Tuesday 26th February
Cricket Web Black v Cricket Web Green
Pickford Reserve
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
Cricket Web Green overwhelmed Cricket Web Black by 9 wickets, racing to a target of 262 within 40 overs. Fearless hundreds from Ben Read and Rob Malone jr. structured a double hundred stand and the Greens dealt brilliantly with everything thrown at them by top seeded CW Black.
With the bat the Blacks struggled to meet their peak form. If not for Andrew Cloete and a classy 111, they would not have made as much as their eventual 261-8. Bryce Cunningham was in fine form, hitting the seam and troubling the batsmen with a 3-wicket haul. He was well-supported by Tom Halsey, who returned to some form with 3 wickets of his own. The key partnership came between Cloete and Armstrong, the latter scoring 60, but CW Black collapsed after they were separated.
Kev Gough struck early in the CW Green chase. He swung the ball under lights and got danger man Nick Scott edging to slip. But the much-celebrated Green top order did not wither. Read opened his account by thumping a short ball past point for four, then played the same shot for 3 runs a ball later. It was a signal of an aggressive attitude, and Read raced to his fifty from 41 balls. Malone was overshadowed, but his fifty took only 51 balls. All six of the Black bowlers struggled to maintain any consistency, as the Greens reeled off a series of inventive shots against all of their attempts. With a deft late cut and quick single, Read reached 100 from 78 balls, and Malone incidentally played the same shot to reach his milestone, facing 100 balls to do so.
A ball into the 40th over Malone played a reverse sweep against Neil Pickup and scampered through for two runs, raising his bat triumphantly in the process as victory was secured.
Cricket Web Black innings 261-8 (50 overs)
AP Cloete 111 (111), AJ Blackman 60 (83), NL Patrick 17* (23)
BC Cunningham 3-44 (10), TC Halsey 3-54 (10)
Cricket Web Green innings 262-1 (39.1 overs)
BS Read 135* (112), R Malone 117* (118)
KJ Gough 1-52 (7)
Cricket Web Green won by 9 wickets.
Man of the Match: BS Read (Green)
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Cricket Web Colts v Cricket Web Blue
Fardin Qayyumi CC
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
Another high scoring match at the Fardin Qayyumi Cricket Centre thrilled a full house and resulted in a comfortable victory for Cricket Web Blue. The Colts bowling attack continued their torrid form in one-day cricket, and though the batsman gave a spirited chase, they could not overhaul CW Blue's enormous 336-4.
Liam Camps jr. played the innings of his OD career, reaching a career high with 156. He swung bravely and freely across the line and collected several boundaries to midwicket in the first part of his innings. Through its course he also hit four sixes, and faced 141 balls in total in an explosive knock. Together with Sean Fuller, the opening partnership scaled heights of 255. Fuller was himself no slouch with the bat. His straight drive against Wilson in the second over of the innings was the best shot of the match, and he went on to score 110 off 121 balls. At the end of the innings Alex Crampton lost the ball over midwicket, keeping the momentum with the Blues and topping off a large total.
As they have twice to date this season, the Colts gave a good account of themselves chasing an improbable target. The openers raced away to 143, until Demeza yorked Will Kerr for 63. But as the demands of the chase continued to escalate, the pressure told on the batsmen. Jennifer Law ran herself out for 83, then Fuller struck twice quickly to unsettle the home team. Butler kept some hope alive with successive sixes off Manan Shah, ruining the young bowler's figures, but the Colts still needed 113 from the final 54 balls. It was a task that they could not quite manage against the Blue seamers, who returned far more disciplined from their earlier showing.
Cricket Web Blue innings 336-4 (50 overs)
LA Camps 156 (141), SE Fuller 110 (121), S Young 15 (12)
CR Butler 1-53 (8)
Cricket Web Colts innings 292-6 (50 overs)
JA Law 83 (89), WA Kerr 63 (84), CR Butler 46* (36)
SE Fuller 2-36 (7), LA Camps 2-76 (10)
Cricket Web Blue won by 44 runs.
Man of the Match: SE Fuller (Blue)
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Cricket Web Red v Masters XI
CW Oval
Scorecard
Ball by Ball
The Cricket Web Red seamers clicked as a unit and spearheaded a comfortable win over the Masters XI. Dave Watt and Kingsley Clapham acquitted themselves as international standard bowlers and shared 5 wickets in victory by 65 runs. The Masters could not get the ball away on a seam-friendly pitch, and managed only 200-7 in response to 265-6 by CW Red.
PR Sajith played beautifully in the CW Red middle order and top scored with 88 off 80 balls. His innings was well-paced and kept the Reds on track after they stumbled from a platform of 92-0. Openers Luff and Gray were in good touch again, and got the Reds off to a good start before falling in quick succession to Shane Warne. The legspinner went on to take 4 wickets and CW Red struggled to maintain their touch. But a partnership of 62 between Sajith and Man of the Match Clapham kept the innings on good course.
But as the Masters took to the crease the surface looked far more difficult to bat on. In particular Geraint Jones struggled to assert himself and was consistently beaten by Clapham angling the ball across him. The left-armer snapped up the wickets of Damien Martyn (24) and Dale Benkenstein (9), and Inzamam-ul-Haq was left to recover the innings with Lance Klusener. Zac Ritchie bowled accurate and flat offspin, and applied pressure in the middle overs to sure up the CW Red claim to victory. In the end Klusener remained unbeaten on 46, but the Masters failed to go close to their target.
Cricket Web Red innings 265-6 (50 overs)
PR Sajith 88* (80), MD Luff 49 (61), JR Gray 40 (62)
SK Warne 4-42 (10), NAM McLean 2-51 (10)
Masters XI innings 200-7 (50 overs)
Inzamam-ul-Haq 50 (69), L Klusener 46* (52), GO Jones 38 (104)
DJ Watt 3-33 (10), KR Clapham 2-31 (10)
Cricket Web Red won by 65 runs.
Man of the Match: KR Clapham (Red)