Suvra runs hot!
A BIT OF HOUSEKEEPING…
Before we get into the match reports, a big hand to our former secretary who is now our head honcho. Henceforth, the man formerly known as Secretary Cal Behmer shall be known as… ‘CAL PRESIDENTE’.
Disrespect him at your own risk!
SECOND BIT OF HOUSEKEEPING…
Club legend and historian Steve Cotter has drawn our attention to the following big milestones:
SCOTT MORGAN, heart and soul of CHCC, played his 200th game on Saturday. A mighty effort from a mighty fine man.
RACHAEL ‘RAZZLE’ JONES played her 50th game for CHCC on Sunday!
In the same game, JEFF BURSTIN took his 100th wicket for the club.
ANDREW LANNING has passed the 500 WICKET mark at the Hill. Only the second Hiller to do it. Great stuff, Empty.
And ALEX SMITH and GEOFF SMITH have both passed the 100-wicket mark.
MEN'S 1ST XI v Northcote United at Rammo THE HILLERS ARE ALIVE!
The Hillers men's 1s kicked off the season in style with a home win over one of last year's semi-finalists, Northcote United.
Bowling first after losing the toss, all of our bowlers did a fine job, with Wardi (4/30 off 7) and Lou B (3/13 off 7.2) reaping the rewards of everyone's good work (including Jim Wright 1/18 off 8, Lanno 0/7 off 4 and the wily old man himself, Cottsy, 2/40 off 8).
A new opening partnership of Dundas and Dean got us off to an excellent start. The pair put on 60 before Kyle fell for 14. Captain Caplikas then came in and the Lenny and Benny Show yielded another 22 runs before Lenny went out for 35. Ben made a good looking 23 and then some big hitting from Malthy (30no) and Cottsy (18no) took us to an excellent seven-wicket win.
This was our first win in the 1s against NU!
CHICKEN: Lenny Dean gets the chicken for his part in setting up a successful run chase.
WOMEN'S 1ST XI v Edinburgh at Rammo RAZZLE DAZZLES IN GAME 50
Match report by Rex and Izzy
After a grey and rainy week, the sun came out at Rammo to help celebrate Razzle’s 50th game with Clifton Hill. The Captain’s first win for the day came during the toss and we opted to field.
Bowling from the 'city end', Hannah ‘Handsy’ Watson skittled the stumps with the second ball of the innings leaving Edinburgh 1/0. Meanwhile Ash ‘Steam Train’ Murdoch brought her trademark fire and swing leaving the batters very little room to settle in.
Then Em ‘Domino’ Costigan came into the attack and gave the stumps the same treatment as Handsy with the final ball of her first over, collecting a tidy wicket maiden. Edinburgh were 2/7 after 5 overs.
With Edinburgh’s remaining opener settling in, our fielding was put to the test with Rach ‘Greyhound’ Gray sweeping the boundary in the blink of an eye and true to her nickname, turning easy singles into dot balls. Meanwhile at cover, our latest junior superstar on debut for the firsts, Annika Filips worked hard to save fours and keep the pressure on through the off side. On the other side of the wicket, Laila 'Electric Train' Rae (who kicked our season off last week with an incredible 52* with the bat) was busy at square leg.
A change of ends saw captain Razzle take the ball to bring a change of pace into the attack to complement a second over from Em. Unable to break the steady partnership that was forming, Razzle threw Izzy Fenner the ball for her first bowl of the season. With edges not quite finding hands and shouts for LBW going unanswered, the team felt like even though the partnership was building, it was only a matter of time until we broke through. In comes Amy ‘Wolfie’ Howell. Bringing her trademark line and length bullets, and with increasing pressure on Edinburgh to lift their run rate, the breakthrough came sending the in-form opener on her way for a well made 37.
With Edinburgh 3/72 and running out of time, they were forced to start swinging. Luckily for us, we had two guns in Handsy and Wolfie to close out the innings, spoiling the party for the batters, and conceding only six runs off the final two overs. After 20 overs, Edinburgh finished up on 3/78.
A last minute change to the batting order saw Razz move up from first drop to open with Hannah ‘HG’ Gray. The two brought a solid opening partnership, ticking the runs along nicely and comfortably meeting the required run rate. Unfortunately HG skied a top edge that was eventually caught by the wicket keeper, sending her off for a well made 10 runs.
Izzy, keen to head home early, joined the milestone Captain at the crease and didn’t take too long to settle in and find the middle of the bat. A well-rounded 50 run partnership saw constant rotation of the strike and plenty of boundaries, perhaps best highlighted by Izzy’s two 6s and Razzle hitting the winning runs with a beautiful hook behind square to find her first boundary of the day. Edinburgh’s total was reached comfortably in the 13th over. In a fitting end to the day, Captain Razzle carried her bat in her 50th game for the club.
Handsy 1 for 4 off 4 overs (incl 2 maidens), Domino 1 for 6 off 2 (incl wicket maiden), Wolfie 1 for 19 off 4
Izzy 38* not out, Razzle 17* not out, HG 10
CHICKEN: The votes were a 3 way tie between Handsy, Izzy and Razzle, but the Chicken has got to go to Captain Fantastic, the woman of the moment, RAZZLE!
MENS 2ND XI v Northcote United at Alphington: BRAND NEW SEASON, SAME OLD RESULT
"A premiership hangover? What's that?"
— Monty Stuart (possibly)
The Men's 2s got straight back into default mode, bowling first and doing the job against Northcote United's batters. Miserly Monty (2/21 off 8) and Dastardly Daisy (1/21 off 8) got us off to a fine start, and then new man Gus Grant (full name Angus Grant, giving him the equal best initials at CHCC) chipped in with 2/32 off 8. With great back-up from Lachie Elmore (0/15 off 6 in his first 2s game) and JoelClark (0/11 off 4) we kept NU to 5/153.
A solid start from J-Ho and Cal-Presidente (also in his first 2s game) allowed Nick Zajac (42) and Stan Kroenert (another 2s first-gamer) who made 25 to polish off the runs with heaps of overs to spare.
CHICKEN goes to Daisy Mobilia, who has already staked a claim for 'Ball of the Season' for one which moved ever so slightly off the wicket to dislodge the off bail without disturbing any other part of the wicket.
WOMEN'S 2nd XI v Melton Centrals at Melton
Match report by B2
Inclement weather late into the week meant we were lucky to play our Round 2 match, versus Melton Centrals in Shield 3, at Blackwood Drive Reserve, in Melton.
Winning the toss and choosing to bat first, our dynamic opening duo of Tylah and Bobby set the tone for the innings, with a lovely opening partnership of 19 runs. Having made more runs than her very first innings last week, Tyler was given LBW in the 5th over, and B2 joined Bobby at the crease. With Bobby in great support and the platform set, B2 showed uncharacteristic patience and settled in with Bobby to build a total. The outfield was still somewhat sodden and partly covered in long grass, so boundaries were scarce, but the pair rotated the strike and ran a number of twos to build a total. Both ended the innings not out, and Clifton Hill had 1/83 to defend.
Big thank you to Boomer, for standing at square leg for our innings.
Into the field and we brought Heather straight into the attack with immediate effect, Melton Centrals’ opening batter tempted into a shot with a great ball just outside off-stump, tickled and caught behind. Great start!
Georgia and Tylah joined the attack and continued to test the new partnership. After carrying her bat, Bobby also stepped up to bowl and kept a very tight line and length throughout, bowling a maiden and a very economical spell, four overs for just six runs.
This team continues to learn and work together, with many examples throughout the match of our players running together in the field, relay throws and backing each other up in support. The great work in the field from Tylah, Boomer, Dutchy, Jen sweeping the boundary, Kate, Bib, Georgia, Heather and Bobby, meant Melton had to work hard and rotate their strike to make runs.
Bib and Jen bowled important overs in the middle of the innings, and in the end, Clifton Hill and Melton Centrals' innings almost paralleled each other, and it came down to the 20th over before Melton Centrals were able to beat our total, finishing 1/85.
Big thank you to Angus, for looking after the scoring for us.
Well done Hillers! Looking forward to our first double header next week!
MENS 3RD XI v Burwood at Burwood: LIFE IN THE PARLANE
New skip Jesse Parlane took his troops out to the Burwood Mudheap and bowled first. Everyone bowled really well and we held Burwood to 171 in their 40. Naj had the standout figures – 4/21 off 8 – but earlier Jesse P (1/36 off 8) and Dan ‘Hunto’ Huntington (2/20 off 8) got the bowling innings off to a good start.
Batting-wise we fell short, finishing on 8/111 but Hunto (35) and Lachie Muraca (34no) were fantastic with the bat.
Onwards and upwards!
CHICKEN: Lachie Muraca for his fine knock and his evil stare-down of several Burwood players.
MENS 4TH XI v Edinburgh at SIR ARTHUR RYLAH RESERVE: SUVRA MODALICIOUS!
‘Sir Arthur Rylah Reserve’ – never has such a shitty ground had such a grandiose name. Shitty it may be but it was the setting for the 4ths game against Edinburgh.
Bowling first, we held Edinburgh to 265 in 35 overs. Sounds like a monster score but on Rylah it is anything but that. Excellent bowling came from Empty (3/65), Geoff Smith (2/33), Daylon Seakins (2/45) and Ralph (1/24 off 3).
Jonesy (55), Ralph (28) and Raghu (19) did well with the bat but the superstar of the innings was Suvra Mondal, who clobbered 94 before running himself out trying to get us over the line.
We fell 12 runs short, a valiant effort.
CHICKEN: Empty gets yet another chicken for his 3-fa and a six that would still be on the way up now had it not been stopped by hitting a giant tree halfway up.
MENS 5TH XI v Monash Uni at WJ Cox Reserve: SCOTT NO TEAMMATES
The 5s were up against it from the start in this match, with just eight players on the field at start time. That later rose to nine with the arrival of Jeff Burstin but we were always behind the 8 ball. Nevertheless we showed some great fight in the field and the bowlers, especially Jeff Burstin (3/41 off 7), Will Rodger* (2/43 off 7) and Ralph Glaspole (1/23) and ‘Captain Jack’ Barrett (0/9 off 5), helped keep Monash to 6/180.
We started well with the bat, reaching 1/50 thanks to Lift Velocity – sorry, I mean Jack Speed – (26) and Eddie Chiroiu (15) but it fell away quickly after that and we ended up on 8/79.
*I’m really hoping his full first name is Willco, so we can write his name as “RODGER, WILLCO”.
CHICKEN: The evergreen (even though he’s actually grey) Jeff Burstin gets the chicken.
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
He was new to the club last year, and he has worked hard on getting better in all aspects of the game. He was rewarded on Saturday with his highest ever score of 94! Well done Suvra!
