Cricket Web Black vs Cricket Web Green
at the CWBCC Stadium
Scorecard
Commentary
The greatest of players seize a moment and dominate, and the greatest of Development League openers - Simon Fitzsimmons - found such a moment at the CWBCC Stadium. Fitzsimmons slammed 164 and 96 not out and was the clear difference between two sides that were otherwise evenly matched.
Fitzsimmons' first innings 164 came out of a total of 294 and was extremely substantial in CW Black securing a first innings lead of 77. CW Green had been inserted the previous day and struggled to 217 all out with Andrew Garven topscoring. Yet Fitzsimmons made batting look incredibly easy on the surface, breezing through to 119 before he offered his first chance.
Barring Mike Wilson and Callum Thompson though, none of the other Blacks looked quite as comfortable, especially against a rampant Matt Mitchell. Mitchell bowled at good pace and with considerable seam movement. He took a clear career-best of 7 for 49 and ensured the Greens would continue to fight in the game.
But the task at hand for Green was then immense, given their batting struggles of recent times. In light of that, Anthony Lezama battled for 265 balls to score 56 - the top score of the innings. All of the top five Green batsmen got starts, but Lezama was the only one to carry on past the 20s. A score of 224 was the result and it set a target of 148 for CW Black to win.
Cameron and Mitchell quickly dismissed Gray - a 13-ball duck to follow up his 11-ball first innings naught - and Smith, but Alex Blackman and Fitzsimmons then took control, fairly rollicking home by 8 wickets.
Cricket Web Green 1st innings 217 all out
AJ Garven 56, M Gaukroger 44; DP Richards 3-31, CP Thompson 3-55
Cricket Web Black 1st innings 294 all out
SG Fitzsimmons 164, MW Wilson 55, CP Thompson 36; MT Mitchell 7-49
Cricket Web Green 2nd innings 224 all out
A Lezama 56, DY Dubb-Lynch 27; MW Wilson 2-31, Kexing Su 2-36
Cricket Web Black 2nd innings 148-2
SG Fitzsimmons 96*, AJ Blackman 43*; AA Cameron 1-29
Cricket Web Black won by 8 wickets.
Man of the Match: SG Fitzsimmons