Weekend Wrap – Wanneroo Districts Cricket Club

1st Grade

Midland Guildford 4-250 def. Wanneroo 111 (Richards 33) & 4-161 (Richards 34, Sabburg 39, Spangenberg 32*)

The struggling ones set out to get their first win of the season against a strong midland side and it started well with skipper ‘Strawbs’ winning the toss and electing to put the runs on the board… which we struggled to do.

Wickets fell early with the top order struggling to face the swinging bowl which left us 4-33 in need of some experience heads to somewhat settle the onslaught the two experienced players entered. With new dilf Rob Richards (33) and Jimmy “Jimmy” Newnham (21) the innings seemed to build before the partnership was broken, and the collapse restarted with the boys bowled out for 111.

With the final session left to bowl on day 1 we set out to take as many wickets as we could, but nobody could break through and Midland ending the night 0-90. On day 2 the Roos came out trying to be as positive as we can and try shake up the game to have a chance at winning. But with a flat deck and no swing, wickets were hard to come by with Caiden “slug” Eaton getting the first breakthrough after the first drinks.

The second wicket didn’t come soon after but then Midland had eyes for the boundary and a possible outright with a few big sixes and a declaration sending us back in. Although we didn’t get as many wickets as we would have liked there were some positives with club debutante Bailey “Chop 2” Richards taking his first A grade wicket for the Roos.

The second innings was all about not letting an outright happen and letting some of the batters have a good hit out in the middle with some good signs from the batters that did bat.

We learn and move onto Mt Lawley chancing our first win next week.

2nd Grade

Wanneroo 223 (Ardagh 47, Fairchild 49, Holly 33) def. by MGCC 9-256 (Jessani 3-24, Fryer 3-66)

The twos lost the toss and Midland chose to bat. Some tight first session bowling from the boys, highlight by three wickets from Sharad Jessani (3-24), meant that the Roos went into lunch on top with the score at 5-60. Unfortunately the middle session didn’t go to plan and Midland regained control. At one stage it looked like Midland were on track for a score of 300 plus, but some measly bowling at the death helped to restrict the opposition to 256. Donny finishing with 3-66 and Poults bowling well for 1-26.

Returning for week two, the boys were confident on chasing down a strong total. Ards batted aggressively for 47 and Fairy was at his usual consistent best notching 49. But the twos needed someone to go on and make a big score, which didn’t happen, and regular wickets fell making the chase difficult. Young Blake Holly showed some grit to fight hard for a well made 33 but with time and partners running out, the Roos ultimately fell 33 runs short.

In a game where neither our batting or bowling were at there best, the silver lining would be that when we can piece together both aspects of our game, the twos will be hard to beat.

Looking forward to Mount Lawley next week to put it all together.

3rd Grade

Midland Guildford 253 (J Quelch 6/43, J Walter 2/33) def by Wanneroo 9-261 (M Kelsey 78, Y Zain 52)

As the format changed back to two day cricket the threes travelled to the infamous Lilac Hill to take on an extraordinarily strong Midland Guildford line up.

The day started off well with Captain Walts winning the toss with a cheeky grin electing to bat first on what looked like a batting paradise of a wicket.

Openers Michael “Bowling Allrounder” Kelsey and Yusuf “New Recruit” Zain looked to take advantage of a spicy batting wicket on which they did.

The openers looked to the game on against a particularly good Midland bowling attack and posted an exceptionally good opening stand of 147 runs with Kelso posting a positive 78 and Yusuf posting a gritty 52 which a very good platform and a launch pad for the rest of batting order to go from.

Handy runs from the middle order with Jayden “Eshay” Rae posting a handy 22 and Kealey “ Keels” Farrant posting an aggressive 32 as the threes looked to post a big total for the innings.

Unfortunately, wickets fell at regular intervals during the last session with Captain Walts stood up and comprised a very stylish innings of 24 ending the days play with the threes posting an outstanding total of 261. Michael Kelsey the pick of the batters ending to innings with 78

The threes arrived a week later looking to defend the mammoth total and finish the job.

The first session belonged to the roos as Josh “ Q” Quelch taking 3 very quick wickets and Alex “ Fittzy” Fitzmaurice taking 1 wicket to put the Midland Batters on the back foot after the first session.

The 3s then looked to continue to pressure but one experienced batsman stood in the way of the roo train and took momentum away from the boys and put the pressure back on the roos.

No problem, Jack “ golden arm” Mcdonald and immediately got the breakthrough wicket that the 3s needed with his very first ball.

Unfortunately, the game looked in the hands of Midland with one of their batsman batted extremely well, but we all know that cricket can be a very funny game.

As the game went into the last session, the 3s needed 5 wickets only having 40 runs to play with.

With Josh coming into the attack and getting the breakthrough dismissing the both set batsman exposing the tail, and from there the 3s continued to build the pressure with Josh Picking up 3 crucial wickets and Captain Walts finishing the job with 2 wickets of his own ending the day as the 3s coming on top of a nail biting game with only 9 runs left.

Josh Quelch the pick of the bowlers ending the game with a big bag of 6/43.

Good win from the 3s with lots of positives from the match but still got a lot to work on.

4th Grade

Wanneroo 8-222 (Hall 56, Santich 50) def. MGCC 107 (Singh 4-, Brown 3-) & 2-87

4th Grade Elite’s started the game promisingly, losing the toss as Skipper Liam Carroll failed to properly toss the coin, getting his side sent into the field on a lovely Saturday afternoon at Kingsway Sports Complex.

With a lightning quick opening spell from ‘The Goat’ Billington and ‘OB’ Brown, Midland-Guildford quickly found themselves in trouble at Kingsway 2 with the quicks taking one and two respectively.

The skipper himself Mr Liam Carroll took another two quick wickets for the Roos before the guests attempted to consolidate.

A sixth wicket resistance from the touring side wasn’t good enough however to hold back a ‘Gagas’ hatty on his way to four for the innings in a magnificent bowling display!

Owen was reintroduced into the attack to take the last wicket of the innings and finish with three well earned wickets as Midland made a dismal 107 all out.

With 33 overs play remaining in the day, the Mighty Roos had to see just five overs out before the best tea in the comp. A quick 20 run partnership from ‘Tombo’ Blythman and debutante Riley ‘no nickname’ Gillespie saw the 4s at 0/20 after three overs before both openers decided they’d rather eat tea than keep batting, seeing the Roos 2/20 at the break. At 2/44, the boys lost another two quick wickets as ‘Kano the Volcano’ and Keegan ‘Keegs’ Montgomery fell in consecutive balls with well made cameos from both seeing the Kangaroos in trouble at 4/44, as a second victim fell learning that spinners don’t turn it when you’re playing on the Mitchell Freeway.

Post Callum ‘Dougo’ Douglas deciding he was bored and walking the bowler with under 8 overs to bat in the day, ‘The Goat’ Billington and Allan ‘Hally’ Hall saw the home team to stumps at 5/82.

Needing only a further 26 runs to win, Wanneroo started the day with great optimism of a potential outright victory. The departure of The Goat for a ‘doesn’t deserve a clap’ 21, saw the entrance of Nick ‘Tippa’ Santich as he partnered with Hally to increase the lead, which saw The Roos in a commanding position as both men scored brilliant 50s.

The Skipper declared on himself and ‘OB’ as the 4s finished at 8d/222 in hope of beating the visitors outright with 50 overs remaining in the day. After no early wickets were taken from the opening bowlers, OB and Gagas, and The Goat not delivering on his promise of ‘the best over you’ll ever see’ saw the hopes of The Roos fade dramatically.

Despite a wicket from Gagas, giving him five for the match, and an absolute seed of a half tracker from Dougo, a result didn’t look likely and the game was called at the tea break.

A win to the MIGHTY ROOS putting them on top of the elite 4th grade ladder after 6 rounds.

Under 17 Men

Midland-Guildford 8/160(cc) RA Walker 3/30 def by Wanneroo 7/192(cc) RC Gillespie 63 TD Brown 28 C Billington 26

Under 15 Men

Wanneroo 9/142(cc) B Jones 34 D Moore 33 def Midland-Guildford 115 C Krahner 5/23 N De Villiers 2/8 H Davey 2/11

Female B Grade
Rockingham-Mandurah 6/96(cc) E Nicholls 3/19 def by Wanneroo 4/114(cc) T Crafford 29 M Bothma 25

Away to Rockingham-Mandurah we batted first, and a well paced innings commenced with a great opening stand between Megan (25 off 19) and Shenae, with the first wicket falling at 47.

When Shenae departed for 23 shortly after with the score on 55, Tene and Talia combined at the crease for their second partnership of the day, having batted together earlier in the 17s. The girls took the score to 3/100 with some nifty batting. Talia finished with 21 off 28 while Tene notched 29 off 33.

Sarah and Ella capitalised on the great platform that had been built, going run a ball in the last two overs to see the score to a very competitive 4/114.

Right amongst it early and throughout the innings, Emilie picked up the first Rocky wicket at 1/4, going on to collect both openers by the time the score reached 26.

A period of consolidation followed from the home team, before Kristin (1/17) struck against the top scorer, while Tene and Emilie combined for a run out that kept the game interesting.

The teams were level pegging right up until the end of the 14th over, when a series of rapid bowling changes from Skipper Emma swung the game dramatically. Emilie (3/19) returned to claim another pole, with Bronwen taking her second catch of the innings, while Emma also picked up a great first ball LBW. Great to see the team apply the screws just when they were needed – Rocky finishing at 6/96 to complete a good win for the Roos.

Female Youth League

Wanneroo 5/91(cc) T Allen 39* def Midland-Guildford 4/90

Wanneroo welcomed top of the table Midland-Guildford to Kingsway in a return match as we head into the back half of the T20 fixtures.

Tene and Talia got the team off to a flyer with the bat, with the score racing to 50 off not many overs before Tene fell for 20. Shayna joined Talia at the crease and continued the theme of batting in partnerships, moving the score to 80 before she fell for 18, with Talia continuing to steadily build her innings at the other end.

The Roo’s middle order threw everything at quick runs on the back of the solid start, but we lost a few wickets in the process. Talia carried her bat to finish with 39 off 46 in a really impressive performance. Wanneroo concluded the innings at 5/91 and knew it was going to take some defending.

A defendable total became a really defendable total after our first 10 overs with the ball, which saw MGCC reach 1/31. Chloe bowled seam up with fantastic economy, conceding very few runs, with Aymie unlucky not to claim a wicket this week.

Through the middle overs, Layla’s left arm leggies and Mathilda’s out swingers against the breeze kept on the pressure, with both girls picking up a wicket, with some tidy keeping by Shayna as well, including a great catch. A run out by Mathilda also really helped to keep it tight!

In the end, MGCC needed 7 off the last Josie over to win the game. Singles off the first three balls kept them alive, followed through by two dots which built the pressure – well done Team for being switched on in this phase. What should have been the last ball was 2 wides, setting up a fantastic finish – with two needed to win from the final delivery. Cue an excellent delivery from Josie, who completed a caught and bowled to the delight of the home crowd, sealing a one run victory with MGCC reaching 4/90.

Under 14 Pathway Program

A scratch match this week against South Perth was the perfect hit out for the team ahead of their WACA Mini Carnival next weekend. Playing together as a team for the first time, but having trained since the end of last season, there were a few understandable nerves as the girls settled into bowling first.

South Perth got a few away early, but the intent of the Roos was clear, with the girls throwing themselves around in the field. It wasn’t long before Elri got a breakthrough, which she followed up with a direct hit run out from square leg, while Leah found her rhythm and also got amongst the wickets.

With Coach Scott keen to test his bowling strength, the bowling changes came thick and fast, with Brooke, Polly, Emma, Addi and Asha all chiming in with dismissals. Given it was a scratchy, the batters kept coming right to the end of the 20 overs, during which time the Roos also found 5 more run outs! South Perth scored 98 with their first 10 wickets.

Batting wise, we lost a wicket early but it was good to see a watchful Polly see off the openers. Tegan (29*) and Myla (15*) put in classy performances, with a well made 10 from Steffi and a quick fire 9 from Emmersyn seeing us past the total at 3/99.