Gus McLean and the Fifth XI at Hislop Park following Gus’s 300th match for MACC – Photo credit: Bill Allen
In a week when Life Member Gus McLean notched up 300 games for MACC, the First, Second and Third XIs recorded strong wins. Unfortunately for Gus and the Fifth XI, and despite a resolute 78th Career 50 for Gus, a win was not possible. The Fourth XI also struggled to get going.
First XI
We ventured out to H E Parker Reserve and were greeted with no change rooms as they were completing club room renovations. Apart from that, the ground looked a million bucks and the wicket, while hard on top, felt a little tacky beneath the surface. We were excited to welcome in Shahen Patel for his first 1st XI game in four years.
We lost the toss and were sent out to field. We started well with the ball with Jackson and Watkins bowling economically but it wasn’t before Taylor came on that we were able to take our first wicket (Roy’s first delivery = absolute peach). Morris (Heathmont’s best bat) looked like he might take the game away from us but again Taylor was able to hold one back of a length and have him make an error of judgement. From that point we were able to restrict, field well and take regular wickets, restricting Heathmont to 8/146 off their 40 overs. There was a disappointing incident that occurred in the second last over of the innings when a ball was smashed back at McNally, resulting in a nasty finger injury that required immediate treatment and surgery the next day. Standouts with the ball were Taylor (2/25 off 7 overs), Patel (2/25 off 7 overs) and Watkins (1/25 off 8 overs), while McNally bowled beautifully without any luck.
We knew we would have to bat well, especially without McNally who had been in fine touch with the bat in previous games. Our innings didn’t start too well, with both Wright and Watkins removed before we had reached double figures. Joslin and Stothard dug in and worked hard to resurrect the innings, taking their time early but with a focus to build a partnership and keep wickets in the shed for later in the innings. They both continued on their merry way, accelerating as the innings progressed and were able to chase down the total with an unbeaten 140 run stand (Joslin 85no and Stothard 54no). We have emphasised partnerships with bat and ball and it was great to have such a substantial partnership result in a comprehensive victory – 2/148 off 32.5 overs.
We now take a lot of confidence going into our double-header weekend verse Surrey Hills and Ashburton (both away) and wish McNally all the best with surgery and recovery.
Go Monts!
Second XI
Gus receiving a Guard of Honour before his 300th game – Image credit: Terry Smit
The 2nd XI hosted Richmond Union at home in a one day match in round 6. We won the toss and batted with McClure and Chippindall getting us off to a good start.
They both fell in quick succession with McClure making a well made 29. Baker (22) and Bonnett then put together a partnership to put the game back in our favour, before Baker was caught just as he looked like he was going to take the game away from them.
There were some useful contributions from the middle order with Joel Guley (12) and Stragalinos (17) turning the strike and supporting Bonnett who was scoring at will. Dan batted through until the final over where he was run out for a well made 72 as we posted 7/176 from our 40 overs.
Injury and unavailability left our bowling stocks a little light, but we felt our total was above par and were confident of defending it. Richmond got away to a good start and with only 1 wicket taken at drinks we were probably behind in the match. Mallia (2/29 off 8) and Orchard (1/25 off 8) were the pick of the bowlers and took the key wickets after drinks to get us back into the match. Baker 0/18 off 7 bowled tightly, while McClure (3/11) and Chippindall (2/31) chipped in with some wickets as we bowled Richmond Union out for 140 to secure the points.
Third XI
Round 6 saw the 3rd XI venture to Ashburton against a very nervous looking ex Mont Albert player ‘Ducky’, in what would turn out to be a memorable victory! With the sun out and a dry pitch, after 4 weeks we were able to get some cricket played… leaving Sportsbet profits plummeting!
Naturally Greeds lost the toss leaving Ashburton quite obviously choosing to bat, we were led brilliantly early by Lairdy and Bobby C with Bobby removing the dangerous opener early with a sharp catch at first by the ever reliable AB. All the boys bowled and fielded unbelievably with wickets continuing to fall at a consistent rate throughout the innings as we restricted Ashy to be all out for 140. Scotty Wagener enjoyed the surrounds of ‘not Elgar’ doing a sensational job taking 3/18 off 7. With his full toss making the flipper look useless he made the batsmen look inept! Scotty was supported well by 14 year old Lachie Smit (this kid is a super talent… Super …watch this space) taking 2/22 off 7 overs, while Sam Piddington impressed immensely showing he is going to be a fantastic pick up for Mont Albert. Sammy at the death finished with 2/39. I think 38 of those coming off the first over! I’d also just like to add I took the all important wicket of Ducky, knocking him over with the straight one that does nothing, and probably would’ve been clocked at 34km/hr…
Our innings didn’t have an ideal start with Minzy being run out in the first over. The rest of the top 6 looked comfortable all managing double figures without passing 20. One of those being young gun Fraser Badden showing he’s going to be a very good player, having a great technique and showing plenty of composure for such a young lad with wickets tumbling around him. Looking down the barrel at 6/75 our hopes looked grim. Enter Dave Laird (32*) and Sammy Piddington (27*). The two put on a superb 66 run partnership to get us home in what was one of the great run chases. Well done guys, I wasn’t nervous for second!
It really was great team effort across the board with everyone chipping in at some point throughout the game! Let’s hope this win will give our season some momentum going forward. Go Monts!!
Fourth XI
After a couple of weeks off, the 4s were back at the Gar once again to take on Mulgrave. We won the toss and decided to have a bat on a good looking deck. We faced some tight bowling early and struggled to get a steady flow of runs. Standouts with the bat included Marcus Luciani (21) and talented young fella Tony Hargreaves (20). We batted our full 40 overs but were only able to post 112, which is probably 40 – 50 runs below par for Elgar.
We came out after tea knowing that tight bowling and early wickets were the key. We put up a brave effort by taking 6 wickets but Mulgrave were able to chase the runs down in 28 overs. Jimmy Wright bowled tight with the new ball and was unlucky to not have any wickets to his name. Morgan Gason bowled exceptionally well to finish with figures of 2/16 off his 8 overs. Shaun Field nabbed his first wicket in Mont Albert colours. While Jack Anderson picked up another 2 wickets with his magic arm. It was a brave effort considering the quality of the opposition, unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough runs on the board. Time to bounce back against Donvale next week and get a win!
Fifth XI
This week Mont Albert played Deepdene Uniting at Hislop Park
It was special day because it was Gus McLean’s 300th game and it was David Baddon’s debut for the club.
Mont Albert lost the toss and Deepdene elected to bat first.
The bowling was very good. All bowlers bowled a good line and length and we restricted Deepdene to 5/158 at the end of the 35 overs. The standout bowler was Bill Allen with 1/19, who claimed his wicket with an athletic caught and bowled.
At the start of the Mont Albert innings, Deepdene and Mont Albert made a guard of honour in recognition of Gus’ achievement.
But things went downhill from there.
The run chase for Mont Albert started out as a bit of a nightmare. We lost 4 batsmen quickly and were looking to be all bowled out in the 20th over. Luckily, the captain kept in together and kept on getting the runs that we desperately needed. He and Trevor Roddam stabilised the batting by soaking up some overs and keeping the runs ticking along. But, sadly all good things must come to an end. Just as Trevor started to find his stride he was bowled by a peach. This bought Sanjay to the crease. He started to counter-attack well but just as he was getting on top Sanjay was caught at mid wicket to an absolute screamer. The batting then fell away. The last wicket fell in the last over and it was the captain who came back in after retiring. He went at caught at mid-off playing a really, really stupid shot, (he still hasn’t gotten over it). We were all out for 107.