Well played McGlade
Not the best of weeks for the club, especially from a Saturday men’s point of view, and a Sunday women’s perspective, BUT both vets sides brought some respectability to the Hillers’ weekend with two brilliant wins!
MEN’S 6TH XI - THE GIGASTARS ARE ON A ROLL
Gigacz’s Gurus of Cricket racked up another win, making it two on the trot and three from four. Our charge up the ladder is on!
We lost the toss and Heathmont chose to bat. Lachie Muraca (1/34) continued his good form with the ball, taking an early wicket but then Heathmont got into a bit of a groove and they were only one down at drinks and scoring well. After drinks, though, our bowlers put the breaks on, especially our favourite ‘death’ bowler (nothing to do with his age) Jeff Burstin (2/17 off 7). Other tight bowlers included Gigs (0/18 off 7 — yay me!), Lou McGlade (0/12 off 4), Ralph Saubern (0/11 off 4), Jules Murone (0/11 off 3) and Craig Mawdsley (0/6 off 2). In the end Heathmont could only muster 6/129, a great fielding effort on Fairlea East.
Jeff Burstin and Lou MGlade got the chase off to a good start, Jeff falling for just 4, but he was part of a solid stand of 22. Then Lou McGlade took control, making his first ever half century! He retired on 50 not out, and Will Fiddes (25), Hugo Northrop (8 no) and Craig (10 no) took us to a very comfortable win!
CHICKEN: It’s Jeff’s Jersey Giant* this week, just reward for his miserly bowling and solid batting at the top of the order.
MEN’S VETS 1ST XI - A VINTAGE PERFORMANCE FROM OUR VINTAGE MEN
The vets headed out to the beautifully picturesque Koonung Reserve to take on top side Bulleen on turf. We lost the toss and bowled and for once I turned the clock back and bowled full and at the stumps. As a result, I managed to find the gaps of two of their top batters and hit the stumps twice (yay me again!), putting Bulleen on the back foot right from the start. From there, the rest of our bowlers did a great job, including Geoff Smith (3/28 off 6), Tony Peake (1/7 off 3), Percy Harrison (1/7 off 2, thanks to a sharp catch from me at 1st slip — see, I can still catch!), Daisy Mobilia (0/7 off 6), and Harro’s mate Myles Harry (0/15 off 6). Off their 36 overs Bulleen finished up on 8/140, at a rate of under four an over.
James Allen began the chase as though he had a plane to catch, taking 13 off the opening over and also the third over, both from the same bowler. He made 26 in no time, and the Ben Bruscella and Myles took us to within sight of victory, both retiring not out on 40-plus. Tony Peake made a solid 16 and then Daisy and my mate Martin Black took us to a comfortable win, Martin hitting the winning runs in just his second game for the Hill.
So bottom beat top and the Vets 1sts are back in town!
CHICKEN: The Sussex* goes to Smith (Geoff) for his 3-for, and the fact that he goes out to umpire every week without being asked.
WOMEN’S 1ST XI - BOBBIE BOWLS BEAUTIFULLY BUT BURGERS BEAT US
Match Report by Rebekah Drake
The women’s first XI made our way out to Pascoe Vale to play Coburg in our second game of the year. Without our fearless captain, Izzy took the reigns and won the toss. We decided to have a bowl first. We welcomed Em for her first game for the Hillers!
The bowlers were again impressive, heavily restricting the Coburg batters. The first breakthrough came in the eighth over, when Amy got a wicket clean bowled. From there, wickets fell consistently, with our bowlers trying to share it around to ensure every bowler got a wicket. This even included Bobbie, who managed to get a wicket in her first time bowling for the season (clean bowled, mind you). Charlotte was phenomenal, taking 5 catches as wicket keeper. Rach kept the energy up in the field, including a catch of her own, as nothing went past Johnno or Vovo. We managed to restrict Coburg to 94 off the 36 overs.
Figures sensational as always:
Handsy 3/20 off 9
Junior 2/22 off 8
Amy 1/8 off 7
Rex 1/22 off 5
Izzy 1/11 off 4
Bobbie 1/7 off 3
Unfortunately, our batting innings did not start well, with Rex bowled out without troubling the scorers. Once we lost Izzy and Charlotte in quick succession, we were in a bit of trouble. Handsy and Bobbie put together a partnership to bring some stability back to the innings, however the scoring was slow. After Bobbie got bowled in the fifteenth over, Rach came in and provided some fireworks, including her first ever boundary. Handsy and Rach upped the run rate and we looked back in the game. Once Rach got out, the wickets weren’t falling in clusters, however were still falling consistently. Once Amy was in, she hung around for a while until we ended up with Junior and first gamer Em in at the end. Junior was calm at the crease and helped Em to her first runs. We did not end up with enough, all out for 67.
CHICKEN: Our virtual chicken goes to Handsy, for her three wickets and top score of 11 with the bat!
MEN’S 1ST XI - STINGER MANAGES TO LINGER BUT THE HILL COME AWAY WITH NIL
The Ones were at home to Boroondara, who won the toss and batted. In an excellent bowling performance, we took regular wickets and Boroondara could only compile 8/135 in their 40 overs. Best of the bowlers included Benny Levens (3/23 off 7), Malty Lynas (2/33 off 8), Monty Stuart (a phenomenal 1/8 off 8), Eamonn Scott (1/35 off 8) and Sammy ‘Stinger’ Barrett (0/27 off 8).
Our chase started off well enough, with T-Rob (11) putting on 26 with Malty (28) for the first wicket, but things went downhill from there. A run of wickets was followed by two dodgy run outs, and we were under the pump. Stinger (28 no) did his best to get us back on track but he ran out of partners as collapsed to be 116 all out, despite a good effort from DOC (15).
CHICKEN: The Delaware* goes to Douglas (Monty) for his brilliant bowling spell.
MEN’S 2ND XI - THE SECONDS COME SECOND
The Men’s Seconds did indeed come second, which is not a bad feat in the Melbourne Cup but not a great win in a cricket match between two teams.
Wortho won the toss and bowled, looking to keep his 100% strike rate as captain intact, and, as he does so often, Lanno (Az Lanning) took an early pole. From there, though, West Ivanhoe’s batters got on top, finishing on 4/192 off 40, despite Lanno’s 3/31 off 8, and Jamie Holton’s 0/24 off 8.
After we lost Wortho early, Hugh Ingham (18) and Miles Nelson (48) took us to 1/60 but the wickets fell a bit too regularly after that, and we were all out for 161.
CHICKEN: The Minorca* goes to Miles for his fine 48.
VETS 2ND XI - A RUN FEAST AT FAIRLEA EAST
Match Report by the older M. Jones
The great fellas from Mt Waverley put us into bat.
5/323 off 36 overs:
Five retired in our top six:
Jones 43 before the change of ends
Harris ‘turtle’ 41 waited till drinks
Stan 31 - what happened?
Perry 41
Blaikie 41
Kelly 42
Ferraro 28.
Mt Waverley 7/237 off 36 overs:
All ten bowlers did a good job Stanton (1/19 off 6)
Tucci (1/25 off 6)
Pete (1/43 off 6)
Belly (1/15 off 2) and an amazing run out, many awesome stops and a classic catch!!!!
Also great effort from our two new players Kettels and Liddy who took up the challenge of 'having fun and have a go'!
Great team effort a total team contribution.
CHICKEN: The Hamburg* goes to Harris (Craig) for his patient 41.
WOMEN’S 2ND XI - DOC DELIVERS - RAZZLE ROBBED!
Match Report by Sarah Catterwell
The 2nd XI took on “The Burgers” at home on Sunday. With Razzle losing the toss we were sent in to bat (which worked out well as that’s what Razzle wanted to pick had she won the toss anyway).
We lost a couple of early wickets but Razzle and Doc steadied the ship, seeing off some of Coburg’s better bowlers. Razzle was filthy when given out caught behind, given how much daylight there was between bat and ball. Doc was solid throughout the innings picking her shots wisely. Welly on the other hand who had a bung ankle, had no other options than to hit boundaries with a quick fire 22. We ended up on 5/113 and most importantly we were abble to bat out the 36 overs.
Razzle and Trina took early wickets, both courtesy of some great glove work by B2. Our fielding was top notch, in particular by Navy on the boundary who definitely clocked up some miles in the legs. The game was in the balance all day and with a flurry of late wickets and a great run out by Trina we could smell victory.
However, unfortunately a smell was all it would turn out to be with The Burgers chasing down our total with a couple of overs to spare. All in all it was a great game and we took a massive step in being able to bat out our 36 overs for the first time.
Batting
The Doc 33*
Bec 22*
Razzle 15
Bowling
Razzle 2/18 off 9
Doc 0/36 off 9
Trina 2/14 off 3
Mum 0/25 off 5
Catters 1/21 off 6
CHICKEN: MVP this week goes to The Doc, who practicality carried her bat, coming in during the third over and finishing not out on 33.
MEN’S 3RD XI - THIRDS FALL SHORT BY SEVEN, COULD’VE USED MICHAEL BEVAN
The Threes took on the Victorian Cavaliers at a ground far, far away, and we weren’t far away from victory, but didn’t quite get there. The Cavaliers batted first and they were three down for not many thanks to some fine bowling from Dave Burgess (3/30 off 8). Dave was well backed up by Anth Johnson (2/27 off 8), Jarrod Tough (2/33 off 8) and Joel Clark (1/24 off 6) as VC made it to 156 in their 40 overs.
157 should have been gettable and looked to be just that for much of the chase, thanks to Captain Harro (37), LOC (Liam O’Connor, 28), Mr Tulk (26) and James Allen (18) but we somehow managed to stuff it up towards the end, rolled for 149 to finish seven runs short.
CHICKEN: It’s Burgo’s Buckeye!* Dave Burgess gets the chicken for his three wickets, a catch and a run out.
MEN’S 4TH XI - PRESIDENT MAKES 43, AVOIDS IMPEACHMENT
The 4s went out to Lum Reserve to take on Glen Waverley, and we bowled first after Gaz lost the toss. Unfortunately we lost Kool J (L. Elmore) after just one ball, when he rolled his ankle, and then later also had Cal Behmer suffer a quad injury. But we soldiered on and GW finished on 5/193 after their 40 overs. Jim Entwisle, who’s been starring with the bat in the 6s, took 2/27 off 5 overs, and he was well backed up by Roadie (Ian Roadnight, 1/18 off 6), Rhino (Luke Ryan, 1/22 off 4.5) and The Girv (Roy Girvan, 1/43 off 8).
Wickets fell a bit too regularly when we batted and, despite good efforts from The Pres (Adam Lewis, 43), Roadie (24), and the injured Cal Behmer (20). On the positive side nobody made a duck but also no one went on with the job with that bat, and we finished on 9/164, 30 runs short of the win.
CHICKEN: The President gets the Polish* for his 43, and by finally making some runs he narrowly avoids impeachment.
MEN’S 5TH XI - SKOBLAR’S SUPERSTARS LAMENT LEAKINESS IN FIELD
Like every other CHCC men’s side on Saturday, the 5s bowled first and looked good for a while. The run rate was well down at drinks but the Trinity Willison upped the pace in the second half of the innings and our boys let a few too many runs leak out, and dropped far too many catches. According to Skipper Skoblar, eight or nine went down, and seven of those should have been taken comfortably (including one by Simon himself, he says). Still, TW’s final total of 4/165 was by no means insurmountable, and there was some excellent bowling from the Cronut (Stan Kroenert, 1/19 off 7), the older Jonesy (2/16 off 4), Daylon Seakins (1/25 off 7) and Jesse Viney (0/15 off 7).
The chase started well, with Jonesy (62) and Jacko (38) putting on 103 for the first wicket. After that, though, things went south, and we could only make 6/137 off our 35 overs.
CHICKEN: The Araucana* goes to Old Man Jones for another great knock and his two wickets.
*Jersey Giant, Sussex, Delaware, Minorca, Hamburg, Buckeye, Polish and Araucana are all breeds of chicken.
T20 TUESDAY - Stumps Fly as Hillers win the local derby
Not content with 10 senior games on the weekend, the Hillers T20 side returned to Rammo on Tuesday evening to host Edinburgh in the Kookaburra Cup. We batted first and, led by Eamonn Scott (35) and Hugh Ingham (54 no), made a very good 8/154 in our 20 overs.
In reply Edinburgh lost wickets regularly, nine of them by the end. Incredibly all nine fell by way of the stumps, with three being bowled and an incredible six being run out! Several of those were direct hits, including one each from Benny Levins and Lou Burstin. Edbinurgh finished on 9/116, giving us a big win!
LADDER LOWDOWN
The undefeated Men’s Vets 2nds are on top of the Div 7 ladder, while the Men’s 2s and 5s, and the Vets 1sts are all in the four. Everyone else — there’s still time!
THE TOM BELLIS AWARD
BRIGHT BOY WINS THE BELLIS
And by “Bright boy”, I don’t mean that Lou McGlade is bright, I mean that he now lives in Bright. Having said that, he is a a bright boy, and his bright batting in the 6s got him his first-ever 50 and the Tom Bellis award!