Welcome to 2021 folks. Just as we are about to get cracking into a competitive back half of the season let’s first sit back and enjoy some cracking wraps from the last round prior to Christmas, where the boys were only a Kingsway 2 away from a third Golden Roo of the season.
1st Grade
Wanneroo 5/235 (Newnham 121*, Millar 59) def. Joondalup 220 (Smith 3/47, Billington 2/23, Eaton 2/34, Millar 2/35)
The Roos lost the toss and were sent out to field on a sneaky hot day for the last game of the calendar year against Joondalup. It didn’t take long for the Roos to get underway with Doz taking a wicket in the first over of the day. From then on the Roos toiled away throughout the day before the spin trio and Slug Eaton took wickets consistently to bowl Joondalup out for 235.
With 20 overs left in the day the Roos faced a tricky period and finished the day 4/65 with Kyle ‘Chumtown’ Millar and Jimmy ‘Melbourne Football Club’ Newnham not out overnight. The next week the Roos got through a tricky period early with the boys going to chumtown throughout the first session and remaining 4 down. Kyle Millar delighting the crowd with his audible ‘no run’ yells from the centre. After lunch, the runs began to flow with Kyle bringing up his 50 before getting out for 59 and Jimmy, Jimmy , Jimmy bringing up his first WDCC 100 before then getting the boys over the line, finishing unbeaten on 121*.
2nd Grade
Joondalup 151 (Sadik 4/30, Quelch 2/39) def by Wanneroo 199 (Farrant 50*, Spangenberg 38, Sadik 33)
Round 8 saw the Scooby Doos take on Joondalup at Illuka. After rumours circulated of a dispute between curator and Club Captain the week prior, we were optimistic there might be some life in the deck. That optimism faded quicker than a pair of black bonds on a summers day, with the wicket resembling a recently cured slab from Cockburn Cement. Nevertheless, we lost the toss and were in for a bowl. Our bowlers bowled exceptionally well given the lack of life in the wicket, with Leeroy “will he stay on the park?” Millar and Jordan “Plums” Slattery restricting JO to bugger all early on. Chris “hates an expensive Avocado” Quelch kicked us off with two from two, then bowled one of the worst hat trick balls you’ll see….but hey, happens to the best of us. Along with Michael “Tell us another story” O’Day, they both kept the heat on the opposition and were in an ordinary position come lunch. The People’s Skipper came on post-lunch, bowled the session and finished with figures of 4 for not many, an unbelievable result given he had little to no sleep overnight (kids eh). We ended up rolling JO for 151 halfway through the last session.
Batting started well with Bonner and Slats opening up. Slats smoking a couple of lovely Michael Hussey like cover drives, leaving Senior Slats very firm indeed as we headed to stumps on Day 1. Unfortunately Bonner hit the only one that moved all day, and left us with Slats and “Bunnings Spangs” overnight.
Day two started in interesting fashion, with the changerooms succumbing to a fire the night before. Speculations were running wild, however we have it on good authority that the culprit just wanted “a bit of airflow” in the rooms, given they were like a summers day in Mumbai the previous week.
As the batsmen went to work again and were travelling well for a while until Spangs sent Mitch (29) on his way with a brand new Weber Q and questioning whether the umpire had superior 20:20 vision given he was run out by “an inch”.
Spangs (38) whacked a couple more and then edged one to gully, with another couple wickets falling cheaply and leaving the away team a little nervous needing another 60 with 4 wickets in hand. But once again, the People’s Skipper came to the party, and with Keeley “Do you know I study law?” Farrant put on a match saving partnership and got us to within 15 runs. Keeley ended up notching up his second 50 for the season, we got the runs and called it a day at tea.
A solid win before Xmas leaving the 2’s a bees you know what outside the 6, and 4 points from third position. Bring on 2021!
3rd Grade
Wanneroo 187 (Lloyd 49, McDonald 26) def. by Joondalup 6/189 (Lloyd 2/23, Fryer 2/63)
Day One saw a modest start to the batting having only lost one wicket at Lunch. But after losing a quick few after the break Jack Mcdonald went about his work, striking boundaries and putting the pressure back on the opposition. However despite the impressive start the top order couldn’t find that big score as the Roo’s went to Tea 5 down. Joondalup after the break would look to continue their late session success, but Adam Smith got in their way, doing his usual and picking up some handy runs. However it wasn’t until the model himself Jaxon Lylod came to the crease that the tables did turn. Jaxon whipped and flailed at everything in his zone like a Rashid Khan Energiser bunny. A 50, not to mention a proud dad moment, was well and truly on the cards, but in typical Jaxon style he settled for 49 instead.
The Roo’s ending the Day on a competitive 187, a score definitely defendable with the fierce 3s bowling attack.
Day Two saw not just a hot day, but a fiery spell from Donny ‘is he a bowler this week?’ Fryer. Donny seemingly having the ball on a string early in the day, easily making the top order look silly. Donny grabbing 2 early wickets in a row, meaning the hat trick ball was on. A red hot Donny and slips packed eagerly waiting for the new batters impending demise. A full ball swinging away… catches the outside edge… heading towards third slip and…. dropped. A tough chance going down along with Donny’s hatrick. But at least he gets free drinks til the end of the season.
The chances didn’t stop coming however, but some bad luck and poor fielding saw them fly through. Whilst the batter’s didn’t look flash thanks to some great bowling, the runs whilst not pretty kept ticking along and brought Joondalup into the game.
A wicket on the final ball off the session saw Joondalup 4 wickets down for 112 at lunch, a critical 2nd session was to follow. But Joondalup would own the 2nd session only losing one wicket and within striking distance going into the last session. Despite 2 quick wickets, not enough runs were on the board, with Joondalup going over the line 6 down. A well fought game with some good bowling not being rewarded, with notable efforts from Donny and Jaxon with 2 wickets each. A solid first part of the year and well deserved break.
4th Grade
Joondalup 95 (Quelch 3/20, Russell 3/20, Carroll 2/18) and 5/67 (Billington 2/2) def. by Wanneroo 4/220 (Kelsey 93, Blythman 56, Mulcahy 39)
On a warm day at Iluka Sports Complex at approximately 12:00, it was decided that the Roo boys were to be bowling as Liam “tosser” Carroll decided he’d like to win a toss. It was an economical start on Iluka 2 with Matthew “John” Russell and Josh “Pool Cue” Quelch taking part in some tremendous partnership bowling, Josh Quelch coming away with 2 wickets in his opening spell. There must’ve been something in the air that day as there were a plethora of dubious LBW shouts and/or caught behinds not given by the umpire on the day, none more so than that off of Jared “Appeal If It Goes To Second” Maunder. But with the umpire somewhat against us and the warmer conditions at Iluka, the Roo Train was steaming along as Codi “Attitude” Billington decided to just casually bowl what is touted to be the 4th Grade ball of the century to remove yet another Joondalup scalp before tea, heading into the clubrooms requiring only one more Joondalup wicket. Coming back out onto the pitch only needing one wicket, Jared Maunder removed the tail-ender just 15 balls after the resumption of play. The Joondalup innings was ended having made only 95 runs.
The umpire advised Wanneroo that there would be 25 overs bowled to play out the rest of the day, a task that openers Tom “No Knees” Blythman and Michael “Hates being NO Overnight” Kelsey were very much up to. It was only day one but the tone was set very early, as both openers put on a partnership of 71 in that 25 overs, with Tom Blythman and Michael Kelsey making 17 and 48 respectively after a boundary hitting masterclass from Michael himself.
Coming back on day 2, there definitely was something in the air that day, smoky remnants of Joondalup’s burnt down change rooms, almost reminiscent of their barring efforts the week prior. But with no proper change rooms, the mighty Fourth Grade side persevered hitting the winning runs within the first session. Now this next part may be hard for some to read, but for some it may be quite the opposite. Tom Blythman and Michael Kelsey are both playing their game nicely, accelerating exquisitely after securing the win in order to chase down the outright win, showing no signs of getting out and a few shots later, all of a sudden Michael “I’ll Guide It Through Gully Even Though It’s Stacked” Kelsey finds himself on 93. The off spinner is bowling from the Northern end, the man on 93 is looking to make it into triple figures, the ball leaves the bowlers hand towards Michael, looking to play the ball through the offside, he manages to chop the ball onto his own stumps, sadly being the first dismissal of the day on an unfortunate 93. A moment’s silence was taken, until Kodi “Don’t Wanna Hit Into The Wind” Mulcahy came out and decided to take Joondalup downtown and smash them all over the park, racing to 39 with 1 six (hit into the wind) and 5 fours. Quietly in the background of this innings, Tom Blythman was playing the game he knows and decides he’d like to notch up his maiden Fourth Grade half-century, ending his day on 56. It got to the 54th over of the Wanneroo innings where Liam Carroll decided to declare with a 120-run lead.
Wanneroo went in to bowl hoping to give it back to the Joondalup side that had been so dominant in Fourth Grade for many seasons gone by. Requiring 10 wickets and not caring about runs, some very aggressive fields were set, some including a short leg and others a silly mid-off. Matthew Russell almost floating in with a gale force wind behind his back provided some hope before tea by taking an early wicket. Once again, the umpire made decisions that didn’t go down too well with the fielding side but this time he had the smoky after-taste lingering in the air to blame for his lack of judgement. But that didn’t stop Codi “Really Just A Lot Of Attitude” Billington decided to bounce out the Joondalup batsmen, removing one with a bouncer that found itself caught somewhat ordinarily at fine-leg by Jared Maunder and then sending another one off with what can only be assumed as concussion after getting hit on the helmet within his first few balls faced. Unfortunately an outright win wasn’t to be for Wanneroo, only taking 5 wickets by the end of the day, however the main allotment of points were secured which is more important and sets the Fourth Grade side up for a promising finals run.