Cricket Web Red v Cricket Web Blue
at CW Oval
At 244 for 2 in the first innings, Red were comfortable favourites in their home ground. From that point on, everything turned blue for the Reds, despite Tharmi Loganathan's first five-wicket-haul in his fifth match for the club.
Håkon Mørk and Ian Markus, having added 64 together, were both dismissed in successive overs - Mørk having made his first ton of the season, but not without problems, as he flirted with the edge numerous times and was dropped at least thrice. From that point on, no batsman passed 15, as Tom Halsey ripped out three wickets mid-innings and Fuller and Demeza cleaned the Reds up for 306.
It looked a sizeable total - especially when David Kennett had CW XI team-mates Liam Camps and Brendon Goff caught in the outfield and Blue were 24 for 2. However, Peter Young ascended to the top of the run-scoring tables with a stunning century, and his second double-century partnership of the season. He shared the limelight with Andrew Cloete - the Blue batsman thumped his thirtieth first class century in commanding fashion, and when he was eventually lbw to Loganathan, Blue trailed by just 62. There was no roll-over, either - Tom Halsey continued his Afridi-esque batting form with six fours and a huge six before he was caught out to Watt's bowling, while Loganathan got a chance to complete the five-for when he had Nath Patrick caught behind on the first ball of an over. The off-spinner was seen licking his lips at the prospect of five balls at Trav Demeza; he only needed one, as Demeza failed to play at a straight one and was gone for a golden.
Batting second, Reds lacked application; Adam Collins ran through twice as Red slipped from 83 for 1 to 108 for 5, and despite a small recovery ignited by a well-played 42 not out from Kenny Dobson, the lower order provided insignificant resistance. Set a target of 86, Blue flirted with destiny when Sean Fuller ordered Trav Demeza to pad up "for a laugh" - and duly sent him in when Liam Camps was caught for a two-ball duck. It didn't take long for Dave Watt to remove Demeza for his umpteenth career duck, but Brendon Goff batted through to stumps and then swiftly saw the end to proceedings on the fourth morning.
Cricket Web Red 306 all out
Cricket Web Blue 411 all out
Cricket Web Red 190 all out
Cricket Web Blue 86 for 3
Cricket Web Blue won by 7 wickets
Man of the Match: Peter Young
Cricket Web Colts v Cricket Web Green
at Goffmouth Park
The pitch at Goffmouth was not at all a minefield, despite the best efforts from the Colts' and Green batsmen to make it look that way. Matt Pitt and Stephen Burke exploited that early on, as the bowlers were carted around; the opening partnership of 102 took a mere 18.1 overs, a good rate for one-day cricket. Xavier Rose went for 40 in his opening five overs, and the damage to his economy rate caused him to end with 73 runs off 10.4 overs.
However, the Colts failed to back up the good start with more runs down the order, and the middle order showed worrying signs before the second innings. Andy Cameron got plenty of seam movement to end with four for 56, while Nick Hancock was the third-highest scorer with a mere 27. Thus, the Colts were all out for 246, after a last-wicket partnership worth 26 between Hancock and Greg Thomas.
Carnage followed when Green batted. Rob Malone was bowled in the third over by Thomas, and that set the tone of the innings, though it wasn't until Nick Hancock was introduced as second-change bowler that the Colts really got going with the ball. Hancock bowled unchanged through 10.2 overs, getting Lezama (bowled 20), Garven (caught Wright 11), Gaukroger (caught Rai 0), Bharanidharan (lbw 8), Rose (c Nayak 2) and Cameron (caught Burke 5), for mind-boggling figures of six for 24, the second-best in the league all year and Hancock's third five-for this season. Lezama's 20 was the highest score; it was followed by four 11s, including Tarick Weber, who was deserted by his batting partners and could only stare painfully at the 84 shining from the Goffmouth scoreboard.
Green refused to give up, however. Xavier Rose was determined to not let Pitt and Burke get away with it this time around, and he got immediate help from Bryce Cunningham, who had Pitt caught for a golden duck with the first ball of the innings. Then, Rose swung through the defenses. He removed four men for less than four, and also had Nayak out en route to his best bowling figures of the season with five for 43. Tail-end resistance from Kyle Wright (highest scorer, with 24 not out), DK Rai (18) and Greg Thomas (10) took Colts past 100, with Wright and Thomas' last-wicket stand of 32 the highest of the innings.
Colts had 280 runs to play with despite the woeful batting effort, and when three wickets fell in successive orders and Green slipped to 88 for 5, they were huge favourites. Enter "Haddin" Vaughan, whose first class credentials included getting dismissed for a golden duck in the first innings and holding a catch off Hancock. However, he wanted to show his worth - first, he batted until stumps (on day two still), without getting dismissed, tugging Green back to 159 for 5 with the aid of batting partner Bryce Cunningham. And the two just batted - and batted - and batted. Shortly before the scheduled lunch, Vaughan drove through midwicket for two runs that brought up a debut century, and Cunningham got the honour of hitting the winning runs shortly afterwards. Their partnership of 192 not out for the fifth wicket took the game away from the Colts, who had to be satisfied with four first-innings bonus points.
Cricket Web Colts 246 all out
Cricket Web Green 84 all out
Cricket Web Colts 117 all out
Cricket Web Green 280 for 5
Cricket Web Green won by five wickets
Man of the Match (changed after the game due to the revelation that the man of the match adjudicator had been bribed by a Ruritanian government official): Ben "Haddin" Vaughan
you might have saved him a jail sentence!
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