Four Gritty Wins in Round Five

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A huge round for four of five XIs, with tight victories and fantastic individual performances aplenty. Some highlights include a hat-rick for Luke Pich in the Fifths, 55* and 4fa for the Third XI skipper on his return from injury and 4fa from Nobby in the twos.

First XI

After back to back wins, we were excited to get back to MACC to try and make it 3 in a row against Surrey Hills. We lost the toss and were sent into the field and unfortunately lost Jackson in the warm-up to a back injury, resulting in a late call-up for Fernandes. We didn’t start too well, with poor line and length bowling, allowing Surrey to score at a good rate. Watkins (2/15 off 7.4 overs) and Fernandes (1/23 off 8 overs) brought the rate back, bowling good disciplined lines. Taylor picked up 2 wickets in his second spell at the end of the innings and is getting stronger with his efforts each game. There was a couple of run-outs throughout the innings, which illustrated our strong intent in the field and eventually bowled out Surrey Hills for 158 in the last over.

We got off to a slow start with the bat, with Surrey employing their overseas quick from one end and a spinner from the other. After losing Brown early, the innings was starting to get back on track with a 51 run partnership between Wright (32) and Joslin, before Wright played a loose shot to a part-time spinner. This started a bizarre half an hour where the part-time spinner picked up 4 wickets, while also restricting the scoring rate. It wasn’t until Cutts (37) and Padbury (36no) got together that we were able to bring the innings back into our favour. They batted sensibly initially before playing to their strengths and scoring at a run-a-ball for the last 10 overs to win us the game. We passed Surrey’s total off the last ball of the innings (6/159). This game proved that we still have a long way to in many areas, but it was great to come away with a victory!

Go Monts

Second XI

The 2nd XI travelled to Stradbroke park to take on Deepdene on Saturday on a perfect day for cricket.

Winning the toss and electing to bat on a wicket we anticipated would get slower and lower as the day went on, we did not get off to the best start as we lost two early wickets to be in quite the hole at 2/3. Laird (23), up the order to three this week and Bonnett (43) dug in and were able to stop the Deepdene momentum through the middle overs allowing us to be only 3 down at drinks.
After the dismissal of Bonnett and sitting at 5/81 we needed some lower order hitting to get us to a defendable total. Singh (37*) and Cull (15*) were able to provide just that with Singh in particular enjoy the shorter straight boundaries hitting much needed boundaries at the close of our batting to have us end on 145 after our allotted 40 overs.
In what was a mirror of our batting innings the start of Deepdene’s batting saw the loss of two early wickets before 10 runs had even been scored. With Cull (2/12) and Power (2/20) keeping the pressure right on after a string of maidens we were able to grab a 3rd and 4th rather quickly to have the home side at 4/17. Much the same as our innings it was through the middle overs where the batting side got on top with Deepdene’s fifth wicket partnership looking like they were going to take the game away from us.

The reintroduction of Noble (4/25) proved game changing as he was able to pick up their top two scorers in the same over wrestling back the momentum our way. Goenka bowled well without luck and Singh kept it tight as usual but again some lower order hitting from the opposition allowed them a sniff towards the end. Fortunately and pleasingly our ability to execute at the death allowed us to bowl deepdene out for 128 resulting in a 17 run win.

Good to get a win after the disappointment of last week’s close loss but still a bit to work on with both bat and ball as we look to Glen Iris next Sunday. Go Monts!
Third XI
We won the toss and decided to bat on a wicket that was sure to deteriorate over the course of the day. We took a little while to get going, but eventually Guley (24) and Johnsen (55*) combined to put on 60 and scrape to an under par 129, 7 down in 40 overs.
Wickets tumbled early, and we got on a roll and managed to bowl Bulleen out for 79 in 36.3 overs. A terrific effort with our backs against the wall and in desperate need of a win. Gaj (3/21), Minzy (2/4) and KJ (4/15) doing the damage, with a special mention to Cal Beasley and Big Papa, both taking screamers to help us on our way to a well deserved victory.
Fourth XI

The 4th XI made the trek out to Ringwood for a tough clash against another competitive side. We won the toss and went in to bat on a wicket that proves to lively. The old/young opening partnership in Rick Barker and Rahul Salur were up against it early with some sharp bowling from Ringwood’s aspiring young quicks. Both hung around for a while and eventually fell with the score at 31. Pommy Stark hit some nice shots for 18, a solid partnership of 70 between Craig Vollmer (32*) and Michael Massey (38) helped us to a total of 4/141 from our 40. A great effort after being 2/36 after 20.

Needing some tight bowling from the get go to put the pressure on, the Vollmer combo of Craig and Casey gave us a great start with Casey snaring an early wicket. From there numerous chances were created but we were unable to take them and dropped upwards of 6 catches for the innings. With the 2nd wicket partnership of 123 proving to be the nail in the coffin for us. Ringwood chased our score down with 4 overs to go and 8 wickets in hand. Unfortunately we didn’t get the result on the weekend but we will improve as the season progresses.

Fifth XI

Mont Albert 4/146 (McLean 50*, Wright 43, Allen 27) def St Barnabas (Pich 3/9 (inc hat-trick), Allen 3/32, Wright 2/25)