2nd Grade
Midland-Guildford 8/151 (Sadik 4/29) def. Wanneroo 9/134 (Holly 33)
The season ended with a disappointing loss for the Magoos who travelled out to Lilac Hill only to watch the pitch dry for 2 hours. Luckily there was an old man there to get the deck up to standard for a 33 over a side game, although we are not sure if he was the curator or some sort of homeless good Samaritan. WDCC won the toss and bowled, immediately Spang had the new ball on his mind, unfortunately it was not to be. The bowling was led by Riley Holly who proved to be a handful on a moist deck taking 1/22 off his 7, well backed up by Cody Billington with 1/7 off his 4 overs. Unfortunately for the boys, their overweight, aerodynamic swooped in and stole the wickets they deserved. Special mention to Maf Carroll who took his first 2nd grade wicket.
Chasing 151 proved to be a little too much with Riley once again batting brilliantly but falling for 33, others chipped in but it really needed someone to take charge and guide us home. WDCC finished with 9/134 off 33 overs, falling short.
Overall some very positive signs for the 2’s going forward. Bowling was extremely strong all year with opposition teams only surpassing 200 on a couple of occasion all year. Batting proved to be our Achilles heel all year but with our top 6 having an average age of 18 for most of the year there is some serious improvement around the corner.
4th Grade
Midland-Guildford 148 (LJ Carroll 3/19, Haddrill 3/28, Bandara 2/18) def. Wanneroo 114 (LJ Carroll 39, Quelch 28)
A day covered in grey skies did not provide much hope for either team that rocked up on the Saturday morning with the Roo Boys needing nothing less than a win to give them a finals hope. With the 15’s game being called off in the morning, the hope of playing dwindled even further until about midday when the tide changed. All of a sudden, the umpires were decided on a start time and a reduced-overs game of 40 overs per side. With another toss win from the skipper he sent midland in to bat on a horrendous batting wicket which enthused the bowlers of the Wanneroo team. With good lengths deliveries rifling past the batsman’s helmet, the tails were up from both Josh “pool cue” Quelch and Jesse “won’t stand the seam up” Haddrill. We talk about bowling in partnerships, but this bowling partnership was involved in the early run-out to dismiss the opener for not many after he took a slip on the still damp wicket. After a good start, a bowling change was invoked, with the captain Liam “Zorba” Carroll bringing himself on to take a catch off his own bowling in order to dismiss the remaining opener. The next batting partnership was a hard-fought effort to crack, with Sharm “the reverse sweep specialist” Bandara toiling away to eventually get the breakthrough. Wickets began to fall steadily from the 30th over, including another run-out from Josh Quelch, two more wickets from the Skipper to round his figures to the economic 8.0-2-19-3, Jesse Haddrill chiming in at the end with 6.5-0-28-3, and the Olympic canoeist himself; Sharm Bandara with 8.0-1-18-2. Midland-Guildford was determined all-out for 148, and the target of 149 was set for victory.
The batting innings began, and oh no. It wasn’t long (2 overs) until the first wicket fell. Unfortunately, due to some impeccable fielding by the home team, the new-fandangle changerooms at Lilac copped a beating by most of the top-to-middle order. Being 7-44, it was a scene that many wouldn’t like to see, one man that definitely didn’t like seeing this was Liam “beer-fest form” Carroll who at first tried to play himself in with Josh “long boundary isn’t that bad” Quelch then decided to channel his ball-hitting ability from a certain Sunday in recent memory and figured he’ll start scoring at a rate of knots. The partnership taking the Wanneroo hopefuls from 7-44 to over 100 in a matter of minutes with 2x 6’s from Liam Carroll and 1x 6 from Josh Quelch until the wicket of Josh Quelch fell at 104. The plan was simple, two more wickets in the shed, rotating the strike was key, just about three runs per over was the equation at the time, but it was not to be. With the ball holding up in the wicket, and the leg-spinner turning the ball prodigiously, it was almost inevitable that a wicket was forthcoming. And forthcoming it was with the Captain being dismissed caught & bowled for 39 from 35. Whilst there was hope in some, it was not to be as the number 11 was given out not much longer and Wanneroo were eventually dismissed for only 114. The rebuild was inspiring, and to have only missed out on finals by 35 runs disappointed majority of the team, but positives can be taken out of this season for the next. To have only missed out on finals by 35 runs is a big improvement from years gone by, finals hopes and the premise of a flag in the next few seasons for a more distinguished Fourth Grade side may be more promising given moments from the season gone by. We’ll just have to wait and see…