159 all out (Cunningham 6/33)
Cricket Web Green won by 39 runs
Man of the Match: Bryce Cunningham
Points: Green 20, Colts 4.
Cricket Web Red v Cricket Web Blue
in CWBCC Stadium
Scorecard
Ball By Ball
Once again, Blue threw away a winning position: at 79 for nought, with Young and Cribb well settled, they only needed 143 to overcome Red's first innings total. Then Young padded up to Dave Watt, the middle order collapsed pathetically to some good deliveries from Edmunds, and another stellar innings from Håkon Mørk led the way to a huge second-innings total and the top of the table.
First, however, Red had thrown their chance at batting first. With Kearsley run out on eight and Mamesh recording a golden duck against Demeza's outswinger, Red struggled to 104 for five, but Zach Ritchie got his maiden first-class fifty and Mørk top-scored with a faultless 63 before dragging Collins on. Collins once again emerged with credit, while Demeza cleared out the tail to end with a slightly fortunate five-for.
After Kennett and Watt once again wasted the new ball, with no-balls and wides abundant, Watt got the key breakthrough in his second spell, and Edmunds levelled the game with three big wickets. Camps and Cribb gritted out 36 runs in 24 overs after tea on day two, but Edmunds claimed Cribb just before the new ball arrived, and Watt and Kennett removed the final wickets in style to leave Red with a slender lead of 20.
It quickly grew. Though Collins, Patrick and Halsey got each of their top order men out, Markus settled in well, and made 80 after being handed two lives. That was the first century partnership, but the second was the clincher: Mørk batted well into his fourth session before settling for a chanceless 163, after charging Halsey and ending up with a top edge to Camps. Robbins, Ritchie and Kennett ground Blue further into the ground, with Kennett stranded on a 109-ball innings, and Blue were faced with a world-record target of 523.
Their performance was creditable, and going into the fifth day they had a sniff of victory still, as 299 runs were required and eight wickets were still intact. But Andrew Cloete nipped a return catch to Kennett in the third over, and despite Young battling through an 80-over marathon. his old nemesis the new ball was enough to induce a hoik to Dauth. That left Blue at 300 for five; anything else than a Red win was going to take a mirale, and despite Halsey sticking about for an hour after lunch, he fell as part of a triple-wicket maiden from David Kennett to end the game.
Cricket Web Red 222 all out (Mørk 63, Ritchie 50; Demeza 5/53)
Cricket Web Blue 207 all out (Cribb 64; Edmunds 4/36, Watt 4/46)
Cricket Web Red 507 all out (Mørk 163, Robbins 95, Markus 80, Ritchie 56; Halsey 4/85)
Cricket Web Blue 347 all out (Young 143, Cloete 76; Kennett 6/101)
Cricket Web Red won by 175 runs
Man of the Match: Håkon Mørk
Points: Red 18, Blue 4.