Write-Ups of the round 1 and 2 games against Claremont-Nedlands and Fremantle.
Round 1
1st grade
Wanneroo vs Claremont Nedlands
Wanneroo 95 (Fawcett 33) def by Claremont-Nedlands 168 (Billington 4/25)
On a wet week in Perth, where multiple games got abandoned, the match at Cresswell Park went ahead without delay. For round 1 there were four debutants; Braiden Hudson, Brad Marlborough, Tom Walker and Blake Jones (at 15 years old, Blake is the youngest ever player to play 1st grade for Wanneroo). On a soft deck we won the toss and bowled first. Spirits were high.
Claremont Nedlands were bowled out for 168 due to a solid bowling display. Deon Billington had the bowl on a string, taking 4/25, bowling 10 straight overs and getting the top 4 out. Deon was then backed up first gamer Blake Jones (1/25), taking his 1st A grade wicket, Matt Caroll (2/35) and Jake Fawcett (1/22). Caiden Eaton then came back late to wrap up the tail (2/25).
Wanneroo then struggled and never really got started, getting bowled out for 95. Jake Fawcett made a gritty 33 but had no support from anyone else. Jordan Slattery showed some resistance in the tail, but ultimately it wasn’t enough, with Claremont- Nedlands winning with by 73 runs.
2nd Grade
Wanneroo (103) def. by Claremont Nedlands (6-158)
- Richards 2-25, H. Stumpers 33
Massive delay for start of game due to unsafe landing for bowlers, this caused the game to start at 1:30 and be a 29 over game.
Donny won the toss and sent Claremont in to bat. We had them 1-33 off 8 overs, before they built an 85 run partnership. Darcy broke the partnership, triggering a Claremont collapse of 4-9. This included Faz (Bailey Richards) who didn’t ball a single on pace delivery all day, being on a hat trick ball thanks to one of the worst shots ever seen from a WA listed player (Owen insisted on being allowed to give Liam Haskett a bake for his shot). We leaked a few more runs, allowing Claremont to make 6-158 off their 29 overs.
Wanneroo then went in to bat, not getting off to a great start. A few great balls by Claremont (there weren’t any good balls, they were all awful shots (Moooooooock)). Stumpy and Donny built a small partnership. Stumpy was so in he even managed to play one of the most average on-drives ever, then proceeds to put in the chat “Can you mention my straight drive… Felt really good”. Stumpy was eventually run out, caught just short of the stumps (Nice to have Stevie Wonder at square leg for the run-out decision). This led to another collapse, with the future, Liam Deckert, playing a few great shots to get us to 103.
Overall, not the best start to the season but there were some really good moments and takeaways from the game (Kelso’s shot was not one of those takeaways).
3Rd grade and 4th grade
Both were able to enjoy a delayed start to the season, with play not being possible at Kingsway 1 or Melvista. Rain cards played on the Friday night were used to perfection.
Round 2
1st grade
Wanneroo 231 def by Fremantle 232 (47.3 overs)
Wanneroo’s first innings got off to a good start by Braiden Hudson who hit 42 off 34 and Mitchell Slattery who hit 10 off 15 (Blake insisted this was to be mentioned). With some quick wickets falling Aryan Varsani and Matthew Carrol put their heads down to put on a 56-run partnership with Aryan making it all the way too his maiden 1st grade century. We ended up making a pretty good total of 231 which couldn’t be possible without our skipper Caiden Eaton hitting a couple bombs on Kingsway 1.
Wanneroo’s second innings got off to a wonderful start with Jordan Slattery taking his first wicket in 1st grade since 2020, leaving them 1 for 3. Fremantle then steadied, with a very good display of batting. We then got our breakthrough thanks to Matt Carrol. We then start taking a pile of wickets, with Deon Billington taking 3 for 44 of 10 overs. The boys bowled well to get the match down to wire but Fremantle got over the line
All round though it was a pretty good performance from the Wanneroo 1st grade
2nd Grade
Wanneroo 5/228 def Fremantle 10/177
The 2nd grade boys started out on fire with the opening batters Dougo and stumpers turning up late. After winning the toss and batting first, the opening batters showed why long warm-ups are overrated by putting on a 65-run partnership before Dougo matador BBQ’d himself. Stumpers batted well hitting 2 bombs and making 55, with Blake Holly play a nice supporting role with a naughty 42. Kelso made sure not to chase wides, and with the added confidence of WBC having Guinness glasses, scored a crafty run a ball 49 not out. He had an opportunity to get to 50 off the last ball of the innings but was more concerned with red ink. The boys made a very good score of 228.
The second innings started off steady with Donny winding back the clock, bowling a ball that got caught in the wind and swung in to hit off stump. Then mystery spin twins Darcy and Curious George (one is more mysterious than the other) put on the squeeze taking two and three wickets respectively. It was an uphill battle for Freo to chase the runs and fell short being bowled out for 177, giving the Roos their first win of the season.
3rd Grade
Fremantle (6/152) def by Wanneroo (2/153)
Another summer of cricket was upon us, with the mighty 3rd grade back at the home of cricket (aka Kingsway 2).
After Jack won the toss & bowled on a flatty (allegedly), his master stroke was paying off with John Walter tearing through the teenagers, grabbing 3 wickets in his 2nd over. With the Freo batters consolidating during the middle overs, it was the Jessani spin twins that turned the game back in the Roo’s favour. Aided by endless spin chat late the previous night (probably). Sharad with the bragging rights, finishing with 2 wickets. After a solid effort in the field, it was good going keeping Freo to 152 after 45 overs.
It was a relevantly cruisy start with the bat (that’s if your name starts with Greg). The openers helping set up the game for the middle order to clean up (also known as Kane). Kane taking the Freo bowlers to all parts, whacking 71 not out (63), in good support from Jack, and finishing on 30 not out.
With the remainder of the middle order, ‘TFC’d’. The Roo’s completing the total, 2 down with 9 overs to spare. A great first win of the season!
4th Grade
Wanneroo 9/245 def Fremantle 9/177
The day started with Jordan Marinovich having some car problems and having to be picked up on the side of Marmion Ave. Liam lost the toss and got sent into bat on a very flat looking Stevens Reserve. Xander in his first game back after being out for close to a year with stress fractures got unlucky and played a nice late cut but unfortunately, he hit it straight to the gully fielder 0 (6). Unfortunately for Fremantle that was the only wicket until the 20th over. Ben Jones 82 (76) and Kai Richards 47 (73) put on an amazing partnership through the middle overs. 2 lost balls into the power station of Bens bat in 3 balls really sums up Fremantle’s day with the ball. After Kai got out ending the partnership (116) Jordan came to the crease continuing the dominating batting, he hit 2 sixes to finish with 41 (52) then from there, there was a few more decent efforts to keep the run rate up, Liam 23, Oliver 14 and a solid looking 10 (15) from the debutant Brock. We ended up finishing 9-245 off our allocated 45 overs leaving Fremantle needing 5.5 runs per over.
Liam and Jayden stated off with the bowl both bowling tightly, Jayden picking up the first wicket caught finding the openers edge. After the had both finished their spell Fremantle were in a horrible position being 1/30 after 12. A slight partnership began to build before some shocking running and some awesome fielding from the debutant Brock, again some tight bowling from Alex H and Alex F led to another shocking run where the Freemantle batters decided to take on Xanders arm and got runout. Some more wickets fell Jayden picking up another and a couple more runouts from Liam and Xander. In the end Fremantle finished on 9-177 well below par thanks to some tight and patient bowling and some electric fielding from the boys (Plugga failed to mention that he took a screamer on the boundary and he definitely didn’t have his foot on the line).