Round 4: Stan makes 38, we win 3 from 8
Three out of eight for the senior men and women Hillers this week represented another round of mixed fortunes but the really good news is that both the women’s and men’s 1st XIs got the win!
Women’s 1st XI — Match report by Bek Drake (Ask Bobbie how she was torched by the umpire!)
The Women’s 1st XI took the trip down to play Hoppers Crossing/Santuary Lakes. With our fearless leader, Trouper, having a well earned week off, Izzy stood in as captain. She managed to win the toss and we decided to have a bowl.
We had a near perfect start, getting a wicket every over for four of the first five overs. Within the four wickets were two from Handsy (one over a wicket maiden), a run out by Rex and a fantastic bowled by Sabine, in her first ball of the season! We had them at 4/19 off 5.
We continued on after the change of ends, with both Amy and Rex getting a wicket in the next five. To everyone’s surprise, it was Rex’s first wicket as a Hiller (it felt like she’d taken 10 already!), and to top it off it was caught by Rach - her first catch for Clifton Hill! Izzy bowled a tight over to finish the next lot of 5 at 6/33.
They came out trying to hit big after the next change of ends, but Junior managed to get two wickets to keep Hoppers Crossing/Sanctuary Lakes on their toes at 8/54.
We felt confident at the final change of ends, and Amy delivered, getting the final two wickets in her last two overs to restrict Hoppers Crossing/Sanctuary Lakes to 61. As always, the bowling figures were extraordinary. Handsy 2/14 off 4, Junior 2/19 off 4, Sabine 1/4 off 2, Amy 3/13 off 4, Rex 1/7 off 3 and Izzy 0/2 off 1.
Our batting innings got off to a little bit of a rocky start, with Rex run out for 2 — though everyone on the boundary thought she was safe by a mile! Izzy then decided that she wanted to have an early finish, getting 18 off the third over. Unfortunately she was bowled the very next over for 23, which meant that Charlotte and Handsy were at the crease.
Both of them picked up where they left off from last weeks game, and built a steady partnership before Handsy was bowled for 8. Bobbie came to the crease and was called out LBW the very next ball (if you have a few hours handy she will tell you how the bruise she got from the ball was definitive evidence that it was actually going down leg).
Luckily the calm head of Amy came to the crease. With a steady hand, Amy (6*) and Charlotte (13*) managed to chase down the total in 11 overs, giving the Hillers their second win for the season!
The Virutal Chicken this week goes to Izzy, for her fielding prowess, explosive batting and sensational work as Captain.
Men’s 1st XI
The 1s played at Rammo this week and Ben Cap(tain)likas won the toss and chose to bat. It turned out to be a very good decision, for the team and the skipper himself. After the early loss of T-Rob and Nick Z, Ben and Jimmy Bluer (22) knuckled down to put on a 47-run partnership.
When JB departed, BenCap and Malty (Matty Lyna) teamed up for another good stand, Ben the fourth wicket to fall with a top score of 44. Malty went on to make 40, while Stan Mills, in his Ones debut, made a great 38. By the the end of the 40 overs, we’d clocked up a pretty good score of 7/187.
The bowlers then all did their job, with Eamonn Scott (0/29 off 8) the only one of the six not to snare a wicket. Benny Levens picked up 3/29 off his 8, and Stinger (Sam Barrett) chipped in with 2/10 off three. Meanwhile Gigsy’s soulmate Nick Zajac decided that players from both sides were there for a good time not a long time by picking up two wickets but also conceding 28 runs in his three overs.
In the end, God was obviously not on St Paul’s side and we rolled them for 154 to score a great win, which puts us third on the ladder.
The Virtual Chicken goes to the skipper for his 44, backed up by three catches in the field. Onya Benny Cap!
Women’s 2nd XI - report by Sarah Catterwell
At home for a second consecutive week, stand in captain KD “the Doc” won the toss and elected to bowl. We had a new look team this week, featuring star fills ins/familiar faces, Spiller, Chiller and Gary.
The opening batters for Westmeadows were big hitters which kept us on our toes. Mum was able to grab the first breakthrough in the 6th over with her first ball, with the catch being taken by Welly. This was Welly’s first ever catch in cricket and didn’t she celebrate! Catters was able to take the next wicket with Vovo holding on to a catch behind the stumps.
Unfortunately the extras that we gave away were a little up on last week, but our efforts in the field were great as always.
Shout out to the ever quiet Mega for stopping a bullet of a shot that was definitely heading to the boundary. In turn she hurt her wrist but it’s safe to say this did not effect her number one asset (her voice).
Westmeadows finished on 2/136 off the 20 overs.
The run chase didn’t get off to the best start and unfortunately we continued to lose wickets quite regularly. Violet our youngest teammate was more than able to hold her own and defend some very quick bowling from the opposition. Given she hadn’t batted much this season it was very impressive.
We move on to next week which will be our last game before the Christmas break. Our focus will be on batting out the 20 overs with wickets in hand. We want to use this preparation for what the 40-over competition will be like post-Christmas
The Virtual Chicken: BOG this week goes to Catters, with figures of 1/14 off 4 overs and 11 runs in what was a hard run chase.
Men’s 2nd XI
Monty lost the toss against St Paul’s out at Southern Rerserve, an appropriate venue because things went south for the Hilllers from there. We were skittled for 98 with only J-Ho (Jesse Hodge, 39) and LOC (Liam O’Connor, 18) showing any real resistance. Whatever brownie points J-Ho earned from the skipper with his batting he lost when he torched Monty in a run-out muck-up.
We didn’t do a bad job with the ball, with Anth Johnson (2/27 off 8), Monty (1/28 off 7.2) and Wardy (1/10 off 7) all excellent, but 98 runs just wasn’t enough of a score to put any real pressure on St Paul’s.
The Virtual Chicken: Anthony Johnson gets the chicken for his great bowling spell. J-Ho might’ve been in the frame had he not left his skipper hanging.
Men’s 5th XI
Simon Skoblar’s Superstars made it two on the trot with a great win over Richmond Union at Fairlea East. The visitors batted first after winning the toss and started well, but once the first wicket fell at 41, they kept tumbling regularly. With Stan Kroenert and Simon Jackson both taking 3/20 off 7, RU were all out for 142. Jonesy chipped in with 2/10 off 4.3 and the Sundrams, Henry and Max picked up a wicket each.
In the run chase we were in trouble at 5/66 with Jonesy amazingly not making 50, but Jacko (64no) and Max Sundram (23) righted the ship to get us home with four wickets in hand. It’s the first time in a long time the 5s have won two in a row. Well done!
The Virtual Chicken: Max Sundram gets the nod for his wicket and very important partnership with Jacko to help us get the win.
Men’s 3rd XI
Harro’s Heroes turned into Harro’s Hearbreakers this week, with the 3s going down very narrowly. A bit like Buzz Lightyear, the 3s had to travel to Trinity (Willison) and (almost) beyond for this game. Harro lost the toss (cut and paste again) and we batted. With James Allen unavailable, Harro opened with Benny B but did not last long. Benny and Zac Wilson then carried the score through to 83 but we collapsed from there to be all out for 133, despite a nice 69 from Benny and a handy 19 from Tony Peake.
With the ball
we gave it our all
as their wickets continued to fall
but their tailenders answered the call
despite our bowlers standing tall.
In the end TW got the runs with just two wickets in hand, despite the great bowling efforts of Boggle (Declan Niere, 3/20 off 8), Nails (Jesse Parlane, 2/20 off 8) and Dave Burgess (2/12 off 8).
Bad luck boys.
The Virtual Chicken: Brett bypassed Benny Bruscella to bestow the bird to Boggle. Brilliant bowling Boggle!
Men’s 4th XI
With skipper Gaz away this week, Dog (Scott Morgan) took the reins as he had in Round 1, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the same result as that day. In the words of Dog on Saturday when he returned to Rammo after the game, “Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”
That even included the toss, which Dog lost and Melbourne Deaf batted first. They made 9/166 in their 40 overs with Tuffy (Jarrod Tough, 3/12 off 8), Captain Jack (Barrett 1/32 off 8) and Action Man (Adrian Bielenberg, 1/34 off 8) the pick of the bowlers.
With the bat we started off in the worst possible way, with Cal Behmer run out without facing a ball and El Presidenté (Adam Lewis) out for a quacker. We were 2/0 and never recovered, skittled for 105 despite the best efforts of Mike Belchamber (35) and Action Man (30).
Bad luck boys, but we’ve got wins in the bank and will bounce back.
The Virtual Chicken: Action Man’s 30 runs and a wicket earns him a well-deserved invisible chicken!
Men’s 6th XI
The Sixes have now played three matches and lost them all but we have been very competitive in all three and we’re not far from a win. This week we added another junior to the side, with Jack Morice joining Lachlan Muraca, Will Fiddes and Julian Marone to balance out the old blokes (me, Ralph Saubern).
I lost the toss and we batted and we were in big early trouble at 5/29 but old man Ralphy (who is younger than me) rescued the team with a magnificent 48. He was backed up well by Craig Mawdsley (21)m, Jason THE COMEBACK King (20) and debutant Jack Morice (15). We finished on 7/130, a great effort after the early collapse.
The bowling was steady but we couldn’t quite get enough breakthroughs and North Alphington passed us with a couple of overs to spare. Excellent bowling from Jason (2/6 off 2), Lachlan (0/21 off 6), Will (0/10 off 4), Julian (0/12 off 4) and Craig (0/22 off 6) helped make up for me being in career-worst bowling form.
Special mentions to Alex Prokos and Jason for a couple of brilliant fielding efforts. Jason threw down the stumps from the boundary to give us our first wicket and Alex took one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen, a one-handed screamer, to cap off a brilliant fielding effort throughout the arvo.
The Virtual Chicken: On his return to the Hill Jason THE COMEBACK King gets the chicken for his great efforts with bat and bowl, as well as fielding and leadership qualities in front of the juniors.
A win is coming soon, boys!
THE VIRTUAL TOM BELLIS AWARD
Some Hillers might not know who Simon “Jacko” Jackson is, but he is very much making waves in the 5s. His 64 not out and his three wickets earns him this week’s Tom Bellis award. Well done, Jacko.
Another good weekend at the Hill. Let’s make this one even better!
Cheers
Gigs (Andrew Gigacz)
You don’t know who Simon Jackson is? Well now you do!
Well done to Jacko on a great effort with the bat and the ball, earning him the Virtual Tom Bellis this week.