Five wins in Round 6 as T-Rob’s batting clicks
The Hillers will head into the Christmas break on a high with the first four men’s teams and the women’s 1sts all racking up a win on the last weekend before the break.
Men’s 1st XI
The 1s headed out to Orrong Park but we didn’t take a wrong turn once we got there. BenCap won the toss and batted against top side Toorak-Prahran, and T-Rob and Nick Zaj got us off to a great start with a 50 opening stand. Zaj fell for 23 but T-Rob and Captain Cap took the score to 136 before the second wicket fell. T-Rob made a nice 69, and he had great support from Ben (42), Louis Burstin (32) and a quick 16 not out from Eamonn Scott, taking us to 5/209.
Once Jim Wright took the first Toorak-Prahran wicket they fell regularly. TPCC were all out for 175 in the end, with Malty Lynas taking 3/36 off 8, well backed up by Stinga Barrett (2/42 off 8), Ben Levens (2/39 off 5), Eamonn (1/21 off 6) and Jimmy Wright (1/30 off 8).
A 34-run win takes our win-loss record to 3-3, and we’re only half a game out of the top four and just one game off top place. Well done boys!
The CHiCCken: The CHiCCken goes to the skipper himself for his fine knock of 42.
Men’s 2nd XI
With the real skipper — Monty Stuart — back in charge, the 2s had another home game, and Monty made himself very much at home by winning the toss and bowling. It didn’t look like a great decision when Mount Waverley Uniting were 0/70 but our bowlers hit back to hold MWU to 5/150 in 40 overs, with Az Lanning (2/25 off 8) getting two wickets, and Monty (1/17 off 8) and Anth J (1/33 off 7) getting one each.
Wortho (27) and Hugh (20) got the chase off to a good start, and then Jake Castelow followed up his Tom Bellis performance of last week with another half century, before the J-Ho twins (Jesse Hodge 9 no and Jamie Holton 22 no) carried us to win with nearly four overs to spare. The 2s are 4-2 and in second place heading into Christmas.
The CHiCCken: For a second consecutive match-winning innings, Jake gets the CHiCCken!
Women’s 1st XI — match report by Bek “Bobbie” Drake
We were home at beautiful Rammo for the final game of the year against Melbourne Uni. I was unfortunately out with the man flu, so we welcomed Nan and Vovo to their first game in the ones for the season.
We started in the field and Melbourne Uni got off to an absolute flyer. After going for a few in her first over, Hannah fought back and Junior battled hard to keep Melbourne Uni to 32 after 5.
After the change of ends, Amy and Rex put together one of the best bowling partnerships of the season. In the next 9 overs (with Trouper bowling a sneaky one in the middle), Melbourne Uni only made 24 runs and three wickets fell. Rex managed to take all of the wickets - two LBW and one bowled. After the 15th over was bowled by Junior, we had them on the ropes at 3/59.
Melbourne Uni knew they had to hit big in the final five and tried their hardest to do so. However, some tight bowling from Junior, Trouper and Izzy, as well as intensity in the field, made it difficult. Izzy decided to get involved in the wickets in the final over and Rex, clearly wanting to take part in every wicket of the match, took the catch. Melbourne Uni finished on 4/88. Bowling figures were impressive as always - Handsy 0/17 off 4, Junior 0/30 off 4, Amy 0/10 off 4, Rex 3/10 off 4, Trouper 0/13 off 2 and Izzy 1/7 off 2.
With a very manageable 89 required for victory, Rex and Izzy opened the batting in their usual fashion. It was calm and methodical, with the boundaries hit when they were there. The second over saw plenty of that, with 18 scored from it.
Unfortunately Izzy fell the very next over for 9. Handsy then came in and had a solid partnership with Rex before she was caught out for 5 in the 11th over. Hannah G came in and decided to follow her fellow Hannah (Handsy) being caught out second ball. Although a few wickets had fallen, Rex looked in good form and we were confident as we sat at 3/69 off 11.
We knew we had time to make the 20 runs required for victory. Rex and Charlotte consolidated on the wickets with a small partnership. However, in the theme of the day, successive wickets fell in the 14th and 15th over, with Charlotte out first for 8, then Rex followed with a well made 42.
We had two new batters at the crease, Vovo and Nan, both having stepped up from the twos. Although we had 10 runs to make in 5 overs, it was still quite tense (at least it felt like it from where I was in the car). Vovo and Nan handled it like the pros they are, waiting for the right ball to play a shot. They steadily added runs until Nan got sick of it and scored a 4 to win the match for the Hillers!
Going into the Christmas break, the Hillers are third on the ladder!
Our virtual CHiCCken overwhelmingly went to Rex, for her 3/10 and 42 runs, plus of course the magnificent catch! Credit does also have to be given to team player/osteo Rach, who worked her magic on Rex’s arm after training on Wednesday.
Men’s 3rd XI
Harro’s Heroes headed over to Fairlea West to host Monash and Harro {cut-and-paste} lost the toss and we bowled first. It was a good toss to lose, because Monash were 6/36 in the blink of an eye. They recovered to make 90 but the damage had already been done thanks to our gun bowlers Fletch (Luke Fletcher 3/8 off 7), the Tulkinator (Matty Tulk, 3/11 off 6), Dave Burgess (2/14 off 7), Boggle (Declan Niere, 1/15 off 6.2) and Nails (Jesse Parlane, 1/20 off 7).
In the chase we lost just the one wicket, Farnsey (James Allen) making 20, before Zac Wilson (47 not out) and Fletch (16 no) took us to victory.
A nice way to head into the break, the win leaving us in the top four going into Christmas.
The CHiCCken: For his three-for and 16 not out, Fletch gets the Virtual Chicken.
Men’s 4th XI
Nelson’s Knuckleheads had to endure another home game on Fairlea East, the ground we all love to hate, but they got the job done. Heathmont won the toss and wicket started to fall quickly thanks to Joel Clark (2/38 off 7) and a retired hurt. Then Toughy (Jarrod Tough, 3/27 off 8) and Empty (Andrew Lanning, 3/1 off 3) tore through the rest to dismiss Heathmont for 135.
We lost Rhino (Luke Ryan) for a duck early in the chase, but then, ETAC (Eddie Chiroiu, 43) — who it is rumoured actually played some batsmanlike shots through the offside), Cal Behmer (52 retired) and Roadie (Ian Roadnight, 30 no) took us to a big win, which has us in second place on the ladder!
Cal Behmer is BACK IN TOWN gets the CHiCCken for his unbeated 52.
Men’s 5th XI
The 5s were coming off three wins in a row as they headed out to Freeway Reserve to take on the top side, Glen Waverley Cougars. (I don’t know where Freeway Reserve is, but I hope it’s like it sounds, in the green strip of grass in the middle of a freeway somewhere.)
M Jones Senior continued his stellar batting form, making 77, and with good support from Jacko (Simon Jackson 29) and Stan Kroenert (15), we made a respectable 6/167 off our 35 overs.
The chase went down to wire, but despite a wicket each to Jonesy and Daylon Seakins, the Cougars got over the line with a few balls to spare. A bit of a bummer, but we are in outright second place going into the break!
Jonesy gets a well-deserved CHiCCken for his 77 and a wicket.
Men’s 6th XI
After our breakthrough win last week, we headed out to Balwyn to take on Deepdene Uniting. I won the toss (that’s four out of five, Harro) and we had a bat. Jim Entwisle backed up his retired 50 with another retired 50 this week (so technically he’s made a ton!) but apart from Jeff Burstin (9) who partnered Jim in an opening stand of 29, and Jason ‘the Comeback’ King (18), our batting left a lot to be desired and we were rolled for just 103.
There was great bowling from all when Deepdene batted — Will Fiddes* 1/17 off 5, me 0/12 off 7, Jason King 0/17 off 6 — but with not enough runs on the board from us, they got home comfortably.
The CHiCCken: Unlucky not to get it last week James E gets it this week for a second consecutive 50.
*Incidentally I gave Will Fiddes out LBW but I am reliably informed by all my teammates I got it wrong.
Thomas Robinson, circa 2073
T-Rob showed great maturity with the bat in Round 6.
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
Jonesy Senior is probably a bit stiff to miss out but T-Rob gets the Round 6 Tom Bellis for his brilliant 69.
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