It’s hard to recall a weekend where we lost five senior matches. I’m sure it has happened before, and possibly recently, but for some reason, I suspect this one will stick. But, as they say, better now than at the pointy end. Plenty of time to learn, adjust and come out firing this weekend. Read below for all the action, including a very detailed account of the two’s match against Mazenod by the eloquent Reginald.
First XI
We ventured out to take on the benchmark team of the competition over the past 2-years in East Donaster at Zerbes Reserve for Round 2 of the season. It was a ripping day with what looked to be a good wicket and a fast outfield. There was only one change from our round 1 clash, with Wrighty coming back into the team. We lost the toss and were sent out into the field. While we bowled ok in the early overs, we continued our inability to take early wickets. This cost us as the innings progressed, with East Donny’s opening pair able to increase the run-rate. Dickson and Bremner put on 115 for the opening stand with Guley coming on to break the partnership. Usually when a wicket falls so does the run-rate. This was not the case with Vaiano going ballistic, hitting 45 off 19 balls and setting East Donny up for a massive total. Sam Taylor and Watkins both got scalps with the score on 169 and we were able to peg back the run rate with some good disciplined bowling towards the back end. East Donny concluded their innings at 9/235 off their 40 overs. McNally was the standout with the ball finishing with figures of 3/34 off his 8 overs. Guley, Taylor. S, Watkins and Padbury all with 1 wicket a piece. It was going to be a tough chase, with partnerships at the top and someone in the top 5 going big crucial.
Our batting innings didn’t start the way we would have liked losing Woods in the first over. McNally and Joslin then put on a 50-run partnership off 8 overs, before both were removed with the score on 57. Simpson and Taylor. S then looked to rectify the innings with some smart batting, regularly hitting gaps and running hard between the wickets. Taylor. S sent out just as we started to get some ascendancy in our innings and Wrighty came to the crease at number 6. We always just seemed to be 1-2 wickets too many down throughout our batting innings. Simpson (36) and Wrighty put on 48 for the 6th wicket before Wrighty was dismissed. Simpson followed shortly after for a well made 36. Adgemis played a brilliant little cameo at the back end to give us a glimmer of hope but when he was runout for 36 off 31 balls faced, the target was just too much to bridge. We were bowled out on the last ball of our innings for 205. It wasn’t to be but we discussed post game that we will take some confidence from the experience and look to put plans in place when we play them again later in the season.
We look forward to hitting the training track to work on specific areas of our game in the lead up to our round 3 clash vs Old Carey at home.
Second XI
A muggy day greeted the 2nd XI for Round 2. The air was thick with expectation after a remarkable comeback win the previous week, and after winning the toss our captain sent Mazenod in on what looked like a decent wicket. Despite the heat, and the large globules of sweat that had begun to form on some of the shinier MACC domes, the Mont Albert Moths were tidy and tight from the get-go. The Hornbag continued where he left off from Round 1, settling into a nagging line outside off stump. Their opening bat seemed to have the cricketing gods (R.I.P. Richie) on their side, as he played and missed four times in four balls, resulting in a rare Charlie sledging attack. Both opening spells were characterized by ‘almost moments’ and the most eventful of these came when reverse debutant Lachie Smit, patrolling point, threw the ball to the bowler’s end, where it cannoned into Mr RSPCA, Chris Jackson, prompting big Jub at first slip to have a laughing fit that almost gave him a heart attack. Dave Chipnado was to finally snag the opening wicket, a spooned catch to cover. From there on in, Mont Albert bowled well without much success. Patel was as wily as always, and backed by contributions from the Smutman, big Jub and the Skipper, the team worked hard to stem the flow of runs despite some lusty hitting from Mazenod’s large-chested number 3. Despite an early demotion from the cordon, MACC’s resident Corey Worthington, Dan Bonnett, was particularly lively at midwicket, and some great fielding contributions from big Jub on the boundary and Chip at cover helped to restrict the Nodz to 5/154, on what looked like a good batting wicket.
It was once again, a tale of two inningses. Big Jub looked a class above from the outset, dispatching any kind of width to the cover boundary off both the front and back foot. His partner was less convincing, but some streaky boundaries through the vacant 3rd slip area helped the opening pair to 0/45 from the first 10 overs. Some tight bowling from Mazenod slowed the run rate, and when Jub departed through a leading edge that ballooned to point at 1/70, the pressure now firmly rested on the (regrettably small) shoulders (and forearms) of the middle order and his opening partner. A disappointing middle order collapse was the difference on the day, and despite a small rear-guard fightback from the Skip and the Hornbag, we ended up all out 19 runs short in the final over. Much to work on for the batting group. We now look forward to an away game at Latrobe, where COVID will see us avoid the traditional cheese and lettuce sandwiches commonly served at tea. There’s always a silver lining. Go the Moths.
Third XI
Round 2 saw the 3rd XI host Boronia at Elgar Park, in what seemed like De ja Vu from lasts weeks game. Greeds won the toss and elected to bat on what was a gorgeous day for cricket.
Divine (welcome back Divy) and Galts opened the batting. Unfortunately for Galts (0) in the first over got a ball that rose at him and was dismissed by a sensational one hander at Gully. I believe he words were ‘I’m so glad this isn’t a 2 dayer’ as he sat back down! Divine (14) started to get the innings going with a few boundaries and Joel Guley (20) looked really solid throughout his innings, however we continued to lose wickets consistently and at 6/69 we looked in deep trouble. Scotty Wegener then produced some batting heroics scoring a sensational (40*) under some real pressure, which was really enjoyable to watch! Partnered with Lachie Power (32*), the pair put on 47 in the final overs to take us to 8/157 (40), giving us something to defend.
The Boronia openers got the jump on us early with a 59 opening stand before Lachie Power (2/35) struck with the first wicket. Boronia put on another 34 runs before Orch (1/31) struck with a brilliant stumping from Gules. Smitta in his first game of the season was the pick of the bowlers with a suburb spell 2/22 off 7. Unfortunately we were unable to take the regular wickets we needed throughout the innings and Boronia passed our score 5 down with 8 overs to spare.
Hopefully bounce back next week against Burwood. Go Monts!!
Fourth XI
The 4s were away again this week against Balwyn Saints at Myrtle Park. We lost the flick and were sent out into the field. From the start, Balwyn went after our bowlers with an aggressive style of play. While we were able to tie them down briefly during the middle overs, the aggressiveness didn’t slow and Balwyn ended the 40 overs with 234 on the board. The only highlight with the ball coming from Rufus McLean, who bagged 3/41 from his 8 overs.
With a mighty task ahead of us in the run chase. We got off to a great start with Balwyn’s opening bowler sending down 7 wides in the first over! From there though, things got a lot tougher and we were never able to build enough partnerships to make inroads into the total. We were bowled out in the end for 116. The only highlights with the bat were Rick Barker with 44 and Rory O’Brien (18) launching a few bombs at the end. A disappointing result, but considering we were up against a 2s team, I think we had a good crack.
Fifth XI
Mont Albert were playing at home, hosting Richmond Union.
The skipper won the toss and decided to bat.
We got off to a slow and steady start. But it was Michael Lee were really got things moving by making 31 no off the last five. He actually played some cricket shots. Other stand outs were Quentin McLean made 29. We finished with 6/144. If we bowled well, we knew we were in a chance to win the game.
Unfortunately, our defence started badly before we bowled a bowl. We lost Quentin during the tea break due to dehydration, so we had to field the first 20 overs one man down. It was lucky we had Sammy T as our 12th man or we would have been two men down. Terry Smit took over captain duties as the skipper organised Quentin to get to hospital.
We took Richmond Union to the 3rd last over but they ended up getting the runs they needed. Bill Allen took two great catches in the gulley. The stand outs for the bowling was Ronak Sen 1/17, James Nash 1/21 and Terry Smit 1/3.
Overall, it was a good team effort but in the end we fell a bit short.
Team selections for Round 3
1st XI: ECA-Dunstan Shield
Mont Albert* v Old Carey
Mont Albert Reserve Dunloe Avenue View Map
28 Nov 2020 12:30PM
Sam J Taylor
Jack A Joslin (c)
Brett K Watkins
James A Guley
Andrew R Padbury
Roy F Taylor
Tim L Wright
Nicholas J Adgemis (wk)
Jack R Woods
Nathan M McNally
James K Blair-Holt
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2nd XI: ECA-A Turf (Sturgess Shield)
La Trobe University v Mont Albert*
Latrobe University (Bundoora) (South Oval) Kingsbury Drive View Map
28 Nov 2020 12:30PM
Shahen K Patel
Daniel J Bonnett
Reginald W Cooper (c)
Michael J Minz (wk)
Harvey P Jones
Charlie S Thorn
Lachlan A Smit
Greg J Cull
Joel E Guley
Brendan G Laird
Fraser A Baddon
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3rd XI: ECA-C Turf (Thomson Shield)
Burwood v Mont Albert*
Burwood Reserve (East Oval-turf) 282 Warrigal Road View Map
28 Nov 2020 12:30PM
Paul A Devine (wk)
James P Smith
Timothy M Noble
Luke T Galtieri
Colin M Orchard
Dale M Greedy (c)
Rob A Carruthers
Tyrie R Wilkinson
Richard J Barker
Tim Haworth
Gajanan S Skandakumar
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4th XI: ECA-F Turf (Patterson Shield)
Mont Albert* v Edinburgh
Elgar Park (Elgar Park North West) Elgar Road View Map
28 Nov 2020 12:30PM
Jeff M Mollison
Ashley S Tonn
Jordan A Dean (c)
James A Wright
Wayne G Harris
Michael J Lee
Luke Pelchen
Quentin N McLean
Rufus J McLean
Paul R Jackson (wk)
Urmez K Patel
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5th XI: ECA-LOC 7 35 Overs (Fitzwilliam Shield)
Malvern Valley v Mont Albert*
Basil Reserve (Oval 2 – East) 5 Basil Street View Map
28 Nov 2020 12:30PM
Angus J McLean (c) (wk)
Ronak Sen
Adwait Patil
Samuel J Taylor
Terry P Smit
Mark R Sowden
James F Nash
Bill N Allen
Tanvir A Khan
Tom T Richards
Brendan J Doidge
Luke O Pich