There weren’t many positives in what was a dark day for MACC. The most pleasing thing was watching Fraser Baddon show that he is not out of place against first XI teams. Thanks to Ross, Galts and Greeds for the reports below.
First XI
This will be a short report, as the game was finished 30 overs into the Marcellin innings, with a loss to Monties!
The day was perfect weather wise, the ground in excellent shape and the pitch looked good as Monties won the toss and batted 1st. At this juncture, the wheels fell off very quickly and a final total of 124 runs in 38 overs was the end total. Led by Adge, the tail had added 40 runs to at least give the bowlers something to work on.
Was it too much Xmas pudd, and bubblies or something else. Marcellin’s bowling and fielding was excellent with some good catches taken, and our captain being runout. But in the main, our batsmen have a lot to answer for, as bad shot selection, and lack of concentration caused their downfall very quickly. Probably the only batsman aggrieved would have been James Guley, as he was run out when a ferocious straight drive from Blairy was deflected onto the bowler’s stumps, with Gules well out of his crease.
Still, a tight bowling and fielding effort could keep the Monties in the game. Not to be. SK Patel opened with 8 overs and took 3 for 22 – a stand out effort in closing down the oppo. Unfortunately, he had little support from the other bowlers, who pretty much all bowled 1 or 2 bad balls an over that got punished. A glimmer of hope arose when Marcellin slumped to 4/65 – but the next wicket didn’t come, and Marcellin’s 5th wicket partnership of 62 sealed the win in 30 overs.
The ladder shows a very interesting position. East Doncaster are a lock for finals, with 5 other teams playing for the other 3 finals positions, all with 4 wins/3 losses at the halfway mark. Monties play Heathmont 7th and Surrey 8th at home in the next 2 weeks, then begin the run home against the contenders.
DUNSTAN LADDER AFTER 7 ROUNDS
| RANK | TEAM | P | W | L | WKTS | RUNS | WKTS | RUNS | PTS | % | FORM | |
| LOST | FOR | TAKEN | AGST | (LAST 5) | ||||||||
| 1 | East Doncaster | 7 | 6 | 1 | 46 | 1138 | 69 | 993 | 36 | 1.719 | LWWWW | |
| 2 | Mont Albert | 7 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 1202 | 61 | 1118 | 24 | 1.366 | LWWWL | |
| 3 | Old Carey | 7 | 4 | 3 | 45 | 1023 | 60 | 1067 | 24 | 1.278 | WWLLL | |
| 4 | North Balwyn | 7 | 4 | 3 | 59 | 1151 | 55 | 976 | 24 | 1.099 | WLWLW | |
| 5 | Canterbury | 7 | 4 | 3 | 55 | 1156 | 53 | 1115 | 24 | 0.999 | WWLWL | |
| 6 | Marcellin OC | 7 | 4 | 3 | 58 | 1120 | 51 | 1092 | 24 | 0.902 | WLWLW | |
| 7 | Heathmont | 7 | 2 | 5 | 59 | 942 | 43 | 1061 | 12 | 0.647 | LLLWW | |
| 8 | Surrey Hills | 7 | 0 | 7 | 65 | 857 | 43 | 1167 | 0 | 0.486 | LLLLL | |
So back to the nets and gear up for a better show next Sat v Heathmont at home.
Go Monties
Second XI
Without Cage, Reg led the 2nd XI as they travelled to Rathmines Reserve to take on Hawthorn CC.
Due to some unavailabilities the team welcomed back Ernesto, L.T Smash and Exorcist Legs to the lineup as Reg lost the toss and we were forced into the field.
Hawthorn got off to a solid start on the scoreboard as some streaky batting meant that LT Smash and Agent Jerkov bowled well without luck. Our first breakthrough came from Naldo combing with Stoff to run out their opener with some brilliant fielding in the cover region. Stoff (0/29 off 8) and Herb were brought on to take pace off the ball and this brought a severe slowing of the run rate with both operating tightly and Herb finishing with a couple of wickets as well (2/24).
National pump man (N.P.M) was brought on through the middle overs and took a wicket in his first over with Ernesto catching one with his gut at first slip. We were able to take regular wickets throughout the innings with N.P.M doing serious damage taking 3 fa 39 off his 8. However, Tongue remained a thorn in our side and played an anchor innings to finish with 51. After LT Smash (3/36) was brought back on and took his wicket, he and Agent Jerkov (1/45) were able to take the remaining wickets and some later order hitting meant they were all out for 175. From the start they had was pleasing to bring them back to what we felt was a chaseable target with the small square boundaries at Rathmines.
Our chase got off to a poor start with Herb getting run out trying to sneak a second run in just the third over. Lawrence fell not long after and in while Naldo and Deeb were in for brief stays at the crease in what has been the story of our season we continued to lose top order wickets to fall to 6/48. A shining light in the innings was the batting of Uncle Frase, who despite the carnage around him showed serious composure in compiling a well-made 36, until he was run out in unfortunate circumstances after a Jerkov straight drive hit him and rebounded next to the stumps. Hotel Minotaur (19) and Agent Jerkov (11) also batted well down the order but it was ultimately not enough as we were bowled out for 122 in the 34th over.
Third XI
Round 7 saw the 3rd XI host Glen Iris at Elgar Park, losing the toss and being sent in.
Joel Guley (9) got the innings off to good start hitting a boundary off the first ball, before being given out LBW with score at 18. Tim Noble (17) looked comfortable and along with Greeds (10) looked to steady the ship until Noble left one that swung back and took the top of off. Smitta (18) was promoted to 4 and looked like he’s been batting too low since his arrival with some beautiful strokes through the covers. He was top scorer of the innings, however it seems he may have a little bit of work to do in the running between the wicket department, being involved in two for the innings! Unfortunately we lost wickets regularly throughout the innings and were dismissed for a disappointing 106 off only 28.1 overs.
With not a lot of runs to defend we were always going to be up against it. Tim Noble (2/11 of 8) bowled superbly and supported really well by Smitta (2/16 off 8) having Glen Iris 4/55 and giving ourselves a sniff. However we were unable to get the next break through to really challenge and Glen Iris ran out victors by 6 wickets.
Hopefully we can bounce back next week,
Go Monts!