Tim Ludeman, ex-SA keeper and Warrnambool native, is back at Nestles too, and his brother, Terry (I suspect twin) was playing in their magoos Saturday. Made a brisk 47 opening.
For some bizarre reason, our league got rid of permits bring required after Xmas to drop a grade.
With a game to go, our 1s are locked in to finish 3rd and our 2s are sitting 4th needing to beat 2nd to make finals.
Do you play your 1st XI in the 2s this week?
1 Like
Yeah a lot of clubs do that. There is an anti-stacking rule in our comp, where players can’t drop down more than one grade in the last 4 weeks of the season without a permit (eg: you can’t drop down from your 1s to your 3s). Our C Grade side, who are sitting 5th, were playing against a side below them and had them 6/27, however the opposition dropped a guy who had played in a higher grade all season. Makes 120 off 70 balls, they make 250-odd and ends up winning that game.
We had a serious testing of the rules in our women’s semi-final yesterday. The lower placed team had 2 pull out with illness on the day, leaving them with 9 players.
They were chasing 133 (30 overs a side)and were 7-105 when the last available bat came in. When the 7th wicket falls, dismissed batters come back, ordered by scores in ascending order, and one of the openers made a duck (got given lbw for 0 and complained it hit her above the pads. Not much help when you’re under 5 foot). Anyhow, number 9 hit the ball hard and got them within 12 or 13 with a couple of overs left and the #3 bat approaching 60 which is compulsory retirement time. Next one to bat is the opener, except that compulsorily retired bats precede them. Normally they would have been retired earlier, but not this time. So the girl with 60 not gets to stay out there and she carried them over the line with 4 balls to spare, with her 70* and the number 9 on 11. The losing team were quite happy with the rule, but a few others are saying “how does she stay out there at 70*”. Confusion did reign for a little while.n
Our comp has a rule that you can only drop one grade. It seems to work well.
Same, but I also think they have a rule you can only drop 2-3 players in 1 week.
That has been the rules in our comp for years but they changed it this season for some reason.
Was the completion of the regular season yesterday and once again we saw the usual last round shenanigans of which I personally witnessed one disgraceful episode. When I was on the association execs we ran a very tight ship and we had eliminated this rubbish from our comp but unfortunately in the last 4 years all of us have left and the folks on there now are just a bunch of weak administrators.
Anyway in Grade 1 our A grade who were sitting second or third all year ended up as minor premiers. The team that sat top all year and were undefeated until Christmas lost 3 of their last 4 and missed finals all together. Top 5 sides were separated by half a win and positions came down to quotients. At 5:15pm yesterday the team that had been top of the table were still in 4th spot but the 5th placed team secured a very dodgy outright in the last few overs of the day and ended up jumping to second. I have spoken to both umps and although they said it was above board it was not in the spirit of cricket and something they frowned upon.
Our B grade is in Grade 3 and finished undefeated top by a long way. I went out and watched them yesterday at home and they knocked the 3rd placed team over for 61 and we were 5/200 at stumps last week. Had a quick tonk yesterday and declared at 6/340. So with 55 overs to play in the day our lads started to warm up to bowl when the skipper came over and said “we’ve had enough and are declaring” Our skipper had a bit of an argument the umps quite rightly said that you can’t declare behind on second innings and rule books had the dust blown off them. In the end their skipper says, “ Oh well we are safe in 3rd so we are forefeiting our second innings” A lot of abuse flying around and almost fisticuffs but let’s see if the weak execs punish them.
Our C grade plays in Grade 4 which is the highest LO grade and yesterday lost the battle of 1v2 which unfortunately dropped them to 3rd but hopefully they respond in the semi.
Our D grade plays in Grade 5 and I do feel sorry them as being our lowest side they are affected by injuries, illness etc the most and most of the other teams in their grade are B or C grade teams so have some pretty handy Grade 1 and Grade 2 cricketers playing. They had only won once before Christmas and were bottom but won their last 6 straight including 4 wins against the top 2 sides. In the end they missed finals by half a win
I have always thought the last game of the season should be a one dayer which would stop the manufactured results.
We were 4th a few years ago and 5th and 6th were 2 points behind and playing against each other in the last round. The teams agreed to just bat 40 overs each and make it a 4 innings match basically guaranteeing one of them would win outright. We won but missed out on finals due to 5th winning outright.
Our women’s grade played today. 30 overs a side.
Hawkesdale (the top side) won the toss and batted and were 4/138
They covered the deck and went to tea, but the rain never let up.
Unfortunate for Allansford-Panmure who didn’t get a chance to reply, but that’s the way it is.
Hawkesdale hadn’t got past the semis before only lost the first game of the year and, unlike previous years when their star player had been taken off them for football duties with the Rebels, she batted today and retired at 63.
Our 7 game winning streak ended yesterday. Had a very undermanned team, both our opening bowlers not available and 3 of our best bats also out for varying reasons. I’m still recovering from injury, was very frustrating sitting on the sidelines watching your team get done. Started running again, albeit just straight line and at about 60% pace. Will have a bat at training this week and see how we go. Two more games left before finals.
1 Like
Weather caused all sorts this weekend for the semis.
No play yesterday at any ground and expected rain today was worse than yesterday but it mostly didn’t eventuate.
Our U14’s and C grade were at the same venue which is on the outer fringes of our comp but unfortunately that part of the state copped some of the heaviest rains and no play possible for either day. As both teams were the lower ranked side they were eleiminated.
Our B grade were undefeated on top and when I went to their venue for the start of the play the pitch looked borderline unplayable and a tad dangerous. The opposition skipper obviously wanting to play was borderline harassing the umps to get play started against the wishes of most sane people including our skipper. The umps relented and we won the toss and sent them in. Had them 2/6 after 3 overs with both batsman hit a few times and clearly dangerous. We kept the bumper barrage going and hit them a few more times before some light drizzle ended play at 2/12 in the 11th. A large rain band hit about 15 minutes later and game abandoned.
Our A grade hosted the 4th placed team and whilst the deck was a bit tough it was still safe and with some hard work runs were possible. They won the toss and batted and after losing a couple of quick ones they settled and at the break they were 4/76 with their young skipper on 42. After the break he fell and no other player reached double figures to see them rolled for 102.
Our openers put on 72 which was their 7th 50+ run plus opening partnership of the season. We lost 3 quick wickets with under 20 to get but still won comfortably
We will host the A grade GF but would be underdogs IMO
2 Likes
Saturday went through without interruption.
The U/17 boys final was reduced to 30 overs a side, rather than 45, but went through. low scores though. U/13 boys played through the rain.
We were told to expect 35mm yesterday and 20mm today. Got 4-5mm yesterday and all the rain has moved east.
1 Like
We made very hard work of what should’ve been a routine run chase on the weekend. I came back a week earlier than anticipated because of a number of unavailabilties in the higher grades. Won the toss and decided to bowl first on a green wicket. It offered plenty of assistance and it meant they never really got going. In the end they posted 8/128 off their 40 overs.
In response we made 60 for our opening partnership at around 4 runs an over, so it looked as if we would do it in a canter. However once both openers were dismissed in quick succession (me included, out for 24 spooningone to cover that held up on me), it became a lot harder for the batters coming in. Wickets fell at regular intervals, we struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking and with 2 overs left we need 15 runs with 2 wickets in hand. It became 9 to tie, 10 to win in the last over.
With 6 to win (5 to tie) off the last ball, I was asked if I backed our resident #10 to clear the boundary and win us the game. I said our only chance is a no-ball 4. And that’s exactly what happened! A full toss over waist height was pulled to the boundary behind square leg, so scored tied with one ball left. A top-edged cut over gully got us home. Mad game, important to win and just about lock in 2nd. Only an extremely heavy defeat and 3rd winning their final game would displace us from the double chance.
PS: I may have re-injured in coming back earlier than I should’ve. Will be touch and go this week.
1 Like
Finals started today.
I was doing Div 2 1st vs 4th, Port Fairy vs Warrnambool. There was no rain in the forecasts but when I left to go to the game, my car was wet.
Got to the ground just after both teams got there and the pitch was well covered and it was drizzling. Rain stopped about 12.35 and we started at 1.00 reducing the game by 5 overs each. Rain started again but not hard enough to come off. When it got heavier, we stopped for drinks thinking we’d be coming off but rain stopped there and then.
Two experienced left-handers got it to near 100 one down and they got to 163.
We were 45 minutes late but acceptable, since towels needed to dry the ball repeatedly.
Warrnambool’s left-handed Sri Lankan opener got out very early. He’s been brutal lately making quick 70s. They got to about 4-65 but fell away with Port’s offie, who’d spent his junior years with Warrnambool, took 3-9 and it was all but over.
Absolute disaster of a weekend for the club and I had to leave before I said the wrong thing.
The B grade finished top undefeated and had their opponents 6/11 and then 7/22 until the skipper showed complete hubris and let them back into the game with the bowling changes including bringing himself on to chase glory. In the end one partnership got them to 147 and we made just the 87 in reply.
The skipper will be relieved of his duties when the committee meets tomorrow
The A’s were always underdogs but this one hurt. Their gun marquee opener showed why he is pad $25k season as when he was dismissed for 54 they were 2/56. After that we bowled well and held them to 127. We were 3/57 at stumps and got rolled for 99 today.
All 11 players are our products of our junior system and 7 of them are under 23 compared to the opposition who have 8 imports and spend near on $60k each year but that’s why they are back to back premiers
We finished the regular season 2nd after a routine win against bottom. Chased 133 2 down with 20 overs left. I missed this game as I aggravated the hip flexor injury by playing the previous week. We basically couldn’t be displaced from 2nd spot so decided to rest and be right for the first final next week.
2 grand finals settled on the weekend. The one I did, the top side capitulated and all out 59 40 minutes before tea. One bloke patrolled cow corner with aplomb, taking 3 catches plus a return catch. His brother took 2 wickets, a catch and made 28* in quick time. They had two “father and 2 sons” combinations.
Lots of low scores. In the top grade Nestles made 190 with former SA keeper, Tim Ludeman, making 103. However, Dennington’s phalanx of Sri Lankan bats ran it down with little difficulty. Top side Allansford-Panmure made 9/320 Saturday and bowled Mortlake out for 79.
Allanford’s twos thrashed Spring Creek’s 50-odd and Hawkesdale smashed Koroit’s 50, with Koroit attempting a reverse outright but nowhere near successful.
Div 2, Russell Creek’s 91 was enough for Port Fairy’s 84. Div 3, Port’s 65 pipped Wangoom’s 59 and Dennington smashed Allansford’s 110 for the loss of only 1 wicket.
I’m done for the season.