First Grade Men
Wanneroo 215 (Varsani 65, Richards 34, Holly 28) def. by Melville 4/249 (Billington 2/34)
The day started very promising with new skipper Deon Billington winning the toss and electing to bowl first. However, after an eventful first over Melville were on track for about 950 and 2nd bowler Bailey “bee sting” Richards didn’t help the case much either. Donnavinn Fryer and Deon Billington came on and dried up the runs with some economical bowling before Riley “Hollywood” Holly picked up the first wicket with a superb caught and bowled. With some strong batting on show, Melville ended up with 249 off their 50 overs. Skipper Deon was not for the first time the pick with 2-34.
The run chase started miserably when Strawb Sabburg nicked off in the first over. A steady partnership between newcomer Ricardo de Nobrega and Spangenberg/Heisenberg got us back on track before fireworks from the superstar Aryan Varsani had the Roos solidly in the hunt. Two extremely plumb LBW decisions in the same over to remove Fryer and Hollywood had us once again on the back foot and some late fireworks from Bailey Richards was not enough to get the boys over the line. In the end the Roo Premier side fell short by 34 runs.
The boys will be better for the run and eager to see what we can produce against Scarborough this week.
Second Grade Men
Melville 10/106 (O’Day 3/12, Carroll 3/24, Ardagh 2/12, Smith 2/29) def. by Wanneroo 9/230 (De silva 61, Forssman 56, O’Day 28, Bonner 27)
For game 2, the Roos-Twos were down at Tompkins. With what looked like a very nice wicket, Captain Adam ‘Smudge’ Smith won the toss and elected to bat.
The batting was off to a shaky start with the two openers Michael ‘Ards’ Ardagh and Jacob ‘Bonner’ Bonner having two mix ups in the second over. Ards fell for not many and Blake Holly soon followed to have us at 2/24. In his first game in the two’s Sam (Hamstring) de Silva came in and made it look easy partnering with Bonner and Darcy to put on a great knock. We finished off well with the help of Michael ‘Moogs’ O’Day ending on a healthy 9/230.
The bowling started off pretty perfectly. Moogs and Adam (Smudge) Smith got us off to a flyer each taking one wicket early. After a great opening spell, the spin trio of Ards, Darcy and Matthew (Maff) Carroll did what they do best to tie the opposition down in the middle overs. After a few wickets, the Melville Storm gave up hope and decided to block the game out. The boys ended up cruising to their second win of the year by 124 runs.
Female B Grade T20 (Double header)
Game 1: Wanneroo 4/60 S Reichelt 39* def. Midland-Guildford 9/58 (Stewart 2/8)
After a bye in Round 1, our B Grade took on Midland (twice) in a T20 double header at Kingsway. The team welcomed Hannah Francis (Applecross CC) and Debbie Goldberg (Whitfords CC) for their first games as Roos.
Midland started well, reaching 21 without loss before Emilie (1/15) struck. Then it was a steady procession of wickets, with almost all of the Roos bowlers getting amongst it – Emma (1/14), Josie (1/4), Kristin (1/5) – while Ella was the pick of the bowlers with a very tidy 2/8 and a length that was tricky to get away.
There were three run outs in this innings as well, with only one Midland batter reaching double figures in their total of 9/58 after 20 overs.
Wanneroo set about the chase in good style, and the top three of Shenae (39* off 33), Kristin (7) and Sarah (11) nearly saw it home. Two wickets in two balls brought Hannah out to see off a Hattrick (tough ask first game) but otherwise smooth sailing for the home team who finished at 4/60 in just a little more than 11 overs.
Game 2: Wanneroo 1/88 (Reichelt 43, Nicholls 26*) def. Midland-Guildford 5/87 (Giandzi 2/10, Harvey 2/10)
For this match we welcomed another player on debut – Liz Armstrong from Whitfords CC, who joined Hannah and Debbie in the line up.
A double header to start the season isn’t always easy, but it was great to see both Emma (2/10) and Bree (2/10) on fire with the ball in this match. Some great celebrations in this lot too, especially when the ball hit the woodwork!
The other wicket to fall was a well orchestrated run out involving Bree and Ella, who both stayed cool when it counted to find the batter short of her ground.
Shenae picked up where she left off Game one, with an almost run a ball 43. A picture of concentration, she looked disappointed to be out after sharing an excellent opening stand of 73 with Emilie, who batted with good focus to finish on 26* – a great knock after being promoted to the top of the order. A very brisk 10* from Mathilda saw the game finish in the 18th over, with the Roos cruising to 1/88.
An excellent start to the season by the B Grade team – well done!
Female Youth League T20
Wanneroo 7/143 (Williamson 82*) def. by Midland-Guildford 2/148
Bowling first at Kingsway on a gloriously fast outfield, the Roos claimed an early wicket through a great return catch that was snavelled by Aymie (1/22), but after that Midland put on a pretty solid batting display. The Roos weren’t at their best with the ball or in the field, but to their credit, the girls kept up their spirits in spite of the runs flowing. Ella (1/26) claimed the only other wicket to fall, with MGCC reaching an impressive 2/148 off their 20 overs.
Talia was unlucky to be run out at the non strikers end after a deflection from the bowlers hand. Myla (8) played with focus but when her wicket fell at 2/18, the Roos had it all to do. A great partnership between Soph (13) and Tegan, who was really talking it to the bowlers, got the score to 62. After Soph walked on an LBW (it was plumb) the home team needed batters to go with Tegan, who was starting to really unleash. It was going to be an uphill climb, but Chelsea and then Abbie both showed how rotating the strike is so important – the score kept ticking and Wanneroo remained within striking distance. Polly and Steffi ran lots of twos to keep the in form batter on strike and it very nearly came off – that never say die attitude was good to see – as the Roos fell just six runs short.
Tegan finished with a remarkable 82* off just 57 rocks, with 8 fours and 2 pretty big sixes. Well played Tegs and well done on your highest score to date.
Plenty to work on as a team out of this game though as no doubt will be a focus moving forward.
Third Grade Men
Wanneroo 124 (MacDonald 26) def. by Melville 6/12 (MacDonald 3/32, T Jessani 2/20)
Back for the first home game of the season for Jordan Slattery’s young side – the roos were keen to get in the way of the oncoming Storm. After winning his second consecutive toss and electing to bat again, the openers went on a flat Kingsway 2 deck. Opener Cameron MacDonald produced some early fireworks with a show of two very large (and very premeditated) Maximos. The first wicket fell just before drinks and thereafter it was not pretty viewing, as we fell from 0-37 to 6-62, Michael Kelsey showing the only resistance (20). A handy Melville bowling attack (did not even rely on their ex-state bowler) showed a blueprint of how to bell as a unit at that level, keeping things tight and eliciting false shots. The chaos was briefly paused with Jordan Slattery (12), club veteran John Walter (21) and Cody Billington (14) getting some wag out of the tail. Ultimately however the Roos were bowled out for 124.
Wanneroo kicked off their bowling innings with Melville batters kicking the ball, leading to Cody “young goat” Billington taking the first pole. Wickets were pretty hard to come by for the Roos, as the opposition batters cruised home to reach their total, with 4 wickets in hand. The spinners were the pick of the bowlers with Tarun Jessani (on 3rd grade debut) taking 2-20 off 9 and Jack McDonald 3-32. A tough loss for the Roos against a strong opposition but a good effort. Onto next week.
Fourth Grade Men
Melville 122 (Quelch 3/16, Maunder 3/21, Singh 2/17) def. by Wanneroo 123 (Zain 29)
A clear Saturday at Tompkins most North-East of ovals provided a good day for some magnificent fourth grade cricket. The streak of coin toss losses builds for the skipper as the second toss of the season is lost whilst somehow providing a winning outcome with Melville sending us in to bat, it seemed a win for us at the time, or did the home side know something we didn’t?
A slow start with Anil “the salesman” Kumar copping a duck down by the river, there looked to be a bit of luck on offer for Sam “tummy trouble” Williams as he kicked one early on that would’ve dismantled the stumps into many a piece, however he went on to score 11. Yusuf “excessive flapper” Zain and Ajaypal “strategic dropper” Singh attempting a rebuild for the Roo boys on the collective effort to stop the trucks was promising for a short while as they went on to score 29 and 16 respectively. Jordan “loves the river” Marinovich, Liam “bunting” Carroll, and Matt “early morning runs” Skouros contributed some handy runs at the back end of the innings, with 21, 17, and 15 to their names and their MyCricket stats whenever the institution is able to work. The tail of this innings requires no mention, Wanneroo are bowled out in the 41st over for 123, it seems as though the trucks are on their way…
It seems that Melville spent all their funds on diesel for their trucks and forgot about their lawnmower as the outfield could be classed as the 12th fielder, a handy inclusion when defending 123. It was slow going at the top of the bowling innings with Josh “4 step” Quelch making the first breakthrough with a controversial snick down the legside. It takes a little while but Yad “only needs one over” Singh makes the next breakthrough with a wicket in his first over of the day as the batter seemingly misses a straight one. Melville being conscious of the increased need to be more fuel economic with their approach to batting as they score at a cautious rate. The score ticks over to 2/96 and then, something changed. J. Quelch taking two wickets in one over to put the pressure back on Melville and let them know that the Wanneroo 4s will not go down easy. And so it began, the ‘Miracle at Tompkins’ was underway. The ball was thrown to Jared “the finisher” Maunder and Anil “questionable at the death” Kumar to see the game off, and that is what they did. At 6/108 and 12 overs to go, Melville felt they had to press on, and they tried, hitting a ball to the short boundary midwicket region a lack of lawnmower showed costly as the ball pulled up short only to be picked up and launched back in with an almost perfect throw to the bowlers end by J. Maunder, the 7th wicket fell as they were on their way back for a costly third run. The 40th over, a very close affair, A. Kumar with ball in hand figured he would make the game exciting and overstep the crease resulting in a no-ball, but remaining calm, he went on to bowl a dot ball on the free hit. He made up for this however, taking the 9th wicket with a well-executed yorker. And so comes the 41st over, J. Maunder with ball in hand, the equation for Melville and to get their trucks on the road, 1 run to win. For Wanneroo and the premise of minimised roadkill, 1 wicket. By the second ball, the previously acclaimed ‘Miracle at Tompkins’ was completed via chop-on, Melville losing 8/26. Absolute elation from all 11 Wanneroo boys in the North-East corner of Tompkins, heart break and spare jerry cans full of diesel for Melville. A thrilling victory for everyone involved that day and hopefully a sign of many good things to come this season.