Izzy any good? Yes she is!

Look, it hasn’t been a great fortnight on the field for the Hillers, especially the Men's XIs this week, but there have still been some positives, so we’ll look at those first, starting with the good work done by the 4s and 5s last week.

LAST WEEK…

CHCC Men’s 4th XI v Heathmont at Heathmont

Morgan’s Men made the journey out to Heathmont to take on the team that knocked them of at Cox Oval a week earlier. We bowled first on a ground that was long and wet of grass, making scoring very difficult. Our bowlers did a great job to restrict Heathmont to just 8/80, with every bowler stepping up to the challenge: Empty 2/11 off 3, Jack Speed 2/16 off 7, Paul Meager – in his first game for ages! – 2/18 off 7, Roadie 1/11 off 7, Chuck 0/15 off 7, Daylon 0/9 off 4.

It’s fair to say we made hard work of the chase, but we got there in the end, eight down with two overs to spare. Openers Jack Speed (21) and Zac Wilson (18) set up the win.

CHICKEN: Jack Speed’s efforts with ball and bat earn him the chicken!

CHCC Men’s 5th XI v Edinburgh at WJ Cox Oval

Like the 4s, the 5s backed up against the same opponent as in the previous, and Billy’s boys made it two from two against our friends from Edinburgh. We batted first and made 7/182, thanks mainly to a retired 50 from Jacko, 46 from Craig Harris a 21 not out of Raf Glaspole and and 21 from Sal Ferraro.

Some excellent bowling from Gilly (2/24 off 5), Sal (2/19 off 4) and Jeff Burstin (1/31 off 7) kept Edinburgh in check before King Billy brought himself on and delivered the coup de grace, with a devastating spell of bowling that gave him is BEST EVER bowling figures: 4/5 off 3 overs! Edinburgh all out for 148 and Billy’s boys banked another win.

CHICKEN: It’s gotta be Billy for his match-winning spell of bowling.

THIS WEEK…

For the men, this was not a great weekend, so let’s get into the Women’s games, which marked the opening of the one-day season.

CHCC Women’s XI v Essendon at Cross Keys Reserve
Match report by Rex

Round 1 of our One Day comp. Forecast of 34 degrees. First match on turf for the season. Sunday had it all!

Captain Rachael ‘Razzle’ Jones lost the toss and we were sent in to field. However, this wasn’t a bad ‘loss’, as it gave us the opportunity to see what the pitch was doing. As our stoic keepers, Hannah ‘HG’ Gray and Rebekah ‘Bobbie’ Drake can attest, it was staying low! Special mention to Tylah ‘Leftie’ Drochmann who roamed at fine leg to keep the bye count down for the day, with a strong throw to keep batters on their toes.

Bowling from the Sydney End (the other City End?), Hannah ‘Handsy’ Watson and Amy ‘Wolfie’ Howell opened our innings with outstanding dot ball pressure. With Essendon only putting away the rare loose ball and stealing a few singles, the opposition was 0/19 after 6 overs.

With a change of ends, Razzle gave Ashleigh ‘Steam Train’ Murdoch and Emily ‘Dominos’ Costigan the ball. Bowling into the breeze, the pair settled into their rhythm but we still couldn’t quite crack Essendon’s opening partnership. With 10 overs down and no wickets lost, Steam Train delivered an over that seemed to have everything: Dot, wide, WICKET (clean bowled!), an early drinks break… wide, no ball, no ball plus bye, WICKET (the dangerous left-handed opener, caught at extra cover by Izzy), dot, dot. ECC 2/50. What a rollercoaster!

Returning to the Sydney End, Handsy and Razzle joined the party. With her first ball, Handsy sent the bails flying to claim Essendon’s third wicket and her 50th for the Hill! Congratulations Handsy! (To ice the cake, she finished with five dots to a complete very nice wicket maiden.) By the 17th over, and after an impressive 15 consecutive dot balls from Handsy, Essendon finally stole a boundary before Handsy sent the bails flying the very next ball, leaving ECC 4/64. For the final over of the spell, Razzle claimed our fifth wicket, bowling ECC’s number 3. As Essendon’s batters changed over, we had a quick chat and realised that we were on for a Hill Hat-trick. C’mon Razz!! With the new batter set and fielders ready, Razzle composed herself and, with the tensions rising, bowled a glorious wide (followed by 5 glorious dots, mind you) much to the amusement of all. ECC 5/65.

Another change of ends saw Jessica ‘Nan’ Aldridge and Isobel ‘Izzy’ Fenner bowling into the breeze. Nan immediately found line, length and flight to worry ECC’s middle order, starting her spell with a maiden. Similarly, Izzy added to our overall dot ball count, but after a few overs ECC’s batters got their eye in to release the pressure a little. With her last ball of the spell, though, Izzy forced a mishit from the batter, who lifted one to Nan’s safe hands at extra cover. ECC 6/88 after 24 overs.

Back to the Sydney End, Steam Train and Dominos brought pace back into the attack. This time it was Dominos who broke through, after starting with a maiden before forcing another mishit in the 28th over. Once again, safe hands from Nan saw her snag her second catch for the day at extra cover. ECC 7/101.

The final change of ends saw the return of our openers, Wolfie and Handsy, who finished off with a wicket each. Both wickets cleaned up the stumps, Wolfie’s in a wicket maiden and Handsy with the first ball of the 36th over. With Essendon a player short for the day, 9 wickets were enough to close the innings at 9/117.

Our run chase started beautifully, with Handsy and Razzle opening the batting and our captain guiding three balls to the boundary in the first over. Some smart running saw a number of byes in the next few overs, as well as a well-run three when a shot didn’t seem to make it over the boundary. In the fifth over, Razzle found herself bowled, leaving us 1/29.

Steam Train joined Handsy in the middle, and after rotating the strike well for a couple of overs, found a couple of fours. Unfortunately Handsy miscued a shot in the 8th over and was caught, leaving us 2/44.

Next in was Izzy who got off the mark with a clean shot straight down the ground for four. A change in bowler unfortunately saw the end to Steam Train’s innings, who scooped a high catch back to the bowler. CHCC 3/48.

Next to the crease was Lauren ‘Rex’ Chester, returning from injury for her first innings of the season. Loose bowling from Essendon made it hard for Rex as a left hander to find bat on ball, but runs from a few wides and byes allowed Izzy to take the strike and find the boundary. In the next four overs Izzy, keen to save her in the legs in the heat, played to her strengths on the on side and down the ground to hit seven 4s and one 6. After a change of ends, Rex joined in to find the boundary twice, before a change of bowler and a ball that stayed a little higher than the rest snuck through to take Izzy’s stumps. After a solid 54 run partnership, CHCC were 4/102.

Izzy’s wicket seemed to boost Essendon’s resolve, who reined in their bowling for the next few overs, making it difficult for Rex and our next batter, HG, to put many shots away. After a quiet few overs, Rex played one around her legs back to clip her stumps, leaving CHCC 5/107.

After a long day on the square leg boundary, Laila ‘Electric Train’ Rae joined HG at the crease, giving herself one ball to get her eye in before a finding 4 behind square. The pair found a handful of singles over the next couple of overs, before HG misjudged a ball the stayed a little higher and took her stumps. With CHCC 6/115, Dominos joined Electric Train in the middle. It took just one ball, whipped back behind square to the boundary for 4 to finally finish our chase.

Overall, an outstanding team win in trying conditions, with contributions from all.

CHICKEN: BOG votes went to Izzy for her efforts with bat and ball. Special mention to Handsy for some stellar bowling!!

CHCC Women’s XI v Keilor at Ramsden St Oval: Keilor goes “whammo” at Rammp
Match report by B2

For Clifton Hill (2), our One Day season began against Keilor at Rammo - in hot, hot, hot, hot conditions.

Slathered in sunscreen, and hats on, we entered the field. . .

After some great work in training, it was up to Laura to begin our bowling attack and along with Heather, their initial pressure yielded Heather the first wicket - bowled!

Keilor batters did begin to assert themselves and we found ourselves chasing after a lot of boundaries. But with perseverance and commitment in the field, we were rewarded when sharp work from Laura and Mum combined for a terrific run-out!

It was impressive to watch some powerful batting from Keilor and in particular two of their batters amassed significant scores of 103 not out and 96 not out.

Our bowlers continued to toil in the heat and as Hillers do, we continued to chase and support each other in the field.

In perhaps a quirky attempt to mix it up, B2 came into the attack late in the innings. And amazingly, Sherin was able to anticipate this wild, wayward variation and took a great catch after a long, hot afternoon behind the stumps. Her first catch as our keeper!

Special mention to Dutchy who was formidable in point and also to Trouper who was invaluable in her efforts sweeping the boundary, but mostly for her advice and encouragement. Thank you Trouper, and welcome back!

With more frequent drinks breaks than usual, time allowed for 33 overs, but this was enough time/overs for Keilor to set an impressive target of 3/343.

Our top four has become quite settled, and looked forward to the longer format, and the chance to build our innings.

Our challenge was to bat out our total overs and with a strong start from Sherin and Alex we began. . .

Keilor's bowling was pacey and straight, but we Hillers, equipped ourselves well, showing patience and fortitude.

Sherin and Alex set up our inninings, both hitting boundaries. Laura continued with Alex, then B2 continued with Alex.

It was hot! But we continued and even managed some quickish singles, before Alex took a short sojourn, with the umpire and Keilor captain's agreement.

Annika, who had been so brave and committed in the field saving runs, then came out to make some!

Eloise was next to take up the mantle and continued on her upward trajectory, spending more and more time at the crease each innings. This after also bowling six overs too.

Kate came in and continued our effort, having earlier been a secure back up in 3rd man and fine leg.

Alex rejoined us before B2 sent her for a quick single, but was undone by a direct hit. Mum was next and made more runs with B2, before B2 was bowled for 49 runs. It was then up to Heather, and then Dutchy.

Again it was Dutchy who was not out at the end of our innings, this time it was Heather, who, having hit her first boundary, was also standing there with her at the end!

We had batted out our innings! Of that we can be very proud!

Total: 8/137

Thank you also to Nik for his endurance as our Square Leg umpire all afternoon, and to Angus for scoring for us again!

Well done Hillers! One more match before the end of the year and a brief hiatus.

CHICKEN: No chicken awarded by B2, so I (Gigs) will award it on her behalf to… B2! 1/38 against the Keilor batting onslaught followed by 49 with the bat is a great effort in stifling heat!

CHCC Men’s 5th XI v Glen Waverley at Wheelers Hill

A very narrow pitch made even narrower by encroaching couch grass runners greeted King Billy’s boys for this match. Billy won the toss and batted, opening with Jim Entwisle and debutant Dennis Cleary. Dennis was unlucky to be given LBW for one after he got a ‘faint’ inside edge which was heard three suburbs away. Another debutant, Anwar, replaced Dennis and he and Jim took control of the innings. They both made 50+ retired not out, and with support from Suvra (41) and a chanceless 3 not out from Gigs, playing his first match in 644 days (not that I’ve been counting) we compiled a score of 6/184, which we thought was about par.

As the old ad use to say, “King Billy won’t let you down”. Unfortunately his opening bowler did. Billy gave the new ball to Gigs who set about displaying clearly why he thought he was still a month away from being ready to bowl in a match. The ball slipped out of his hands about five times and other balls were dispatched to the boundary with ease. Somehow despite all that, he managed to take a wicket, thanks to a sharp catch from Sal at slip.

We did take a couple of early wickets, but their batters then settled in. Then Billy brought on Angus Kitt and he turned the game. Angus took his first, second and third senior wickets – all bowled! – to keep us in the hunt. Then Anwar came on and also bowled beautifully, taking 1/27 off his 7, and young Ted Smith also did well with the ball. Despite that, and a brilliant direct hit run out from Anwar, Glen Waverley got the runs 7 down with an over to spare.

CHICKEN: Angus Kitt’s magnificent 3/16 off 7 overs get him a well-deserved chicken.

CHCC Men’s 3rd XI v Notting Hill-Brandon Park at Space Shuttle Columbia Park

Two-day cricket is back! That’s the good news. Now to the match report. We bowled first and did well to keep NHBP to 193 in their 70 overs, thanks to great bowling from skipper Nails Parlane (4/30 off 15), Daniel H (2/49 off 16), Brother (0/11 off 8) Ted W-J (1/39 off 12) and Naj (0/14 off 6).

With the bat, the story was… not so great. We were all out for 59. Shout-out to the two blokes who made it to double figures, Sandy (19) and Harro (13).

Better luck next week, lads!

CHICKEN: 4/30 off 15? That’s great bowling by anyone’s standards and it earns Jesse Parlane the chicken.

CHCC Men’s Over 50s v Hawthorn at Rathmines Road Reserve

The vets 1s head over to Hawthorn and batted first, with James Allen the only batter to work out that in over 40s cricket you should score over 40. He retired not out and got good support from Harro (21), Cam Wood (welcome back Cam!) and Sandy (13). All up, we made 6/137 in our 36, probably under par.

Hawthorn got the runs comfortably, but there was some fine bowling from our old boys, not least Sandy who took 4/16 off his six! Action Man (1/31 off 6) and Dave Burgess (0/20) also bowled well.

CHICKEN: Sandy ‘Brother’ Hilal, for his all round efforts.

CHCC Men’s 2nd XI v Glen Waverley at Rammo

The raw scores of this match, GW 303 vs CHCC 69 don’t look good. But numbers don’t always tell the full story, and the efforts of our boys were far better than those scores suggest, against the top side in a grade higher than many of our players have experience of.

Glen Waverley batted in week 1, making 303, but there was some excellent bowling from our boys, in particular Joel Clark (3/55 off 16), Monty (2/62 off 19) and Auley Brown (1/36 off 11).

Although we only made 69 in reply we batted for 60 overs, a testament to some gritty defence from our boys, including Kon P (20 off 113 balls), Lachie Muraca (14 off 65) and Gus Grant (13 off 76).

No points but a great effort from a very young side!

CHICKEN: Chicken to Kon Papanagiotou, who should maturity beyond his years when batting.

CHCC Men’s 1st XI v BUCCCCCCCC at Lynden Park

The 1s batted first last week and compiled a good total of 239, with the chief contributors being Malty (57), Kyle (56), BenCap (30), Sam Barrett (26) and Farnesy (James Allen, 26).

It was a good score but not quite enough, with BUCCCCCCCC passing it five down with 15 overs to spare. Stan K picked up his best 1s figures, with 3/39 off 11, while Lou B (0/15 off 5), Daisy (0/12 off 5), Sam (0/21 off 11) and Cottsy (1/30 off 11) also bowling well.

We’re half a game out of the top four with a game against St Paul’s (also half a game out) up next.

CHICKEN: Malty made 57 and Kyle made 56 but Kyle gets the paltry poultry prize because I used to live at 56 O’Grady St (and also because BenCap said so).

CHCC Men’s 4th XI v Kew at Willsmere: Hillers at the back of the Kew

Our 4s headed out to Willsmere and bowled first, with Kew making 4/194 despite the best efforts of Roadie (2/33 off 7), Jack Barrett (1/31 off 7) and Chuck (0/25 off 7).

We made a pretty good fist of the chase, but not quite good enough of one, finishing on 4/178. Roadie starred with 53 retired, while Jacko (43), Jack Speed (21) and Ramneek (14 on his 4ths debut) did well.

We’re have a game out of the four with a big game against Deepdene (2nd) to come next,

CHICKEN: The evergreen Roadie collected his 300th (rough estimate) chicken for his 50 and 2-fa.

CHCC Men’s Over 50s v Mt Waverley at Jordan Reserve: It’s a tie!

What better way to tie up this week’s match report than with a tied match!

Yes, our over 50s and Mt Waverley both ended up on 203 on Sunday. Dave Tucceri was the star with the ball, taking 3/38, with Mick Wright-Stuff – I mean Wright-Smith – (2/26 off 6), Ben Richmond (1/21 off 6), Percy (1/34 off 6) and Hamish (1/36 off 6) providing the support.

With the bat it was Tim Blaikie (43no), Dean Perry (41no), Greg Ellis (34), Sal Ferraro (34), Mick W-S (21) and David T (19no) who got us within a whisker of victory.

Great team effort, old fellers!

CHICKEN: Dave ‘Tucky’ Tucceri gets to tuck into the chicken for his bowling and batting prowess.

THE TOM BELLIS AWARD

This week the Tom Bellis Award goes to a debutant! Magnificent work with the bat (50 not out), ball (1/27) and in the field (including a direct hit run-out) earns Anwarshah Ahsan the player of the week award. Anwar arrived in Australia from Afghanistan only a few months ago and we’re glad to have him on board!