Did 3 years from 1998 to 2001 in the CMCA (now SECA) then went back to doing the scoring for my old club until i moved to Aberfeldie.
Some of the other umpires fair dinkum gave me the shitts. And the first umpires advisor, John Quiney (Rob’s dad) gave it away because of illness and a ■■■■■■ took over.
2-dayers are hosting Strathmore Heights at home and off 80 overs made 294. Wicketkeeper Luke Lee Tet made 124.
1 dayers were at Avondale Heights. We batted first and made 219 on a ground that is normally a soccer pitch. Hence very small boundaries. Our normal 2 day captain Ben Storer made 100 and our 1 day captain Mark McKay made 65.
Amazing what happens when 9 of your registered players make themselves unavailable. Our one day side has had to forfeit (after finishing the previous round on top on percentage).
Quite day for our club today. Only 2 of the decks in the whole association got up today after all the rain meaning our Firsts and seconds get the week off. Thirds are on hard wicket so get to play.
A lot of local cricket washed out today in the south-west.
I had West Warrnambool (again) against Port Fairy at Brauer College today. First game. For me that the team batting second has gone past 20 overs in chasing down the target. This went into over 38.
After the first wicket fell, one of the guys threw the ball to me when I didn’t expect. Cricket ball right between the eyes. Drew blood, but concussion schmencussion. Soldiered on without even crying.
Filled in for our thirds again yesterday and got up by 1 run. Our thirds play in the one day comp and despite going off several times due to heavy rain we managed to get the full 80 overs in, didn’t finish until 7:05pm mind you.
We made 7/198 with our skipper making 65no and a few others chipping in. I only made 26 batting at 5. We restricted them somehow to 6/197 after they only needed 18 off the final 4 overs.
Big day for the club with all 3 senior grades and all juniors winning. The twos made 6/177 and then skittled the opposition for 139 after being 1/121 and our ones rolled their opponents for 48 and got there 5 down. Both games were one dayers after last week was abandoned
A day of a bit of controversy yesterday in what was a pasting. Opposite the Botanic Gardens in Warrnambool on a very warm day, home team made 8/209
Away team lost 4 wickets for 25 in the first 25 balls, but the 25th ball got lost underneath the adjacent school. Not that far in but far enough that it would take 15 minutes and a few tools to get it back. We swapped it with a ball that was in excellent condition but about 20 overs old.
Didn’t stop the two opening bowlers and they cleaned up another 3 or 4 wickets in the next 2 overs, pretty much all bowled or lbw by fast yorkers. Captain got skittled first ball and wasn’t happy that he found the ball too dark. All out for 40 in 11 overs.
They retrieved the lost ball with a couple of brooms, and ironically it was quite a bit darker than the replacement ball.
Today’s game was graced by the presence of former Essendon and Collingwood player and current Collingwood vice-president Ian McMullin. In his 50s and with a schnoz that’s done a Pete Murray (Seen Better Days), you could tell he’d played good cricket with 69. Apparently has a holiday house in Port Fairy.
Port made 8/228 off their 40 with current footballer, Kane Mercovich tonning up.
Dennington’s captain was a 1sts bowler who has a bad back, so just opened the batting in the 3’s. He made 73 out of 8/197, and we finished half an hour ahead of schedule.
Ground was pretty small, and every time the ball passed the boundary, fieldsmen were told to watch for snakes.
Back playing after missing a game and back in the 3rds. We batted yesterday and I was in early. I was feeling pretty good until I hit a full toss to a fielder. Only got 8. We were 9/130 with 20 overs to go. The last wicket put on 67 and we ended up with 197. On a big slowish ground it is a pretty good score
Batted first last week and we made 188, about 50-60 below par on what was a belter of a pitch and batter friendly conditions. I got 10, so my scores this year are 11, 11, 10, 17*, 10. Double figures every game and haven’t kicked on with any of them. Very frustrating! We had 11 overs at them before stumps and they were 2/34, so evenly poised.
Yesterday they got off to a bit of a flyer, scoring at over 4 an over. We took the first wicket of the day at 75 but they put on a good, but somewhat fortuitous partnership. They chanced their arm and got away with some streaky shots and were cruising along at 3/149 before we broke that partnership. What followed was some of the best bowling and fielding you’ll see with not many runs to play with. We ground them down and took 7/36 in all to win by 3 runs. The last wicket took a while to fall with 5 straight maidens before a simple chance was snaffled at short cover. We remain unbeaten and top of the table with 2 one dayers to round out the pre-Xmas period.
Reminds me of my club, which I’d been part of for 20 years. Country club that used to be the most social, easy going and inclusive set up. Winning was secondary and some of the club nights where the best memories of my life. No sleazy stuff like strippers, girls getting hit on, hard drugs etc. a bit of pot here and there. There where a few fights but it was usually that country version of mates trying to knock each other’s block off for a laugh.
No need for a no dickheads policy as we just didn’t get any, and any one kind of near that description soon assimilated. Our nickname was the magpies, we played in black and white our song was the Collingwood one but I didn’t give a ■■■■.
Everyone was close and it was as beautiful as it could get. No one got paid.
Until one day someone decided we needed flags, and the whole philosophy changed to if you can play you’re in. And here’s some money. Mercenaries, who are generally only out for them selves, popped up everywhere. Most of the blokes that made the club what it was left. They played in 4 grand finals. Lost every one of them.
Never the same.
We got 40 minutes play until the ■■■ fell out of the sky. Within 10 minutes the pitch and outfield were under water. That was the end of the day for us. Had to hang around for an hour until the rain had eased enough so we could go and get the stumps.