Tuesday 4th March
Season XIII Match of the Day Coverage
The Road to the Manuel Ramprakash Challenge Trophy
Nearing the end of the one of the most thrilling seasons of Development League cricket, three teams remain in a race to the most coveted trophy in CWLand. Cricket Web Black secured the five day title a couple of rounds ago, but await news of their opponent in the final. They face Cricket Web Colts today and could very well be responsible for denying their first ever finals berth. The Colts have played their finest first class season, and trumped Cricket Web Blue in Round 19 to keep their championship hopes alive and move into a tight second place.
The Blues got off to their best start in several years, but some inconsistency toward the back end of the season has seen them hang close to and trade blows with the spirited Colts. Now CW Blue face off against CW Red, a team that recovered from a woeful start to demand some questions of the teams above them, and that has pulled off crucial results which could well impact the final standings. The third match of the round locates the Masters XI at the CWBCC Stadium, tackling CW Green for the right to brag.
Day One
At the CW Oval
The aspirations of Cricket Web Blue were boosted greatly on an opening day that they dominated at the Oval. Nearly everything fell into place for the Blues, and they went to stumps clearly on top. Mork won the toss and batted, but quickly found his team in shambles against a disciplined bowling attack. The seam bowlers operated with good controlled aggression, and Ben Taylor supplied some effective spin in support. By the end of the first two overs, CW Red were wobbling on 5-2, both openers out with little impact.
The fourth wicket fell at 74, but Chris Dwyer and Jamee Gray ensured no further loss and took the score to lunch on 99-4. Dwyer continued to play some attractive strokes after lunch and hit two more boundaries through the covers before attempting another and he was caught behind for 44. Rob Cribb brought Collins back into the attack, and he nipped the ball away from the batsmen, removing Gaurav Nayak without scoring, then Gray caught at mid-off for 29. The innings looked set to unravel entirely, but Sean Bennett anchored a stubborn resistance and received excellent assistance from fast bowler Raghav.
Together they survived a testing spell of spin bowling by Taylor, and batted for more than an hour until Bennett was bowled for 21. He attempted to cut a quicker delivery from Taylor, but only succeeded in dragging it onto middle stump. The tail then managed to hold out for a while longer, but Manan Shah returned to take his fourth wicket and end the innings on 189. Shah led his team off the field, boasting excellent figures of 4 for 36.
Pete Young and Thamba Mamesh returned to the centre soon after, keen to begin the CW Blue response. They were faced up with some fiery bowling by the experienced pair of Kennett and Watt, and the the former found the edge of the bat, but Mork dropped the simplest of chances to let Mamesh off. The opener had 12 at the time and looked shaken by the incident, offering two more difficult chances in the evening. At the other end Young was far more assured, but played within himself, determined to reach stumps. Bennett bowled the last over of the day at Mamesh, who comfortably negotiated it and then tucked his bat under his arm. The batsmen walked off with 62 runs on the board and the first innings deficit reduced to 127 without loss.
Cricket Web Red 1st innings 189
CR Dwyer 44, GKK Dobson 31, JR Gray 29
M Shah 4-36, AAA Collins 3-54
Cricket Web Blue 1st innings 62-0
T Mamesh 43*, PE Young 13*
_________________________________________
At the Fardin Qayyumi CC
Cricket Web Colts entered the day in control of their destiny, sitting slightly ahead of Cricket Web Blue in second place. A defeat of the Blues or a victory over the Blacks would ensure their appearance in the final. And they started well enough by winning the toss with a perfect pitch at their disposal. Conditions were as good as they have ever been at the notoriously batsman-friendly venue, so Kyle Wright chose to take first strike in hot and sunny conditions.
Heath Davis received the new ball with Nick Borcich and the two charged to the crease full of intent. Any notion of a soft effort from CW Black was quickly dispelled, as the fast bowlers ripped into the heart of the Colts lineup before lunch. Davis started with a lifter that James Griffen (1) could only fend to slip, and Jennifer Law played a couple of firm drives before she was carelessly run out for 19. But there was no carelessness in the dismissal of Liam Howgate. He could do nothing about a ball that jumped off a length at 95mph, grabbed his glove and flew to the gully. Suddenly the score was 51-3, and in mere blinks of an eye, the middle order was torn asunder.
At lunch the Colts were in dire trouble with 86 runs to their cause and six wickets down. In the second session there was hardly an improvement. Mike Wilson tried his best to stage a revival, but he lost the company of Nick Hancock (10) and then Tarick Weber (3) within the first hour. Wilson was ninth out for 29 - the highest score - and Davis had Thomas fending to fourth slip to complete a fantastic five-wicket haul. His first such achievement, he ended with stunning figures of 14.3-3-26-5. CW Colts were all out for 116.
The Blacks dismissed the Colts in 38.3 overs and set out to impose themselves in the second half of the day. The fast bowlers continued to enjoy the bouncy surface, and Dan Smith played away from his body to nick Thomas to slip for 9. But Ash Arnold was in menacing mood. He was dropped by Weber very early on, when he had 2, and went on to hit 8 fours in an entertaining knock of 51. Two balls after he raised his fifty with a boundary, he picked out Weber in the covers, and the spinner made certain to hold on the second time around. The wicket visibly boosted the fielders and bowlers, and Nick Hancock evidenced the lift soon after by removing Gerard Armstrong (12) and Daniel Speirs (0) with successive deliveries.
The Colts were right back in the game and CW Black in bother at 114-4. But Alex Blackman remained as he has so often of late, looking well set throughout the final session. As the Blacks entered the final 30 minutes of the day, they had built a small lead of 31 with 6 wickets still intact. Wright then took the ball in desperate search for the breakthrough. And quickly into his spell he supplied it, inducing a miscued pull shot that Hancock caught smartly at short midwicket. Congdon walked off for 24 and was replaced by Zac Gelman. The strike opened the game up again, but was calm prelude to a spectacular passage of play. Gelman was reprieved by Wilson off the bowling of Weber, dropped before he had scored, but when he faced up to Wright at the other end his luck ran out. Wright ripped the ball back into the allrounder and knocked back his offstump with a loud clatter.
Louder celebrations settled down for the arrival of Dave Richards, but were amplified after he flicked the next ball into the hands of Thomas at legslip. Wright stood on a hat-trick, while Nick Borcich took guard slowly, holding back play for 10 minutes. When he finally settled into his stance, Wright charged in. The next few seconds seemed an eternity in slow motion. A full delivery, a tentative push, an outside edge, and a gleeful catch. Wright penned his name into the history books and dropped to the ground in celebration. The noise in the stands was near deafening and it was clear that hope had returned to the faithful thousands, decked in yellow. Again play settled down and Wright ran in to try to finish off the innings. He bowled the ball at Patrick's rib cage and as the tailender tried to turn it to leg, the ball ballooned into the air. Five fielders, including Wright, ran toward the ball, scarcely in belief of the inevitable outcome. In the end Shan Jasotharan collected the catch and tossed the ball sky high as the party atmosphere kicked off again. It was the fourth wicket in as many balls - a record.
Wright had to wait the length of a Weber over to try to add to his record, but Davis kept out a sharp yorker and scrambled a single to quiet the hysteria. Blackman then regained some control of the situation and guided the innings to stumps an over later, unbeaten on 44.
Cricket Web Colts 1st innings 116
MW Wilson 29, BC Fitzsimmons 24
HT Davis 5-26, NL Patrick 2-21
Cricket Web Black 1st innings 153-9
AR Arnold 51, AJ Blackman 44*, RP Congdon 24
KS Wright 5-34, GM Thomas 2-70
_________________________________________
At the CWBCC Stadium
Essentially a dead fixture, the opening day between Cricket Web Green and the Masters XI proved a lively affair. Mahendra Nagamootoo played his first FC game of the season in place of Shane Warne, and grabbed 4-35 to help bowl out CW Green for 219. The Greens won the toss but failed to make use of that advantage, collapsing from 135-2 to their eventual modest total.
Rob Malone jr. (56) and Chris Raftery (46) shone brightest in partnership for the Greens, but both were out to the Guyanese legspinner during his inspired spell. In the end the home team would not have advanced much further than 200, if not for the application of Andy Cameron after a middle order collapse. He scored just 18, but helped his team to the mental boost of 200+. The Masters then set out to face less than two hours until the close of play. In the time the Green bowlers managed 21 overs, but often strayed wide of the stumps and were consistenty too short of a good length.
None of the bowlers looked likely to take wickets, and none succeeded in doing so. The Masters breezed through to stumps without loss and with 84 runs on the board.
Cricket Web Green innings 219
R Malone 56, CP Raftery 46, S Reddy 34
MV Nagamootoo 4-35, HH Streak 2-39
Masters XI innings 84-0
ET Smith 44*, GO Jones 36*