HWRCC Sunday XI vs Grouse and Label - Match Report

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye! With Captain Goldie absent, Barrel took the Sunday Funday side into battle against a very lacklustre Grouse & Label side.

HWRCC batted first on a pitch that was again low, but thankfully not as slow as the previous weekend. Sisso and Zammak opened the innings with Sisso playing some cracking shots and timing the ball as well as anyone had done all year. Having reached 30 he pulled his hamstring and was caught skying one to mid on.

High joined Zammak at the crease and played a very controlled innings like I’d never seen him play before. In fact at one stage we thought he had been replaced by an imposter, but the manner in which he batted was very pleasing to see until he was dismissed.

“Mighty” Joe Hirsch came and played some very good shots, especially off the back foot. Zammak reached his half century with a bit of luck, but was unfortunately dismissed shortly after for 57. Barrel came and went in the blink of an eye (ATS), “Mighty” Joe and A.J.(Quack, quack) were all dismissed in quick succession.

After cruising at a 100/2 and looking good for a total of over 200 the Wick had slumped to 130/6. Thankfully Matty D and Delboy steadied the ship with a very well worked partnership and Delboy playing on through the pain of an injured thumb after being hit going for a quick single. With some thrush bowling being introduced Delboy was out.

Matty D (37) slapped a couple of nice sixes before being stumped after some quick glove work by their nimble keeper. Harry and Junaid saw out the 40 overs with some lusty hitting towards the end to leave HWRCC 200/8. All in all a reasonable score as anything near 200 had been competitive all year at home.

Tea: If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all. Take from that what you will.

With Muzzy opening up at the Millenium Wood End and Junaid the Kingsfield End early wickets wanted. They bowled exceptionally well and were straight into the G & L batsmen. Harry taking a fine catch off Muzzy and it was refreshing to see a batsman walk, especially when it looked as though their umpire was never going to give it out.

After 10 overs G & L had been reduced to 5 down. It was time to bring on the secret weapon and A.J. kicked in off the long run Dennis Lillee style before preceeding to bowl a load of thrush before their best bat decided to launch one down Delboy’s throat at long on, swollen thumb and all. “Mighty” Joe was bowling some decent leg spin managing to nip out a couple of their batsmen, including one guy with what can only be describe as a zooter/grubber.

Upon seeing the chance to grab a couple of cheap wickets, and with A.J. tiring after what turned into quite a good spell bar a few no balls (front foot or bent arm – you decide), Barrel bought himself on to grab a couple of cheap wickets to avoid TFC honours and G & L were dismissed for 71 after 23.3 overs.

All in all I thought that the younger guys had all done a fantastic job and did everything asked of them.

MOM : Brilliant team effort with everyone contributing at some stage.