Rd 4 v Caulfield 17/11/19
Caulfield won the toss and elected to bat on a slow and uneven pitch.
After an opening stand of 37, with unlucky Niblett (0/29 off 8) and Korathaluri (2/34 off 7) putting the pressure on, the wickets started to fall at regular intervals as we used 8 bowlers. 2/17 off 5 for Douglas and 2/25 off 4 to Park in the middle overs kept the pressure on, Wood claimed his first wicket for the club and finished with 1/8 off 1.5 overs before being thrown out of the game bowling beamers!!!, replaced by English leggie Bone who took 1/2 off 2. The ever reliable Lavender 1/12 of 5.3 overs closed out the innings, all for 154.
Spicuglia 69 no and Guyestky (18) put on 35 for the first wicket before Lavender (67no) arrived and with Joey chased down the total.
Harder that it sounds on that pitch which deteriorated as the innings went on, we were always in control.
Rd 5 v Old Haileybury 24/11/19
This was a spiteful game and no one could have enjoyed.
Again we lost the toss and were put into the field.
Gibson 1/18 off 6 had them ducking and weaving, and Rubal (4/16 off 6) from the other end read the pitch well and gave them no chance in his opening spell. Regular wickets throughout the innings had us on top, middle overs by Korathulari (2/22off 4, Park1/29 off 5 and Dimopoulos 0/14 off 5 keeping the opposition limping along. But a decision of not out really set everything off. A clear endge off Gibson to 2nd slip taken by Guyesky was referred to the square leg umpire by the batsmen who said not sure than said out under pressure from the batsmen!!!!. I have no doubt it was out as Guyesky caught the ball at knee height!!!!! That said, instead of being happy our opposition started the most vile trash talk any of us had ever heard. Bone came on first ball took at wicket all out for 101.
We let the opposition get under our skin and paid for it. Chasing a bonus pt, scoring the runs under 20 overs, Fraser 9 and Spicuglia 38 started well at 5 an over, but the loss of quick wickets to angry shots saw Bone 2, Lavender 19, Gimiz 0, Gibson 3 all out cheaply, before the funniest moment of the game occurred when on debut 6ft 1 Menon slipped and fell to the ground like an elephant being shot and was run out. Still requiring 12 to win captain Dimopoulos (8) and Guyetsky brought it home, with the captain belting the opening bowler back over his head for 4 to win the game.
5 games from 5 wins, top of the ladder.
We play Camberwell this week and Uni the next, currently 2nd and 3rd before the Sandy members game against Carey on the 14th December.
Cheers,
Sam