Round 1 at the Hill
We’re back baby, and better than ever! Covid and inclement weather have delayed our season start until late November but it’s full steam ahead from now on for all six men’s senior sides, two women’s senior sides and two men’s vets teams.
WOMEN’S 1st XI versus Craigieburn at Rammo: FIRST-UP WIN
Match report by Bek ‘Bobbie’ Drake
The first game of the season for the Women's Team 1st XI saw two debutants for the Hill - Taryn and Ash. Congratulations to you both and welcome to the club!
New captain Lauren "Rex" Chester lost the toss to Craigieburn and we were sent in to bat. Rex and Izzy Fenner made a solid start, finding the boundary a number of times after some tricky bowling to begin with. A good over by the opposition bowler saw Rex out LBW for 18 and Taryn Heddo caught behind for a duck. In came Rach Grey, who had clearly been training in the off season! She found the boundary with ease and worked well with Izzy before Izzy was bowled for 12. Then came Ash Murdoch. She and Rach combined beautifully, running between wickets like they had played together for years. Unfortunately the new teammates miscommunicated once, which was all Craigieburn needed to get Ash run out for a well made 21. Grace Alsop was at the crease for a good time and unfortunately it was not a long one, caught out for a duck. Amy "Wolfie" Howel followed soon after, bowled for a duck. Hannah "Handsy" Watson (3*) formed a nice partnership with Rach (39*), for the Hill to finish the 20 overs at 6/109.
Handsy started the bowling innings as economical as always and Rebecca "Junior" Nolan did well in partnership, despite some big hitting from the opposition. In her first over, Wolfie saw that big hitting, being hit for four fours. She had the last laugh though, getting the big hitter out with her final ball of the over, caught behind by new wicket keeper Rebekah "Bobbie" Drake. Taryn did well in her first over for the Hill, then Wolfie struck again with a lovely wicket maiden, including a great catch from Rach. From here, Craigieburn struggled to score, courtesy of some beautiful bowling. Highlights included Junior sending the stumps flying, before Claire "Trouper" Williamson was put on for one over and managed to get two wickets - caught and bowled and an LBW. Handsy then smashed through all of the stumps with another bowled. Not wanting to miss out, Taryn got her first wicket for the Hill, sending middle stump flying. Wolfie decided she didn't have a ‘bowled’, so decided to add one to the total. Ash bowled well in her first overs for the Hill, and the dot ball pressure caused a run out by Rach. With only 10 players, Craigieburn were all out for 74 and the Hill got a convincing victory!
Some beautiful bowling figures for your perusal: Handsy - 1/10 off 4, Junior - 1/21 off 4, Wolfie - 3/19 off 4, Taryn - 1/12 off 3, Rex - 0/2 off 1, Trouper - 2/5 off 1, Ash - 0/4 off 1.5
CHICKEN: Our Chicken is awarded to Rach, for a fantastic batting innings and her superb fielding!
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Taryn sending middle stump flying in her first match was our Killer Hiller moment.
MEN’S 1st XI versus Deepdene Uniting at Hays Paddock: WELCOME BACK COTTER
The Men’s 1s took a short trip to Hays Paddock and batted first against Deepdene. We compiled a good score of 6/180, thansly largely to the unretired Steve Cotter (63), Malty Lynas (42) and Ben Caplikas (22). With our bowling attack, it should have been a defendable score but despite an early wicket to Jim Wright and an excellent spell from Cottsy (1/23 off 7 overs), Deepdene passed us with six wickets and seven overs to spare.
CHICKEN: Chicken to Cottsy for his all-round efforts.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: The Killer Hiller moment in this match was when Steve Cotter walked out onto Hays Paddock, pads on and bat in hand. Welcome back, Cottsy! Honourable mention to Kyle’s brilliant run out, too!
MEN’S 2nd XI versus Glen Waverley Cougars at Ramsden St: JAMIE GOES ‘BLAMMO!’ AT RAMMO
The Men’s Twos had the honour of playing the first official match at Rammo of 2021/22 and did the club proud. Monty won the toss and, with Paul Connors nowhere in sight, bowled. It turned out to be a pretty good decision. Lanno (0/4 off 4) and Monty (0/23 off 8) kept the run rate down and then 2nds debutant Joel Clark (2/5 off 5.5), Lou McGlade (3/11 off 5) and JHo Number 2 (Jamie Holton, 4/11 off 4) absolutely destroyed the Cougars, skittling them for 58.
It’s worth mentioning three of Jamie’s balls, which went something like this:
Ball 1: Broke a partnership by getting a batter out caught at mid on
Ball 2: Broke a toe, smashing a Yorker into a Cougar foot and getting him LBW
Ball 3: Broke middle stump, and claimed a hat-trick in doing so.
This left openers Lenny Dean and Wortho (which my autocorrect changes to ‘Worthless’) to knock off the 59 required runs without fuss.
CHICKEN: For his two wickets, a catch and a run-out in his first game for the 2s, Joel Clark gets the poultry prize.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Micah ‘Wortho’/’Worthless’ Worthington absolutely smoking a six which went all the way to the practice nets.
MEN’S 3rd XI versus Mount Waverley Uniting at Jordan Reserve: MOVING UP AND GOING DOWN
The new promoted to A Synth Men’s Threes travelled to Jordan — the reserve, not the country or the river — to take on Mount Waverley Uniting. Harro won the toss and batted and we compiled 9/152 off our 40 overs, thanks largely to J Ho Number 1 (Jesse Hodge), Matt Hobbs (26) and Daisy Mobilia (25) playing his first Saturday game for the Hill.
INTERMISSION #1: By the way, if Daisy plays a shot along the ground square on the off side, is that known as a Daisy Cutter?
While 152 was a below-par score, it was defendable. Unfortunately, it was not defended, despite excellent bowling from AJ (Anth Johnson 3/26 off 7) and Daisy (1/22 off 8).
INTERMISSION #2: By the way, if Daisy bowls a ball that moves in or away off the pitch, is that known as a Daisy Cutter?
MWU passed us five down with 5.4 overs to spare but overall it was a credible effort in our first outing in the higher grade.
CHICKEN: Chicken to AJ for his three-fa.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: The Killer Hiller Moment was when the coin hit the ground at the toss — Harro finally called correctly!
MEN’S 4th XI versus Bulleen at Trinity Grammar Playing Fields : LOW SCORES IN THE FOURS
The Fours headed out to Trinity Grammar Playing Fields (no relation to Neville Fields) without skipper Gaz Nelson, who had a bit of a health scare. (Good news! Gaz has since been given a clean bill of health.) Without Horatio Nelson, the Royal Navy would have struggled big time, but they did not have Scott Morgan ready to fill the captaincy breach as we did.
Dog took control and we batted first, putting together 8/137 in our 40 overs. Despite a magnificent 50 not our from El Presidenté Adam Lewis, it was slightly below par and Bulleen passed the target with relative ease. This was despite excellent bowling from the seemingly ageless Empty (Andrew Lanning, 0/18 off 8) and very good bowling from Sonny (Nathan Sonnberger) and Lachlan Smith in their first games for the Hillers.
CHICKEN: The pres gets the chicken for his fine half century.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Andrew ‘Bongo’ Starkey walking onto the field for his first CHCC match in years was the Killer Hiller moment, as was the catch taken by Dog, a bullet that may have passed right through him if he hadn’t taken it.
MEN’S 5th XI versus Trinity Willison at WJ Cox Oval : HOME AWAY FROM HOME
The Fives had a home game at WJ Cox Oval, and bowled first, with Geoff Smith doing Geoff Smith things, opening the bowling to finish with 2/26 off his seven overs. He had excellent support from Stan (1/15 off 7), Jonesy (1/22 off 6), Hugo Northrop (1/24 off 5), Lachie Muraca (0/12 off 3) and Gilly Northrop (0/22 of 5) as we held a holey Trinity (two were bowled) batting lineup to 6/134.
A target of 135 did not prove to be too much of a challenge for our batters with Stan (52), Jacko (30no) and Skipper Skoblar (27 no) getting us there two down with 14 overs to spare.
CHICKEN: Stan Kroenert who, if he was a pastry chef could create the Kroenert Cronut, gets the chicken for his 50 and 1/15.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Skipper Skoblar hitting the winning runs, signalling a return to form for the big man!
MEN’S 6th XI versus Edinburgh at Fairlea East : FAIRLEA (RUN F)EAST
With Gigs’s shredded shoulder putting him out of action in 2021/22, he has handed over the 6ths captaincy to the great Billy Tsikrokos, who celebrated his new leadership role by losing the toss. Edinburgh chose to bat and had the upper hand for most of the 35 hours, making 6/256, despite some fine bowling from the evergreen Jeff Burstin (1/22 off 6), the versatile Raghu Sondi (2/33 off 4 before taking the gloves from Doug) and Jack Speed (who I didn’t see bowl but presumably he’s fast based on his surname, 2/36 off 5).
We opened the batting with two newbies, Jack Speed and Jacob Hyde who looked good before Jack got a corker that slipped through the gate. Jacob and another newcomer Timothy Neal then took the score to 52 before Tim fell for a well-made 19. Wickets and the run-rate fell after that and we eventually fell 97 short of Edinburgh, despite a magnificent debut knock from Jacob Hyde (58 not out).
Not a win but some excellent signs for a team full of newcomers with a new skipper.
CHICKEN: Jacob Hyde gets a chicken in his first game for the club! Can he make it two from two next week to emulate the feat of a bloke who turned up at the club in 2009* and picked up two chickens in his first two game, and was christened ‘Chicken Man’ by Rocket Rodney Peterson.
*Yes, me. I’ll take any chance to pump myself up.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Another newbie to the team was Declan Harding. Coming in at number six, Declan reached 21 in the blink of an eye (somewhere between 8 and 12 balls, according to Billy). Nice work, Dec! Also, a great catch from Nathan ‘Brocky’ Brock on debut!
MEN’S Over 40s versus West Ivanhoe at Seddon Reserve: OVER THE HILLERS IN PEAK(E) FORM
Match report by Tony Peake
The Hillers won the toss and decided to have a bowl. Stan K found his range early and after beating the bat a few times took wickets in his second, third and fourth overs to get us off to a flying start - he ended with excellent figures of 3/12 off his 6 overs. At the half way mark though, WIU were looking good at 3/88 and a strong second half was needed with the ball. And that's exactly what we got. New player Dan Millican picked up a tidy 2/12, with ever-reliable Daisy M getting 1/22 off his 6, and Alex S chipping in with 2/34. In the end, we restricted them to a gettable 8/150 from their 36 overs.
Whilst our bowling was excellent, the batting was always going to be our strong suit. James A followed an excellent keeping effort with a quick fire 24 and after his dismissal, Stan took over with a hard hitting 40 retired n.o.. Jonesy chipped in with a strong 33 (before missing a straight one) and the game was finished in the 25th over by another debutant, Ben King hitting 3 consecutive 4s to end with 23 n.o.
Overall, an excellent way to kick off our season.
CHCC 4/153 (25 overs) def West Ivanhoe United CC 8/150 (36 overs)
Highlights: Stan Kroenert 3/12 and 40 retired no, Dan Millican 2/12, Alex Smith 2/34, Daisy Mobilia 1/22, James Allen 33, Mark Jones 33, Ben King 23 no.
CHICKEN: Stan made it two chickens in two days — a poultry pair!
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Ben King, previously a back yard cricketer, impressed with his bowling and his consistent run-up — so consistent, in fact, that the number of steps in his run-up never changed. They did get shorter, however, and while his front foot was landing on the popping crease in his first over, it was landing alongside the stumps in his last over!
WOMEN’S 2st XI versus : CLIFTON HILL DOWN AT WINDY HILL
After a forfeit win in round 1 the Senior Women 2nd XI played Essendon at Windy Hill. We were excited to welcome the following debutants; Georgia Huegen, Heather Munro and Di Christensen. Essendon won the toss and sent us in to bat. Essendon bowled a great line length and got a couple of early wickets. Razzle occupied the crease and made 16. We saw out our 20 overs which was a great achievement and set Essendon a target of 52 to win.
Our gun junior bowler Emily was very unlucky to not get a wicket! There was outstanding fielding by Heather to run out an Essendon batter. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough runs on the board and Essendon chased them down in the ninth over
CHICKEN: Razzle gets the chicken for anchoring the batting innings with a solid 16.
KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Heather’s magnificent run-out!
MEN’S Over 50s versus Edinburgh at Sir Herbert Onley Oval: A NEW AGE BEGINS FOR OLD AGERS
Match report by Ralph Saubern
After a wake up call in a practice match two weeks ago, the new look Vets Over 50s had a satisfying win over Edinburgh on Sunday, extending their unbeaten run from last season. Clifton Hill lost the toss and fielded first. Excellent bowling from new recruit Greg Ellis (3/26) and old stalwarts Kev Moore (0/22), Peter Ryan (2/16) and Hamish Nelson (1/12) and some great fielding restricted Edinburgh's batters to 137 all out and it would have been less if Edinburgh hadn't resorted to some very unVets-like quick singles. Many highlights in the field included two catches to Chris Gill and a clever stumping by Paul Hodge to dismiss Edinburgh's captain.
Clifton Hill started their innings confidently but after both openers were dismissed for not much, a rescue effort saw Billy Tsikiros (20) and Dean Perry (11) steady the ship before Chris "Master Blaster" Gill came in and smashed 41rtno from not many balls and put the result out of question. All that was left was for new boy Greg Ellis (4no) to hit the winning runs with a stylish four through covers. Clifton Hill by 3 wickets with a couple of overs to spare.
CHICKEN to Chris Gill for his excellent bowling, brilliant batting and sublime fielding - the complete package!
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
For his devastating spell and brilliant hat-trick, JAMIE HOLTON takes home the first Tlom Bellis award of the 2021/22 season! He’s an absolute jet for the Clifton Hill Lions, as is evidenced by the fact that, “I, JAMIE HOLTON…” is an anagram of “OH, I’M A LION JET!” Did he really break the stump with his hat-trick ball? You bet he did! Here’s the proof:
