Seventeens Women T20
South Perth 5/136 def. Wanneroo 100 (Allen 32, Nicholls 26)
South Perth won the toss and chose to bat first on a pleasant sunny morning at the WACA. Our Roo’s got off to a flyer within the first over Mathilda Stillitano swooped in and ran out the somewhat disgruntled South Perth opener T Jones without facing. More wickets were to follow with Ella Stewart trapping M Rallabhandi leg before and the impressive Emilie Nicholls clean bowling E Dodgson. South Perth set about their recovery plan with P Stockwell and L Russo. The former going on to make a sound 77 n/o although our Roo’s dropped several gettable catches that could have significantly affected the score; however we reduced South Perth to a healthy 5-136.
Tene and Talia enjoyed the true nature of the WACA pitch assisted also by some short bowling that was well dispatched by both square of the wicket. Tene nicked one at 16 resulting in a tumble of wickets that put the pressure back on our Roo’s. Talia dealt with this and went on the attack and played with a blend of freedom, style and gusto but finally falling for a well-deserved 32. Enter Emilie who continued where Talia left off and those that watched enjoyed what both these girls offered against a good South Perth attack; Emilie also eventually being bowled for a fine 26. This is where the journey ended with J McKinley finishing with a flurry of wickets and us signing out for 100.
We return to Kingsway in a ‘timely fashion’ for our home fixture where we entertain Rocky Mandurah in Round 8.
U Fourteens Women
Wanneroo v Subi Floreat
After months of training the first practice game for our U14 female’s squad was against Subiaco-Floreat at Hocking Primary School. Losing the toss and being sent in, Grace wasted no time, scoring the first runs for our team off the opening ball and in combination with Elri, building a very solid opening stand, characterised by intelligent play and excellent running between wickets. Grace retired on 11 with Elri soon joining her retired on 10. Chloe came to the crease and played a sparkling innings, dispatching the ball to all parts with excellent timing. Her score of 34* off 20 balls included 7 boundaries and she and Sophie built a good partnership which really pushed the field much deeper. Tegan played a sensible innings, keeping out some good, straight bowling, combining well with Sasha who was in fine form too, scoring a very well compiled 24* before she too retired, with her timing a feature. Aymie’s stay at the crease was also entertaining, playing with creative flair but also minimising risks, racing to 28* in her allotted 20 balls, which included four boundaries. At the end of the agreed 22 overs, our girls could be very pleased with their score of 3/170.
A pre-game decision to rotate our bowlers proved to be a good one, with economical figures being recorded by all the girls, with wickets shared around. Steffi was the first to strike with a lovely clean bowled, the first of six times that the stumps would be knocked by the Wanneroo girls in this innings. Further wickets followed with Chloe, Sasha, Aymie and Tayla getting good rewards for the excellent line and length, followed by 2 wickets in an over by Tegan and then Soph, to round out the Subiaco-Floreat innings for 84 in 17 overs. Although we missed a few ground balls and one or two run out opportunities, Sash and Jess both took good catches, while Aymie took an absolute blinder (literally) – looking directly into the sun and snaring a head height ball that was really moving. Sasha and Jaz also combined for a neat run out.
Melville v Wanneroo
With our team goals for the weekend being familiarisation, learning and experimentation, Sunday’s game away to Melville brought an opportunity for the girls to play full rules as per the Female Youth League – for the first time for many this meant a full pitch, the LBW law in play, along with free hits and no retirements. This game would go on to provide lots of learning opportunities!
Losing the toss and bowling, our girls again showed the benefit of bowling a consistent length, with Jess and Chloe putting together a great opening spell, both picking up wickets (plus a run out involving Grace and Jazmine) to have MCC at 3/21 after 4 overs. One of Steffi’s immaculate medium pacers slipped through the gate to move the score to 4/41, before Tahlia struck twice in one over, with a very tidy catch taken by Sasha at mid-wicket. With the field in and concentrating hard, the leadership team determined who would bowl the final overs of the innings and set fields accordingly. More great bowling followed, with Steffi and Tahlia both striking again, followed by Tegan. Another runout, this time between Tegan and Jazmine, saw Melville dismissed for 81.
Our innings began with a very classy opening stand, for the second day in a row, between Grace 13 and Elri 20. Credit to both girls who played with deft touch whilst dispatching the bad balls, with both batting much longer than the maximum length innings possible in community cricket. But after reaching 2/46 at the halfway mark of the innings, and seeming in control, we let things slip, with a series of mistimed shots and run-outs. Despite some dogged resistance from Jess and Tayla, we finished all out for 71 in the 18th over. If we had our time again I’m sure the girls would be the first to say that we would do things differently – but that’s the learning we’ll draw on over the next few weeks at training, along with lots of other teachable moments from across the weekend.
Well done to the girls, most of who played multiple matches (three in most cases) over the weekend for the first time, learning to manage their fitness, hydration, recovery and mental wellbeing (as well as washing their whites!).
All in all, a fantastic first weekend for the U14 girls. The benefits of the pathway program are obvious and we look forward to working hard on our game before our next hit out.
Seventeens Men
Wanneroo 5/116 def. by Centurions 2/119
Round 4 cricket, the round when teams start to know where they are at. With us Roo boys winless since round one we are starting to really push for that next W. After day one got washed out and some smiles after Jack “quack” Maraldo’s second ball duck was wiped off the scorebook and a famous game of touch rugby proving that the top 6 is dominant once again, all focus went on to a crucial t20. Game day has arrived and this time with no one late (yes Alex and Jack…) the boys seemed keen to get out there and warm up. As 8:00 am Struck Dargs headed on over to the umpire to only once again guess the correct side to a supposedly double headed coin. With that we are batting.
Dargie and Maraldo to open, what a sight, quick single galore, just everything you want to see. After a scary start and some singles that were probably too quick for the 6ft4 100kg openers, things started to settle until, Jmar did Jmar things and charged a half tracker. Good cricket all round. With that brought in Jayden Rae who is now trying to prove to everyone that he isn’t the third best cricketer in the family after Chris and now Scott, Jayden batted beautifully for a well-made 25 off 22 balls, Dargs falling soon after for a well-made 29. Some late hitting from some big men by the names of Cody and Kane brought our tally up to 116 after 20.
With a target set we now know what we have to do, bowl good line and length and be sharp in the field. Wellllllll that only lasted for a few overs, as the wheels started to fall off. After the umpire giving a clear run out not out, multiple dropped catches and misfields the roo boys went down by 8 wickets to a strong Centurions side. Oh well onto next week I guess. Also quickly well done Maff for coming into the team and bowl the house down with a wicket maiden first over. Anyways let’s improve and get back on the board.
Fifteens Men
Wanneroo 122 (T.Brown 34, Walker 36) drew. Centurions 122 (O.Brown 2/33, O’Shea 2/16, Jessani 2/10, Gillespie 2/11)
First day the weather took a turn and the forecast looked bleak. However with a great ground the boys managed to get on and play. Tyler stood in as captain as Matt played in 17’s and won the toss and elected to bowl hoping that the weather would be favourable to us. The boys ended up getting through just 30 overs before the rain came at an inopportune time just as the spinners took 3 wickets for 4 runs in 3 overs. Centurions finished the day at 5/70, with all 5 top batsman being dismissed and the game heavily in our favour.
Day 2 saw much better weather conditions and the boys knew that the the quicker they could take wickets the longer they could bat. However the Centurions put up a good fight and survived another 30 overs and took the total to 122.
The boys came into bat knowing to win that they needed the runs in just 25 overs. A slightly different batting order saw us trying to chase the win rather than play for the draw. With a wicket in the 5th over the boys needed to lift to be able to chase the score. Tyler came in and rotating the strike it looked like a possibility but a few quick wickets taken the boys needed something big. But then came in Rhys ‘the hacker’ Walker and preceded to hit 12 runs off his first 5 balls and with lots of quick singles and great running between wickets it came down to the final over needing 11 runs for the draw.
The final score ended up a draw, however this is to be reviewed due to a potential scoring error In the last couple of overs. Overall the boys put up a great fight and matched the opponents score in only 22 overs.
Following a three day review by the WACA it was deemed a draw
Fourteens Men
Mt Lawley 78 (Kranher 3/15, Cavanagh 3/16, Rotham 2/16) def. by Wanneroo 9/191 (Wooden 30*, Rotham 29, Jones 27)
On Sunday the 14’s boys headed out to Breckler Park to take on the Mount Lawley Hawks in what would be a very one sided performance. Losing the toss we were sent into the field and after a good start from our opening bowlers we had the home side 1 for 6. Our bowlers continued to bowl well and make scoring difficult but they had began a partnership that would see them add 36 before a double change to spin saw them lose their last 9 wickets for 36 runs with Hayden Cavanagh taking 3 for 16 from 7 overs with his off spin and Campbell Kranher taking 3 for 15 with his leg spin. Jayden Rotham bowled with aggression and pace to also take 2 for 16. The fielding and intensity was of a very high standard and it was a fantastic team effort with all players performing their roles.
The run chase was in little doubt after the first 4 or 5 overs produced approximately 20 in sundries and from then on it was a great opportunity to get some batting practice into our squad. Josh Wooden playing his first game played beautifully with a nice 30 not out, Jayden Rotham took toll of the bad bowling and kept out the good balls for a well-made 29 and Ben Jones also took toll on some at times wayward bowling for 27 off 32. We finished with 9 for 191.
We now go into a little break as our next game is not until the 20th December where we will be taking on Scarborough with both sides remaining undefeated. We still have plenty to work on in general and our running between wickets will be a focus as we still seem a little un sure with the field restrictions but we have but we have some good prep time ahead of us.
Well done boys on a great team performance
Thirteens Men
Wanneroo 8/142 def. Mount Lawley 4/141
Jimmy spent a fair bit of time ensuring that if the WDCC captains won the toss this week he wouldn’t be surprised to find his team in the field, only to find his team fielding after losing the toss.
Liam Deckert and Mitch MacArthur again showed that they are a handy opening bowling combination by bowling in very good areas backed by some tight fielding. Liam Deckert took the first wicket when the score was on 23 and Phoenix Alaban dislodged the other Mount Lawley opener when the score was on 30 and the Rooboys were up and about. Mount Lawley settled and were starting to consolidate when Josh Redman was injected into the attack in the 17th over and the runs became very hard to come by. Josh was again the pick of the bowlers sending his eight overs of quality leg spin down with the figures of 1/10. The entire bowling unit worked well together with Isaac Gray also chipping in with a wicket.
Chasing 142 for the win Scotty Rae was dismissed early for 4 and that brought Issac Gray to the wicket with Josh Redman and they compiled an impressive second wicket partnership of 71 runs before Josh Redman fell for a well compiled 26. Dylan Prance and Isaac Gray then continued to narrow the run chase before Dylan was dismissed on 17 and nervous whispers recalling the losing run chase against Joondalup from two weeks ago could be detected. Isaac Gray brought up a chanceless 50 (Ok…there may have been some chances given) before he was dismissed and things were getting very tight. The middle order inched towards the victory target but with one over remaining WDCC required 10 for the win and a feeling of “not again” had fallen over the mighty Roos.
Now at the time of writing this report, what happened next remains in the hands of the WDCC Legal Unit, however the following facts were observed by this correspondent at 5.59pm. Liam Deckert has got a faint tickle down leg side that has bounced in front of the keeper and evaded him. The ball has then (almost unnoticed by everyone) hit the wicketkeepers helmet stowed behind him in the field of play. The batsmen have scampered through for single, that for all money looked to be a runout when the stumps were broken but the square leg umpire had decided that he had seen enough and had his back turned to play and seemed to watching them tee off on the fifth at Yokine Golf Club. At this point everybody had WDCC requiring 8 off three balls BUT Andrew Lucas, quietly necking a cold Corona after the U14s win has spotted that the ball had in fact hit the helmet. Jimmy animatedly enquired with the umpire who conferred with square-leg and confirmed the helmet had been struck and five penalty runs were awarded. Enter Legal Department. The batsmen at the time were attempting a run and the umpire has clearly determined that they had crossed before the helmet was struck with the ball, and henceforth becoming dead, and that the run should count. Had he seen otherwise, the batsmen would have been required to return to their original positions before the ball was bowled, and this did not happen. The 6 runs reduced the required total to win to 3 off 3 balls which the Roos did to win by a solitary run – a reversal of fortunes from their previous loss of the same margin.
Man of the Match – One Yellow Helmet.