Weekend Write Up 17th & 24th February
First Grade
Wanneroo 102 & 143 (Varsani 41) def. by South Perth 205 & 1/44 (Eaton 4/52)
Wanneroo’s first innings was a bit of a struggle, but Matt Carroll and Mathew Dzodzos really turned things around with some quick runs, including those two maximums by Dzodzos. South Perth had a shaky start in their first innings, but it was a real back-and-forth battle. The Roos had them at 5-65, but unfortunately couldn’t wrap up those last few wickets easily, leading to South Perth’s win on day one.
Day two brought a chance for a reverse outright, and with a bit of rain in the mix, Wanneroo did a great job bowling out South Perth for 205, with skipper Caiden Eaton shining with 4-52. Aryan Varsani’s resilience in the second innings was commendable, facing 151 balls for 41 not out. Despite the tough loss, I’m sure the team will bounce back strong for their final game against Joondalup.
Second Grade
South Perth 125 (Brown 5/15, Fryer 4/35) def. by Wanneroo 145 (O’Day 33)
The twos boys ventured out to Perth Zoo to take on South Perth in our round 14 clash. South Perth won the toss and sent us in. Not the best start with a wicket falling on first ball of the game and we never really got going the whole innings. A couple of partnerships on a tricky wicket allowed us to scrape to a total of 145. Moogadonna the top scorer with 33. While our total was subpar, we had full belief that our bowling attack could defend the small total. We had 23 overs at them to finish off the day and led by Donny fryer and Owen brown we managed to have them 3/30 at stumps and well and truly in the game.
Week 2 came around and the boys down at south Perth decided they didn’t want the covers on with the rain around which played perfectly into our hands, after a delayed start the wicket was still soft and dicey and we quickly had the hosts 8/77. They put on a bit of a lower order partnership to give us a bit of a scare, but we managed to get the job done and bowl South Perth out for 125. Owen brown pick of the bowlers with an outstanding 5/15, excellently backed up by Donny fryer with 4/35. Whilst finals are out of reach for the 2s this year we showed a lot of fight on the weekend and look to enjoy the last game of the year by knocking off the old enemies at home.
Third Grade
Wanneroo 133 & 3/12 (Pearce 56) def. South Perth 86 & 58 (Billington 5/41 & 6/26, Slattery 3/24)
The boys rocked up to Kingsway for the last two-day fixture of the regular season looking to chase down top spot. Captain grumpy won the toss on a considerably green deck and chose to bowl. This ended up being the right call as the ball began moving ferociously off the deck past batsmen’s ears and shoulders. Cody and Jordan led the way early on, and even though “all the runs were coming from Cody’s end”, Cody took the first 3 wickets with the batsman finding the cordon every single time. The relentlessness continued as Taz, Fitta, and Jords all chipped with contributions, before Cody wrapped another five-fa taking the final wicket as South Perth were bowled out for 86 on the stroke of tea. The expectation after tea was that the pitch would flatten out, as it normally does at Kingsway 2. However, this was not to be the case as wickets started to tumble early on and South Perth began to get rowdy, 82 began to seem like par on this deck. As we came to find out, the deck was actually flat, but only for Kane Pearce. Kane made it look easy dispatching the South Perth bowlers around on route to a very good 50 (considered to be 150 by himself). As the roo boys got past the score 4 down and ended the first day 5 down and 30 runs ahead.
The following Saturday, rain lingered around, and a delayed start saw the pitch get sautéed with rain. This added spice to deck saw South Perth benefit as gloves were blown off and all nicks were caught as the roo boys lost 5 for 10 to only lead by 47 at the change of innings. Knowing the conditions, the roo boys saw they could be a chance of an outright. This belief grew as Jordan took one in the first couple of overs before lunch. After lunch, the demolition commenced as Jordan and Cody did not give up either end. Precision was the key to wickets as consistent line and length frustrated the SP batsman with 7 of the wickets being caught. Cody was the star of the show as he took 6 in the second innings (and a run out), to finish on 11 for the match. An outstanding effort. The roo boys finalised SP’s second innings for 58. Slatsball chased the remainder down (3 down but we don’t mention that) as the boys wrapped up a rare outright win. This win cements our spot in the top 2 and puts us 1 point off top spot with a game to play.
Fourth Grade
South Perth 213 (Hardiman (Hoppo) 5/58) def. Wanneroo 100 (O.Hudson 44)
One sunny day, down by the orangutan enclosure and nocturnal exhibit, exists a ground that goes by the name of Richardson Park, and on which are two ovals designed for cricketing abilities to be executed, aptly named Richardson 1 and Richardson 2. It was on Richardson 2 in which Wanneroo’s 4th grade side was to engage in the activity of playing South Perth’s 4th best 11 selections of blokes in the penultimate round of the season before finals. As the coin went up, it was no shock that Wanneroo’s captain had called the wrong side of the coin and it was inevitable that Wanneroo would be bowling on a warm day. It almost began as if it was going to be a long day, the first wicket not coming until near enough first drinks with South Perth on 48. But then there seemed to be a relatively steady flow of wickets relative to the number of runs being scored. As was the tradition in 4th grade, a few catches were put down in the build-up, making it increasingly harder for Alex “Hoppo” Hardiman to claim his ever-allusive 5 wicket haul. South Perth did seem to be rattled and unsure of how to complete a single run at times, as two runouts were achieved throughout the fielding innings thanks to the arm of Kai “specialist fielder” Richards. The side was still reeling in the effects of the trauma experienced against Midland-Guildford, as when walking off at tea it was noted that South Perth were at a similar stage (6/120ish) when Midland-Guildford came back and piled on the runs. It couldn’t happen again, could it? The boys were scared, it was a nervous tea, hoping it doesn’t happen again. But it did, it took nearly the whole 3rd session to take the remaining 4 wickets as the opposing side put on another 90+ runs. There was still somehow a little time left in the day – 5 overs to be exact – which meant the two openers were to see off the South Perth attack, which apparently included Wasim Akram.
The second of the two days rolled around, but not as it normally does in the summer, this time it came with rain the night before. But for some reason, no covers were put on by South Perth (maybe the aquatic exhibit got loose?) and so the pitch ended up playing nicely into the hands of aforementioned Wasim Akram and whoever else was bowling for the other team. It was a steady loss of wickets for the Bad Boys of Fourth Grade, with only one mentionable score of 44 by Oliver “still hasn’t got his esky” Hudson. The final wicket fell just before tea for the score of 100. The game was then agreed by both captains that we were done, meaning we could support the 2’s in overcoming a South Perth side with in-fighting. This loss now means the 4’s are no longer eligible for a finals series this season, this will be the first season in 3 years that no finals will be played by the 4s. Disappointing it may be, but now it means there will be more support around the 3rd grade side. Bring on Joondalup next week, and hopefully we can end the season on a high.