Weekend Write Up 3rd & 10th February
First Grade
Midland Guildford 4-135d def. Wanneroo 108 & 2/172 (Slattery 89, Wharton 55*)
No write up.
#Pete100
Second Grade
Wanneroo 130 (Spangenberg 30) def. by Midland Guildford 206 (Brown 3/39, Spangenberg 3/47)
Wanneroo 130 (Spang 30, Shaz 29) def. by Midland Guildford 206 (Owen 3/39, Spang 3/47) Winning the toss and electing to bow on greenish pitch and knowing we had a 42-degree Saturday the next week. Started off strong with Moogs taking the first wicket. Then wickets from debutant Rhys (just got a tat) Walker and Connor (the spirit of Africa) Spangenberg. To get them 3/33. After this we let it slip and ended up letting them get to 206 just after tea. We had about 20 overs to bat on the first day. We lost Blake Holly and Sam early. Which left Sharad jaiswal and the Kelshow to close out the final over. However, on the third last ball of the day Michael Kelsey decides to hit a ball straight to extra cover and call yes. This ended Kelso’s innings and game.
We arrive on the next Saturday ready to chase down the remaining 170 runs. Losing two early wickets of moogs and Riley Kent that the day would be tough. From there we had some good cameos from Rhys and Connor who assisted shaz before we were bowled out and game called at 2:40pm. Leaving plenty of pre-game time for Pete100. This loss results in our twos missing out on finals. Our goal will be to enjoy these next two games and look towards next year.
Third Grade
Midland Guildford 72 & 3/103 (Billington 5/51, Slattery 4/21) def. by Wanneroo 226 (McDonald 57, Hudson 46)
As the 3s made the adventure through the vineyards of Midland eventually arriving at probably the 2nd best ground to play on in WA (Kingsway 2 is obviously number 1) which was Lilac Hill. Vibes were high and the 3s were looking to bounce back, which started positively with Skipper Slatts winning the toss and electing to bat on an absolute road. Openers Kane and Yusuf started positively, looking to put the pressure back on to the bowlers straight away posting 50 runs in the first 9 overs which also required a change of ball due to Kane putting the red kooka in the swan river for a swim. Unfortunately, the change of ball brought luck for the opposition bowlers in which both Yusuf and Kane were both dismissed in consecutive overs putting the pressure back on the Roo batters. No worries in came “carpet cricketer” Braiden looking to take Slatsballs seriously and dispatching the Midland bowlers all around the park but unfortunately was dismissed for a well-made 46. Rest of the middle order got starts but it was Jack who played anchor for the innings holding up one end and making 57. Runs began to flow at the end while wickets continued to fall at a consistent rate at which the 3s were dismissed for 226. But the day hadn’t ended yet, the umpires were very nice to the 3s and gave the 3s 11 overs to bowl to the midland batters, which turned to be a blessing with the skipper leading from front claiming 2 wickets overnight and shifting the momentum towards the Roos leading into day 2.
Day 2 came around and rocking up to the ground with the temperatures soaring up to 41 degrees (add 2 degrees more due to being in Midland) but nonetheless the equation was 8 wickets to get. In came skipper and Cody (THE GOAT) who were on the money from ball one. You might’ve thought the Midland batters heard our plan and agreed with it on which we wanted to end the day as quick as possible. Both Jordy and Cody had the ball on the string bowling immaculate line and lengths frequently troubling the midland batters. As the ball frequently caught the edge of the bats, blowing off pads and rattling the stumps wickets were coming at a rapid rate. With Cody coming from behind like a Steven Bradbury moment taking 5 wickets bowling absolute wheels and the skipper taking 4 wickets for himself with John Walts swooping like a vulture stealing the last wicket. With a lead of 156 runs the 3s decided to send the Midland batters back in with an outright insight but it wasn’t meant to be. But at the end of the day 1st innings points matter and we move on to sending our sights on the next game.
Fourth Grade
Wanneroo 222 (Saleem 75) def. by Midland Guildford 9/256 (Marinovich 4/39)
The bad boys of 4th grade rocked up with high hopes to beat a mediocre placed midland side for the first game of February 2024. When skipper Carroll won the toss and elected to bowl there was a buzz amongst the bad boys… this is what they wanted. A very slow and boring start from these Midland blokes, for which J.Quelch can be blamed for (8 overs for 2 runs) promised for a long Saturday, until Spider-Man struck for the first wicket to make it 1/17. All of a sudden, this Saturday was looking a little bit shorter. Absolute carnage from the slippery man Gordo Marinovich soon saw the visitors at a lousy 4/54. A steady 5th wicket partnership saw Midland with a bit of momentum before the 5th and 6th fell in 3 balls… Ollie Hudson with hands that Udah wouldn’t have been able to complain about this time. At 6/96 the bad boys were back on top. Faz and Gilly starting to ponder the prospect of having to bat today… but in this elite sport we call 4th grade, things can change very quickly. Some old bloke scored 60 odd before Quelchy finally got him out to make it 7/150 something. 20 runs later 8fa thanks to some more fine bowling from this Josh Quelch. An almost 50 run 9th wicket stand soon saw the visitors at over 200, but who else would it be but the slippery man himself, Gordo to take what would be the final poll for the day. An interestingly impressive 10th wicket stand saw 43 runs, Jmars ton from 144 balls, and the end of the day including 49* from some random bloke at number 10 for midland. 80 overs in the field. Cricket sucks and was about to get worse with new fines master ready to cause more havoc than his bowling figures after the days play. J. Maraldo.
Week 2. What can I say. It was hot. Yet somehow these weird units from midland were playing spikeball in 42-degree heat. Our warmup consisting of non-more strenuous that sitting down in the hot shade… we were already warm. Faz and Gilly started proceedings off well. Faz with a couple of dashing boundaries, made himself look at home in this creditable 4th Grade Wanneroo side, before getting out to make it 1/17. Gilly finally decided to get off the mark after enjoying 20 odd balls on a duck and with the slippery man HIMSELF a 22-run stand was put on to bring the score to 39 for the bad boys. Drinks breaks are no good for anyone and Gilly made that very clear, falling very soon after and joining Faz sitting down on the sidelines watching some entertaining 4th grade cricket for the next 5 hours. Jmar and Gordo. What a combo. Until Jmar decides he prefers scoring runs when bowling over batting. A well-made 11 saw the young stud of a police officer depart bringing the score to 3/53. The slippery man continued on his merry way while a couple of wickets fell around him. Bailey Richard’s little brother Kai opted for the sidelines over the pitch soon departing for 5. Gordo not long after for a very solid score of 23 putting the rest of the batting line up to shame, bringing the score to 5/70. Ollie Hudson with the best score of 2 you are likely to see soon departed. But Hamza Saleem was at the crease. Hope was present. 90 runs later and another brilliant knock from J.Quelch himself with 33 bought the score to 7/175. We were promised an entertaining finish to this one. Hamza had reached 50 and didn’t want to stop there. He had bigger plans. However, something bigger was brewing. Faz hadn’t finished with the bat. Not today. He wanted more. He walked out to Hamza to commence the 8th wicket stand, but it appeared he was trying to imitate Sam Williams running for Connor Spangenberg. He had decided to let himself be the runner for a 17-year-old by the name of B Jones, who finally thought his hammy cramps had stopped. Sadly, Faz didn’t last long with Ben out 5 runs later to a decent ball. 8/180. Now it was questionable as to if the bad boys would get over the line. As the days crowd attendance very quickly grew to nearing 100, the bad boys seemed they still had a couple tricks in the bag. However, the entertaining Hamza Saleem was soon dismissed for 75 from 60. Hamza was back. But the score was 9/186. With 70 odd still to win, even the huge crowd couldn’t win this one for the bad boys. A grinding and hard-fought 10th wicket partnership between LIMO and SPIDER-MAN wasn’t enough to make it, ending the innings all out for 222. Skipper LIMO had batted nicely at number 10 for his 23 before getting run out after a ball was hit straight to the fielder by SPIDER-MAN who clearly wanted to improve his average and go home on a nice 13*. Wowee the boy can play!! Whilst the desired result wasn’t achieved this time by the bad boys, energy and mood was still high as the great man JUICE was back again as fines master. This just proves that no matter how bad things get, there is always hope so long as JUICE is around… Wanneroo lost the game of cricket but still remain number 1 as the Bad Boys Of 4th Grade.
Kind regards, Author