The Senior mens managed to pull off the elusive Golden Roo this week, with a remarkable 4/4 against the men from Gosnells. The 1’s won easily in the end after a phenomenal ton by Anthony Del Borello, while the 2’s, 3’s & 4’s won nail-biters! Special mentions to Dan Sadiks all-round performance, Donavinn Fryer’s mammoth 6 wickets, Yusuf Zain’s selfless 97 and Cody Billington’s matching winning ‘michelle’.
Golden Roos are rare, well done to everyone involved on and off the field!
1st Grade
Wanneroo 3/253 (Del Borrello 111*, Richards 53, J Newnham 52*) def. Gosnells 228 (Smith 3/29, Poulter 3/40, Billington 3/45)
The Roos bowed first and started well with Matt Dzodzos (0-34 off 17) and Jordan Slattery (0-29 off 13) restricting the runs early. The breakthrough came when the big chicken (Lachlan Poulter, 3-40 off 12) bounced out and then knicked off the two openers in the space of a couple of overs, at which point Gosnells found themselves 2-19 after 16 overs. The next two Gosnells batsmen put on a 60 run partnership before the Big Chicken was back at work with the quick bouncers, their number 3 caught at fine leg to a fine catch from Matt Dzodzos.
Some very good bowling was provided by Caiden Eaton (1-35 off 11) and Deon Billington which led to their 4th and 5tt wickets. At a score of 5-122 the Roos were putting the pressure on but a fine innings from Gosnells number 3, Fraser Hay (108) started to build a partnership with their number 7.
Deon Billington (3-45 off 20) was bowling very well which provided him with the big wicket of Fraser Hay. Wickets fell regularly after that point with Captain Grumpy (Kevin Smith, 3-29 off 9) coming on at the end to clean up the tail. The Roos bowled very well which left Gosnells all out for 228. With a few overs left the Roos had a tricky period to play out, but the openers were up to the task able to see out the days play.
The next week the Mighty Roos were off to a shaky start with the umpire not helping opening batter Riley Holly (8) and number 3, Kelvin Smith (6), with some dodgy decisions. At 2-20 a partnership was well needed with Rob Richards and “Tony” (Anthony Del Borrello) providing some very entertaining batting with their partnership of 84 ending with the departure of Rob Richards (53). From 3-104 the batting masterclass continued with “Tony” whacking them around everywhere, ably supported by new roo recruit Jimmy Newnham. The pair combined with a very well made unbeaten partnership of 149 runs, which saw a well-made 52* off 104 by Jimmy Newnham. But hats off to “Tony” for making his first hundred for the season, finishing up on 111* off 156. Well done Tony.
The Roos finished with a convincing win which leaves them in the top 6.
2nd Grade
Gosnells 163 (Sadik 4/48, Jessani 2/17, Walter 2/28, O’Day 2/31) def by. Wanneroo 188 (Varsani 59, Sadik 40, Spangenberg 39) and 141 (Spangenberg 40).
The Magoos arrived at Gay Street looking to the start their two-day cricket off on the right foot.
Daniel ‘Chief’ Sadik lost the toss and the Magoos were sent in on what seems to be a reasonably flat deck. Runs flowed from the onset, with Aryan ‘Don Bradman’ Varsani finding it easy to score boundaries all around the ground. The Magoos were setting in for a big day at 2/100 after 20 just before lunch however after Aryan ‘One-Shot Wonder’ Varsani was dismissed for a run-a-ball 59, the collapse commenced. The Magoos went from 2-102 to 7-109 in a matter of overs, and were looking in a completely different position. Daniel ‘Lord Voldemort’ Sadik (40 off 40) and Connor ‘Doesn’t Leave It’ Spangenberg (39 off 69) then played a crucial partnership to get the Magoos to a some-what respectable 188.
As light faded, Sharad ‘Ashwin’ Jessani (2/17 off 9) and Michael ‘Home-Wrecker’ O’Day provided some key wickets to have Gosnells 3/111 at stumps on day 1.
With only 70 runs to play with and one set batsmen still in the centre, the Magoos had lots of work to do on day 2. The boys came out fighting with Daniel ‘Umpire-Abuser’ Sadik taking control of the game, bowling himself all session from one end and ending with 4/48 off 23 overs. He was also well supported by John ‘1 from 6’ Walter with 2/28 after 15 overs and Michael ‘Rare’ O’Day with 2/38 after 11.4 overs, who provided the key wickets throughout the innings. The Magoos took 7/52 on Day 2 to bowl out Gosnells for 163 just before lunch. The Magoos batted out the rest of the day to seal the points.
3rd Grade
Wanneroo 141 (Smith 38, Ardagh 28) def. Gosnells 128 (Fryer 6/48, Lloyd 2/15, Smith 2/30)
The Threes took on Gosnells looking to try and make it three wins on the bounce. In overcast conditions, the toss was won and Wanneroo decided to bat. Unbeknown to us, Gosnells had pulled out the duke ball and were swinging it ‘round corners. Despite this, our openers got us off to a steady start with Michael “pack up early” Ardagh scoring a quick fire 28 before being playing the role of umpire and walking during an LBW shout.
After this, the Roos slumped to 7-75, unable to curtail the swinging duke. Darcy “loves a jug” Forssman batted manfully for 16 and was joined at the crease by Adam “hates fun” Smith. The two put on a partnership of 26, steadying the ship somewhat before Forssman was dismissed. A final wicket partnership between Smith and Jaxon “Bar1 bandit” Lloyd of 32 led the Roos to a total of 141. Smith ending on 38 and Lloyd on 13 not out.
After a mad scramble to find our own duke ball, the Roos strode out to bowl in the last session feeling confident of defending their total. Before long, Gosnells were left reeling at 4-8 with Donavinn “sand pillow” Fryer like a kid in a candy store with the duke ball, blowing off pads left, right and centre. Fryer ended the day with 3 wickets and Gosnells left day one at 4-30.
Returning the next week, the Roos picked up where they left off. Most importantly, so did Fryer, continuing to torment the Gosnells batsman with his superb out-swing bowling. Fryer was a workhorse for the Threes, bowling 25 overs and finishing with the amazing figures of 6-48. He was well supported by Jaxon Lloyd who snaffled two wickets, finishing with 2-15. At 9-81, needing another 61 to win, Gosnells looked dead and buried. However, a last wicket partnership of 47 brought them scarily close to an upset. Needing 1 more wicket, with only 13 runs remaining, Michael Ardagh did a great job of tying up one end and building pressure. This eventually led to Smith claiming the final wicket, caught well by Fryer in the slips. Smith finishing with figures of 2-30.
A great win by the boys and a special shout-out to Donavinn Fryer for his man of the match haul of six wickets. The threes move to 3-1 and cement themselves in the top six.
4th Grade
Gosnells 219 (C Billington 5/50, Hardiman 2/15) def. by Wanneroo 223 (Zain 97, Mulcahy 43, Blythman 25)
The mighty 4’s were in trouble early after losing 2 for none on a pitch that was playing plenty. But worry no more after Yusuf ‘the team man’ Zain and Kody ‘wicket keeper specialist’ Mulchany put on an excellent 4th partnership to steer the roos in a fighting position going into the second session. Yusuf continued the onslaught with good company from Cody ‘the goat’ Billington and Tom ‘those shoes’ Blythman. The Roo’s finishing on a very strong 223 with Yusuf deservedly the man of the day with his excellent 97.
The temperature went up a notch going into the second week. Despite the early wicket things were looking tough as the wicket flattened out under the Gosnells sun. But when all hope seemed to be lost, the shining light that was Cody ‘still the goat’ Billington tore through the middle order. The man sending panic through the opposition after ‘that’ run out and collecting poles. But after some late resistance the last session was all to play for. Needing 4 runs to win Alex ‘spidey’ Hardiman collected the last 2 wickets in 2 balls to see the roo’s bringing it home in amazing style. And complete the golden roo. The goat finishing with a 5 wicket haul and a direct hit runout. Talk about living up to his name.