Weekend Write Up 9th-10th December
First Grade
Wanneroo 228 (Varsani 54, Slattery 44) def. by Claremont Nedlands 8/329 (Eaton 4/76, Dzodzos 2/46)
A windy weekend welcomed 1st grade to Kingsway 1, in what promised to be a momentum building game. Some lovely toss work from Brodie Mcghie’s long lost father, meant the insertion of the once/still mighty tigers. Caiden “Haaaaaa” Eaton caused early damage, removing top order players with ease. Offering a shot wouldn’t hurt now would it. Lachlan “chippies” Poulter also chipping in from the other end, with another indecisive leave proving to be much appreciated by the roo boys. With the tigers in early trouble, a day in the dirt wasn’t a thought in the minds of the roo men. Could we be at lookout early on Sunday? No, we wouldn’t be. A chanceless innings and some cowboy work from a 12-year-old (still didn’t stop a wild chicken offering some verbals, that neither made sense nor had any impact) meant the roos spent the full 90 in the field. Our dear Bison proving to be the pick of the left arm men, picking up an oh-so-tight 4fa. Matthew “who is Clayton” dzodzos also chimed in with an extremely tidy 2fa. 20 short was the after days play chat by the men with red hats.
A promising and surprisingly brisk start promised a great deal the following day. However, clumps of wickets at breaks crippled the boys. Mitchell “here’s my stats even though you didn’t ask” Slattery made a wall like 44, with Aryan “nice dumpy Temba” Varsani producing a lovely 54. A few 30s from Washington and Baby strawberry weren’t enough, with Pete the last batter dismissed on 228. The tigers were in fact 100 over par. Tough work from the boys, but a standout out innings from Whiteaker proved to be the major difference
Second Grade
Claremont Nedlands 9/210 (R Holly 4/34) def. Wanneroo 152 (B Holly 42, O’Day 33)
No match report.
Female A Grade
Midland Guildford 2/124 def. Wanneroo 6/119 (Jesani 44, Devchand 30)
Female B Grade
Wanneroo 9/96 (Bakker 18) def. by South Perth 3/97
Third Grade
Wanneroo 7/170 (Slattery 44*, McDonald 34) def. Claremont Nedlands 9/169 (Slattery 3/29)
It was the week before Christmas, and all through the house.. was Jordan Slattery. Slat Jnr Snr put on an all-round clinic in the third-grade game against the golden triangle brigade. Captain grumpy even won the toss. Coming in on a 5-game hot streak we were focused and determined to carry that good form forward as we neared the Christmas break. Following the obligatory pre-game game of PIG (where the team unite to bully Jack McDonald and Jack McDonald cheerfully doesn’t let us), the toss landed in our favour and we chose to have a bowl on what appeared a juicy deck. That choice appeared as unlikely but sound as Pat Cummins toss call at the World Cup final, as we struck twice early courtesy of an in-form and fired up Rhys Walker. Further early breakthroughs eluded us but the combined military medium bowling unit kept the economy rate favourable, ready for another Tarun Jessani clinic. Wouldn’t you know, ‘Hobart’ struck with his first ball with a deadly knee-high full toss that was duly deposited down the throat of the one man on the boundary. 6 fielders and 4 slightly annoyed pace bowlers celebrated the brilliance of his left-arm spin. The middle overs belonged to Jordan Slattery with three wickets, two of them cleaned bowled. Unfortunately he couldn’t take a hattrick that was on offer because the batter wasn’t a right hander. Alex Fitzmaurice took a pair, John Walter said ‘are you %&^ing kidding me’ 3 or 9 times and Claremont finished strongly to post 169.
In the chase, Sam Williams once again managed the anchor role as his partners tried to keep the run rate above the required. New opener Braiden Hudson struck a couple powerful six’s and Jack McDonald put together a composed 34 before he decided he didn’t want to bat anymore and ran himself out. This may have been an enlightened move as it brought Jordan Slattery back into the game. With a few wickets having fallen and the game anything but certain, Claremont Nedlands and their dirtiest of ring fields were up and about. Jordan cut that nonsense right out with a classy captains knock to take the game away from them. Jordan ‘there is no ring field too ringy for me’ Slattery finished on 44* as he hit a textbook cover drive to the rope to end the game. The threes are now top of the ladder and head to Albany somewhere to play Rockingham-Mandurah next week. Respect to Sean Brown who ran drinks for us all game.
Fourth Grade
Claremont Nedlands 8/179 (Hardiman 3/26) def. by Wanneroo 3/181 (Maraldo 121)
No match report.