Billy’s boys save the day
Not the greatest weekend for or CHCC women and men, with weather and a lack of wins marring most grades, but there was some good news in amongst all the bad. Let’s get into it.
WOMEN’S 2ND XI vs COBURG at RAYNER RESERVE
Rayner Reserve? More like RAINer reserve, amirite? Yes, thanks to the lovely wet weather we’ve been having, our Women’s 2s were unable to get onto the park on Sunday. If they had, there’s no doubt they would have won, so I officially declare them RAINING champions.
MEN’S 1ST XI vs TRINITY WILLISON at RAMMO
The men’s 1s managed to get on the park and beat the rain but unfortunately couldn’t beat Trinity Willison. We batted first and got off to a great start thanks to Lenny Dean (41) and Lou B (39). Finn Peake in his first game at the Hill for quite a while added 24 and Cottsy (37) and debutant Bernie Ruaro (19no) helped us to a good total of 5/182.
It was good, but not good enough with TW getting the runs with 6.2 overs to spare and for the loss of only two wickets. Both those wickets went to Lou, who capped off a great game with 2/23 off 7.
CHICKEN: Louis B with 39 and 2/23 was the clear chicken winner this week.
MEN’S 2ND XI vs NOTTING HILL-BRANDON PARK at COLUMBIA PARK
THE GOOD NEWS: Monty won the toss and bowled.
THE BAD NEWS: Pretty much everything else. We got hammered all over the park as NHBP racked up 5/225 and then dismissed us for just 63.
There were some highlights, though. To two youngest players in the side Auley Brown and Lachie Muraca combined to give Auley his first wicket in the 2s, and both of those boys bowled really well in the face of NHBP’s batting onslaught. And with the bat, Asher Kelly, on debut in the 2s, handled the bowlers better than anyone, making 20. Asher kept well, too. Credit also to skipper Monty, whose figures of 1/30 off his 8 saved us from conceding an even higher total.
CHICKEN: Auley Brown gets better each week and this week he gets the chicken, too.
MEN’S 5TH XI vs EDINBURGH at SIR ARTHUR RYLAH
Enough with the bad news, here’s a good news story which, when made into a film, will be titled THE BALLAD OF BILLY AND GILLY.
Things started well with Billy ABC winning the toss and batting, and they got better from there with Lachie Smith (53no), Ben King (51no), Sonny (29), Sal (23) and Billy himself (20no, including three fours, the most he’s racked up in several decades) helping us to a total of 6/223.
That’s a relatively small total on Rylah… UNLESS you have the superstar talents of Billy’s bowlers. Thanks to Gilly (2/8 off 4), Sonny (3/26 off 6), Neek (1/22 off 5) and Brother (Sandy H 1/30 off 7), we kept Edinburgh to 8/185. Two wins in a row and we’re up to 6th on the ladder with a bullet!
CHICKEN: I’ve been telling Billy off for not giving Gilly a bowl in recent weeks. On Saturday, he finally heeded my advice and was rewarded with a fine spell. Well done, Gilly! The chicken is yours!
MEN’S 4TH XI vs HEATHMONT at WJ COX
The title of this film would be ‘THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY’. With Scott Morgan back at the helm we won the toss and bowled first. The bowlers did well – notably Ted Wearn-Jarvis (2/17 off 7), Roadie (0/21 off 7) and Empty (1/31 off 7) but some sloppy fielding allowed Heathmont to rack up a pretty good total of 4/164.
A few of our players got starts with the bat – well done Ian Nolan (31), Empty (24) and Jack Speed (22) – but it wasn’t quite enough and we were all out for 150, 14 runs short.
CHICKEN: Ian’s 31 gets him a well-earned chicken.
MEN’S 3RD XI vs RICHMOND UNION at FAIRLEA WEST
Fairlea West? More like UNFAIRLY WET, amirite? Unfortunately we were unable to find an alternative venue so this game was a washout.
CHICKEN: Missing, last seeing swimming across Fairlea West.
WOMEN’S 1ST XI vs MELBOURNE UNI at RAMSDEN ST
Ramsden St? More like RAINSTORM ST, amirite? Same deal as the Women’s 2s and the Men’s 3s. Too much wet stuff to get a game in.
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
This week’s Tom B goes to Lachie Smith! His 53 not out went a long way to giving The Ballad of Billy and Gilly the ending all good fairy tales deserve.