A 9.9 for the Hillers
Last weekend was historic for the Mighty Clifton Hill Cricket Club, and we came within a whisker of making it in to a perfect 10. For the first time ever, NINE of our senior sides won on the same weekend, with only the Men’s Seconds missing out, falling short of making it 10 from 10 by the narrowest of margins.
MEN’S 1ST XI — BENNY LEV SOLVES A RIDDLE BEFORE BENNY CAP DOMINATES IN THE MIDDLE
Looking for a second successive win, the 1s were at home to Deepdene. They won the toss and batted, but Benny Lev removed their opener Liddle with the score on 18, and wickets fell pretty steadily after that, with Deepdene eventually skittled for exactly 100. Matty Lynas (4/19 off 6.4) was the destroyer, ably supported by Eamonn Scott (3/41 off 8), Jimmy “007”* Wright (1/12), Ben Levens (1/12 off 5) and Stinger Barrett (1/13 off 5)
*Licensed to drive
Skipper Ben Cap led the way in the run chase, making 41 as we chased down the total five down. Miles made 13 and Matty Lynas did it with that bat, too, finishing on 24 not out.
A great win!
CHICKEN: Pushing hard for an unprecedented second Tom Bellis in a row, Malty went pretty close! He gets the chicken for his 4/19 and 24 not out.
MEN’S 3RD XI — FROM SINNERS TO WINNERS
Harro is grumpy at the best of times but when the 3s have lost two in a row, look out! Fortunately Harro’s Heroes reversed their fortunes this week, defeating Boroondara.
We batted first and Benny B was once again in top form with the bat, making 85, while Harro finished on 32 not out as we made 6/176. The bowlers then did what they had to do. Joel Clark (3/9 off 6), Casey Filips (2/26 off 7), Tulky (2/34 off 8), Fletch (1/30 off 8), Anthony Johnson (1/22 off 5) and Nails (0/9 off 6) kept Boroondara to 9/134, giving us a 42 run win.
CHICKEN: Benny B gets it for his finger-lickin’ 85.
MEN’S VETS 1ST XI — ON A ROLL
Having knocked off the top side last round, the Over The Hillers headed out to Elgar Park to take on Mont Albert on a picturesque — but tiny — ground. With skipper Tony Peake nowhere in sight, old reliable (me) stepped up to win the toss and bat. James Allen set the tone with 43 retired in just 6.1 overs. From there it was a batting bonanza with Peakey (40) and Myles Harry (40) also retiring, and Benny B (37) robbed of being retired when he was caught off an above-waist-high full toss that the square leg ump (you had ONE JOB Craig Fryers!) did not call. Ian Nolan got up from his collapsed ladder to make 27, and Harro was 17 not out (making him 49 not out for the weekend!) as we racked up 2/228 off just 36 overs.
Mont Albert put up a bit of a show but were no match for our bowlers in the end. Geoff Smith took 2/13 off 6 to lead the way, backed up by Daisy Mobilia (2/26 off 6), Peakey (1/8 off 2), Myles (1/23 off 5), Gigs (0/24 off 6), Craig (0/24 off 5), Percy (0/17 off 2) and Doug Scott. In fact Doug bowled what should have been a maiden but ended up with 0/8 off his one over thanks to not one but TWO Harro misfields — and yet Doug was still smiling (and Harro as grumpy as ever)!
CHICKEN: James Allen gets the roast for his whirlwind knock and excellent keeping.
WOMEN’S 1ST XI — HOLY TRINITY DO DOWN AS THE HILLERS SIC ‘EM, REX LEADING THE WAY
Match report by Bek Drake
We met our old foes Holy Trinity for the second time in three weeks at Hayes Park. Trouper returned from her holiday renewed, and promptly won the toss. We decided to send them in to bat.
Handsy and Junior opened well, with Junior starting with a maiden then getting a wicket in her second over. She managed to get out their big hitter from our last encounter for a duck and we held them well at 1/14 off 4.
We still managed to restrict their two batters well, however they formed a strong partnership. Handsy was uncharacteristically hit for 13 off one over and we were a bit worried when they were at 1/57 off 15. Handsy was brought back in to bowl, and was concerned after her last over. There was, however, no call for alarm, when she got revenge off the first ball of the over. Their big hitter was out, caught behind.
All of our bowlers were tremendous, with Dagger and Junior being particularly economical. Handsy managed to pick up a second, caught by Rex. A few overs later our fearless captain, Trouper, returned in style, with a lovely stumping from Char. Their opening batter was still in, but Handsy and Dagger decided to change that. Handsy bowled a lovely ball and Dagger took a sensational catch and our confidence was growing. Buoyed by her catch, Dagger then got a direct hit run out the following over. We got one more wicket from Rex and Holy Trinity finished on 7/126 off the 36 overs.
Bowlers were lovely as always.
Handsy - 3/35 off 9
"Junior - 1/26 off 7
Rex - 1/22 off 7
Dagger - 0/23 off 9
Trouper - 1/18 off 4
We had a new look line up with the bat, Trouper opening with Rex. It unfortunately did not work out all that well, with Trouper chopping on in her second ball for a duck. Izzy came in and did not do much better, scoring 1 before also chopping on in her third ball.
Newly nicknamed McDreamy (Rach) came in and set to putting together a good partnership with Rex. Rex was batting up a storm, with McDreamy chipping in with a lovely 4. After the two quick wickets, we had rebuilt nicely for 2/48 off 10.
Unfortunately we lost another couple of quick wickets, losing McDreamy for a well made 8, then Char two overs later for 1. Vovo came in with a conservative mind, looking to keep her wicket and build a partnership with Rex. She did well, with Rex in stellar form down the other end. We were sitting well at 4/80 off 20, but just as we were feeling confident, another couple of wickets fell, with Vovo out for 10 and Merc (Hannah) out for 1. Rex was staying strong though, making her half century.
Dagger came in and we were feeling pretty good after her superb batting last week. Again, a partnership was formed, and we sat at 6/106 off 28. With 21 runs required off 8 overs, we were looking good. Disaster then struck, as Rex got caught out for a very well made 61. Handsy came in at 7/107, 20 runs for victory.
Although everyone on the boundary line was worried, Dagger cruised through. With four overs to go, she got impatient and decided to hit a 4, a 2 and then a wide finished the match. Dagger finished on 20*, with Handsy (0*) supporting well.
CHICKEN: Our Virtual Chicken for this week goes to Rex, for a well made 61 and some lovely bowling.
Title - Half centuries seem to be coming easy for the debutants as Catters comes oh so close to a hat trick!
WOMEN’S 2nd XI — HALF CENTURIES COMING EASY FOR THE DEBUTANTS AS CATTERS COMES OH SO CLOSE TO A HAT-TRICK!
Match Report by Sarah Catterwell
Hitting the home deck we were sent in to field by St Anthonys and were able to get a couple of breakthroughs straight away off the bowling of Razzle and the Doc.
Catters was thrown the ball and nabbed a wicket with her first ball with one of the most overtop LBW appeals you’ll see. Her second ball managed to ricochet off the batters foot and on to the stumps putting her on a hat-trick. However it wasn’t to be with a nick sailing wide of the keeper on the hat trick ball.
It was pretty much a one woman show for St Anthony’s with one of their batters notching up a well earned century sending them on their way to 158.
Heading in to bat we were tasked with having to rewrite the record books in our chase if we were to get the win.
An excellent knock by Emma saw her make a half century on debut with some powerful hitting. Razzle shored up the innings as she steadied the ship after the loss of few quick wickets. We chased down the required runs with an over or so to spare as we notched our first win since round one.
Congratulations to Navy who took her first catch for Clifton Hill. Even though the batter was an 8-year-old kid, she still celebrated pretty hard.
Batting
Razzle 41*
Emma 67
Bowling
Razzle 2/16 off 9
Doctor 3/18 off 9
Catters 2/43 off 7
Bib 0/57 off 7
Molly 1/20 off 3
Molly 0/4 off 1
CHICKEN: Sarah didn’t give me a chicken winner so I’m splitting it between Razzle for her 2 wickets and 41 not out, Emma for her 67 on debut and Catters herself, for coming within a whisker of a hat-trick! — Gigs
MEN’S 4TH XI — SAM BARRETT? WHO’S HE? IT’S CAPTAIN JACK TIME!
The 4ths are getting into the habit of finishing games off very early. Last week they did it the wrong way but they got right this week, thanks mainly to one young man — the one they call… “CAPTAIN JACK”.
The Salvos one the toss and batted, a decision that seemed pretty good when they were 0/13. But with Rampaging Roy Girvan (2/15 off 8) giving them nothing at one end, Jack Barrett took on the role of Mega-Destroyer at the other end. In the blink of an eye, he had an incredible 6/9 off 8. The Salvos were all out for 34 and they were on their knees praying for salvation!
There was no salvation for them, as we knocked off the runs in pretty quick time, thanks to Cal Behmer (20 no) and Roadie (6 no).
CHICKEN: Roy G gets the chicken tenders for his great spell at the other end of Captain Jack’s dynamite display.
MEN’S 5TH XI — BACK IN CONTENTION
Like the 3s and 4s, the 5s went into this game on the back of a couple of losses and needed a win. Bingley’s Boroondara won the toss and could only notch up 8/104. If not for Binga (32) it would have been a lot less. All five bowlers were superstars. Their figures were: Jesse Viney 0/15 off 7, Max Sundram 1/15 off 7, Pat Malone 2/17 off 7, Stan Kroenert 1/20 off 7, Alex Smith 2/31 off 7 — including Binga!
Jonesy and Alex were the only wickets to fall in the chase. Jonesy made 40, and Jacko (34no) and Stan (22no) took us to victory with plenty to spare.
CHICKEN: Somehow he hasn’t taken a wicket for the Hillers yet but Jesse Viney has been the 5s best bowler. He gets the filet.
MEN’S 6TH XI — THE FORM TEAM
The only men’s team to fly the flag in Round 8, the 6s put in another good effort this week, thrashing Melbourne Deaf. I lost the toss and we batted first, with Hugo Northrop (20) and Jeff Burstin (9) giving us a solid and steady start. From there we upped the ante, with great batting from Jack Morice (29), Riley Willcox (39), Craig Mawdsley (32) and Action Man (31no) taking us to 6/178 off our 35.
Action Man (0/5 off 4) and me (2/6 off 7) got the bowling off to a good start, and Craig Mawdsley (4/12 off 4) then ripped the guts out of the Deaf, backed up by ‘Poison’ Challis (1/8 off 2), Jeff Burstin (1/3 off 3) and Lachie Muraca (1/17 off 3.3).
Melbourne Deaf all out 54, giving us a huge win.
CHICKEN: Craig gets it for his 32 and 4-fa!
MEN’S VETS 2ND XI — THE DOMINATORS
The Vets 2s continued on their merry way, dismantling Glen Iris with a minimum of fuss. Four players reached the retirement score of 40: Jonesy, Craig Harris, Simon Kroenert and Tim Blaikie, as we knocked up 6/202.
A low GI: Our bowlers then restricted Glen Iris to 7/119 giving us another huge win. Along the way we used 11 bowlers! The wicket takers were: Stan Kroenert 2/7 off 6, Spocky 1/0 off 2.4, Andrew Bell 1/14 off 3, Ralph Saubern 1/15 off 3, Hamish Nelson 1/19 off 6 and Kevin Moore 1/20 off 6.
Another brilliant effort, men!
CHICKEN: Craig Harris’s batting has improved out of sight this year. Chicken to Craig!
MEN’S 2ND XI — NO PRESSURE MONTY, BUT…
So before we look at how the 2s went, a quick recap of the other nine games: Men’s 1sts: WIN, Women’s 1sts: WIN, Women’s 2nds: WIN, Men’s 3rds: WIN, Men’s 4ths: WIN, Men’s 5ths: WIN, Men’s 6ths: WIN. Men’s Vets 1sts: WIN, Men’s Vets 2nds: WIN.
By my calculations, that’s 9 games and 9 WINS. Which mean’s that if the Men’s 2s got the win, we’ve clean swept the entire 10-game weekend!
Monty’s 2s lost the toss and batted first. We racked up a reasonable score of 8/137, thanks mainly to Sam Asdagi (26no), Mick Jones (26) and Louis Burstin (24). It was a below par score but still defendable.
An early wicket to Monty was great but Malvern Valley gradually got on top, reaching 2/96 and cruising. But a run out brought about a collapse, and suddenly MV were 9/133 and a miracle victory was on the cards! But it wasn’t to be, and MV passed our score 9 down. Great bowling again from Monty (4/23 off 8), Mick Jones (3/28 off 8) and Sam Asdagi (1/19 off 6).
CHICKEN: The better M Jones gets the poultry for his 26 and 3/28.
So there it is, we came within ONE WICKET of getting the perfect 10. A real shame, but also a GREAT EFFORT. Well done to all teams!
THE LADDER LOWDOWN
TOP OF THE LADDER: The Men’s Vets 2s
4TH ON THE LADDER: The Men’s 1s, 2s, 3s and 5s, the Women’s 1s and the Men’s Vets 1s
5TH ON THE LADDER: The Men’s 4s
7TH ON THE LADDER: The Men’s 6s
8TH ON THE LADDER: The Women’s 2s
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
Captain Jack Barrett has always had the talent, and he put in on show this week, with an incredible 6/9!