Round 2 at the Hill

A lovely mild weekend provided ideal conditions for the Hillers heading into Round 2. The men’s 2s, 5s and 6s took full advantage of them to post wins while the men’s 4s played out a dramatic tie. The women’s 1s enjoyed a week off while the women’s 2s put in a very competitive showing against Coburg. The men’s 1s and 3s both lost two go 0-2, and will need to lift in the weeks ahead.

MEN’S 1st XI versus NORTHCOTE UNITED at Rammo: OUT OF RUNS AFTER A RUN OF RUN-OUTS

It was the first home game of the season for our Men’s 1s and we took the field first against Northcote United, who racked up 8/209 in their 40 overs, despite some outstanding bowling from second-gamer Finley Ward who nabbed 2/19 off 7 overs and good spells from Jamie Holton (1/19 off 6) and Malty Lynas (0/28 off 8). Ten Elevens (aka Benny Levens) went for 66 but he did manage to grab a couple of wickets.

210 for the win was always going to be a tough ask, and both openers (T-Rob and BenCap) getting run out did not makes things any easier. Despite good knocks from Kyle Dundas (30 no) and Coach Zaj (25) we fell well short, finishing on 131 all out.

CHICKEN: Chicken to Wardy for his magnificent bowling spell.

KILLER HILLER MOMENTS: Two Killer Hiller Moments from this match — Kieran Schulz’s first wicket for Clifton Hill, and Wardy’s first wicket in the 1s. No doubt these will be the first of many in both cases.

WOMEN’S 1st XI versus BYE

The Women’s Ones had a week off, thanks to a Round 2 bye. Actually, for the women it was Round 3, but because the Ones had a bye, they’ve actually only played the one game, thanks to Round 1 being washed out. The same thing happened to the men in Round 1, but whereas the ECA completed wiped out the original Round 1, the men’s Round 2 became Round 1, played in the same week as the women’s Round 2. So, the women’s ones…
had a bye in Round 3
which for the men was Round 2
and the number of games the women’s Ones has played is 1.

Got it?

CHICKEN: The Chicken goes to anyone who bought their dinner at Cookshop or Super Tasty on Sunday night.

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: The Killer Hiller moment was the moment I found out the Women’s 1s had the bye, giving me the opportunity to write the nonsense above.

WOMEN’S 2st XI versus COBURG at Ramsden St : BURGERS DOWNED AT RAMMO

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the dogs were frolicking and there wasn't a breath of wind. A perfect day for a home game at Rammo on a Sunday afternoon. The Twos rocked up resplendent in our cricket blues and feeling like we could take on the world. Our opposition were running late, but we were relieved to discover that they were turning up and a game was afoot.

Our Captain Razzle won the toss and sent the "Burgers" in to bat. After a spritely warm-up it was on. Razzle and Emily opened the bowling and the first four overs saw some tight bowling and, it has to be acknowledged, excellent batting by our opposition. Our debutant Laila bowled the fifth over and after a challenging start, found her line and length. Heather, Georgia, Hannah and Mum also had a bowl, with Hannah sending down a rocket that smashed the middle stump of the batter, only to see it ruled (dubiously we all agree) a waist high no ball. Sadly we were not to take a wicket but executed some great bowling, with our nemesis the extras total perhaps contributing a little too much to the Coburg score. At the end of the 20 overs, Coburg were 0 for 142 and we had a target to chase. It would be remiss of me to neglect to mention our two keepers, Nan and B2 who put in a great 10 overs each, and the score was certainly kept down by some brilliant fielding by Catters and Emily.

Our run chase began with the keepers union opening the batting - B2 smashed some brilliant boundaries and Nan was running singles like toddler chasing bubbles. Unfortunately B2's innings was cut short with a cracking LBW ball but her quickfire 14 got the ball rolling nicely. Razzle strode to the crease and immediately began scoring runs, with both she and Nan running singles off nearly every ball and smashing the odd boundary as well. At the 10 over mark we were 1/60 and, after 10 overs behind the stumps and 10 overs running between them, Nan retired at 25. The big-hitting Catters made her way to the middle, picked up B2s mantle and smashed 6 4s along with some well run singles and twos. Catters and Razzle formed a partnership that had us in a position where, with wickets in hand, we had around 50 to get off the last 5 overs. They had a red hot go, and when Catters was bowled for 34 trying to hoist a ball over to Fairlea, we still held on to a flicker of hope as our debutant Laila smashed a couple of quality balls for runs and hit a lovely boundary too. Unfortunately we fell 16 runs short at 2/127 with Razzle n.o. 30 and Laila n.o. 14. Lots to like about the performance of both "old" players and our newer team members and as our coach DT told us after the match, we are only going to get better.

Our bowling figures Razzle 0/27 off 4, Emily 0/17 off 4, Heather 0/26 off 4, Laila 0/23 off 3, Hannah 0/26 off 3 (should have been 1 for . . .), Georgia 0/7 off 1 and Mum 0/9 off 1.

CHICKEN: Our Chicken is awarded to Catters for a brilliant batting performance and some athletic fielding.

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: One of the highlights of the innings were Razzle's two scoop shots over the wicket keeper's head: the first went for 4 and the second for a well-run cheeky single after the wicket keeper dropped a catch.

MEN’S 2nd XI versus NORTHCOTE UNITED at Alphington Park: IT’S A JUGGERNAUT!

The Men’s 2s made the long and arduous journey to Alphington Park (10 minutes in light traffic) to take on Northcote United, and we didn’t so much take them on as take them DOWN — in a big way. As always Monty won the toss and bowled. (This happens so regularly that Chuck Connors has ordered an automated burial site that will allow him to spin in his grave perpetually by means of a solar-powered engine driven by solar panels on his headstone.)

Our bowlers did what they always do, made a mess if the opposition, leaving NU all out for 101. Wickets were shared with the following excellent figures posted: Half Empty 1/9 off 4.3, Monty 2/16 off 8, Joeleh Clark 2/22 off 7, Lou Burstin 1/26 off 6 and Lou McGlade 1/25 off 8.

We lost Lenny Dean (3) and Lou B (16) in the chase but Wortho (62 no) and Nugget (Jake C, 20no) powered us to a huge win.

CHICKEN: Worthy is the worthy winner of this week’s chicken.

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Throwing down the stumps for a direct-hit run out is always a great feeling but Lenny Dean took it to a new level on Saturday. His direct hit ran out his teacher. (Not sure how that will affect any gradings Lenny gets this week.

MEN’S 3rd XI versus GLEN WAVERLEY at Fairlea West: A HARRO-ING LOSS

Fairlea West was in fine shape (I think I even spotted a blade green grass) for the Thirds first home game of the season. We bowled first and kept Glen Waverley in check until drinks, but they got on top in the latter part of the innings to compile 7/201. Daisy (0/19 off 8) bowled beautifully as always, while Nails (1/27 off 7) also did a good job. Anth J picked up 2 poles while Jesse Viney, Tulky and Lachlan Smith each picked up a wicket.

Zac Wilson and Tulky opened up with a stand of 22 but wickets fell too regularly after that and we were all out for 129 despite the best efforts of skipper Harro (37) and Jesse Viney (35)

CHICKEN: Jesse Viney with his 1/40 (should have been 2-fa) and 35 claims the chicken.

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Several Killer Hiller Moments in this match, all involving Jesse Viney. His very first ball clipped the edge of the pitch before cannoning into the stumps. It look great but it was a no ball. Next ball he had the same batter caught, thus claiming a legitimate wicket. This was Jesse’s first wicket in the 3rds! With figures of 1/1 of 1 legal delivery, he was not quite on a hat-trick. Maybe he was on a not-trick?

Jesse would have claimed a legitimate second wicket had Tulky not shelled an easy catch. Tulky made up for it by throwing the ball back in and claiming a run-out. Good for Tulky’s all-rounder stats, but not Jesse’s!

MEN’S 4th XI versus STCSCCC at Fairlea East : IT’S A TIE!

The 4s were at home to STC South Camberwll Cricket Club (which can be abbreviated to STCSCCC, see?) and with Gaz on the sidelines for another week, Mad Dog Morgan took the reins again, winning the toss and batting. The skipper led from the front, too, making a great 48, while The Pres (Adam Lewis) made a second consecutive unbeaten half century as we knocked up 9/197 in our allocated 40 overs.

In the field we got off to a great start, with newbie Jonty Neaves taking three wickets in his first three overs. From there we had our noses in front for much of the innings but STCSCCC pinched a tie with a run off the last ball of the day. Jonty finished with 3/41 off 7 and he got good back-up from Sonny (0/38 off 8), Naj (now a medium pacer!) with 0/20 off 6 and Toughie (0/25 off 8).

An improvement on last week. Next up: a win1

CHICKEN: Jonty Neaves for his 3-fa on debut, and…

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: …Jonty also took a magnificent catch in the outfield to get out the batter who would have won STC the game if he’d stayed in.

MEN’S 5th XI versus MAZENOD at Mazenod: SYNTHETIC SYMPHONY

The Fives played on Mazenod’s all-synthetic ground held the home side to 7/138, an excellent effort on that lightning-fast track. Geoff Smith led the way with 3/29 off 7, with Lachie Muraca (0/15 off 5), Jonesy (1/24 off 6), Tiny Teddy Smith (0/13 off 4, Stan K (2/12 off 6) and James Fiddes (1/16 off 4) also bowling beautifully.

Jonesy (75no) and Jacko (48) then went on the attack Simon Skoblar finished things off with three boundaries in three balls to get us home by nine wickets with tons of overs to spare.

CHICKEN: The chicken bones to the never-snickin’ Jones but the actual chicken goes to Geoff Smith!

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: Skipper Skoblar only faced three balls and he hit three fours. Captain Efficiency!

MEN’S 6th XI versus TOORAK-PRAHRAN at CENTRAL PARK : “THE MONKEY’S OFF THE BACK, BILLY!”

Billy’s boys headed out to Central Park, not for a concert but to take on TPCC. They batted first and were going okay until Suvra Mondal wreaked havoc by taking four wickets in four overs and we knocked them over for 134. Chipping in with 1/16 off 7 was some new bloke named Paul Meager! Good bowling, too, from Timothy Neal (2/12 off 5), Jack Speed (1/11 off 5) and Jacob Hyde (1/18 off 7).

Jacob (36) and Declan Harding (46) then set up the win with a great opening partnership and with Brockie chipping in with 23, we passed them with six overs to spare. BILLY’S FIRST WIN AS SKIPPER!!

CHICKEN: Super Suvra gets the chicken!

KILLER HILLER MOMENT: The Killer Hiller moment was when I tried to read the scorebook to enter the scores into MyCricket. Billy, you are a great bloke and a fine skipper, but get your scorebook in order!

THE TOM BELLIS AWARD

He does it with the bat, and he does it with the ball — The Tom Bellis goes to JONESY!!!

I couldn’t find a pic of Jonesy, so here’s one of his much better half Razzle!