Cricket for 2022 has now finished but what a great start to the season for MPCC! We have seen some impressive team and individual performances already, and some amazing club milestone's.. (More to come!). Cricket will resume for all teams on January 14th so keep an eye out in the new year for the draws and teams selections! Enjoy this report as there is plenty to read. 

A quick thanks from myself - Taking on this role after all the amazing work Ross Patterson did over the past 15 or more years, I knew this role wouldn't be easy and well if I'm being honest It has been f***ing hard!! However while we are all learning I would like to thank the club and all captains/players for all their efforts in making things run smoothly, with a huge  special mention to Michael Beattie for the help with club stats. 

Cheers Matt Wilcock

From the President.. Dear All, Another year is coming to an end and it's time to unwind, relax, and ring in the new year with friends and family. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members, patrons, sponsors and well-wishers for making it yet another fantastic year for the club. 

Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year to everyone! I certainly hope that the celebrations have already begun and keep going into 2023!

Looking forward to another fantastic year with all of you!

Cheers Ranjith Rangarajan

From the coaches corner.. As I reflect on the first half of the season, the Champs team is second on the table and Division 1 is a languishing a bit lower. I would like to apologize to the Division 1 side as most of my time on Saturdays has been spent with top side and I will endeavor to do better. But it also makes me think about this role not being a one person job?? A question to answer as I do proposals for how to take the club forward!! That's for a later edition. 

Division 1 has in the last few weeks shown an incredible improvement in team spirit. The performances has not been to our high standards, but I hope all of you will reflect on last 3 months, and come back in January with new goals, new energy and a huge support for Chris and Ben who are leading this team. 

What do I say about the Championship team? I'm over the moon after Saturdays win against OBC. The lads finished a job well done. We know it wasn't a flawless performance, but we surely know where we made mistakes. It's minimizing those mistakes going forward and holding your head up high if you recover from making those mistakes! It's not about falling off the horse....it's how we recover. 

I've not done a lot of technical work with all of you. I genuinely think we need to improve our mental toughness and bloody mindedness and then we can tweak some of our techniques. Going into January....our trainings will change. On a Tuesday, warm up routines will change and then we will go into competitive pods for our sessions. This will be explained on first Tuesday back. For this to work, we need numbers to be like it was at the start. Please let Matt, Chris or myself know if you can't make it. This will help us with planning.

Cheers Mario Williams

President caps were handed out to the 3 gentleman below by club patrons Ray and Chris, who deserved these a long time ago but on Saturday while all 3 were selected for our Division 3 side were finally honored for their commitment to the presidents grade over the years and we now recognize them for their incredible contributions. Stats below.. 

Glen Bellam - 122 matches, 2194 runs at 30.90 with 11 fifties and a top score of 95. 240 wickets at 9.50 (Jeepers that is outstanding!!) with 6 five wicket hauls and a best of 5/4!

Jamie O'Connor - 104 matches, 3087 runs at 40.62 with 18 fifties and 4 hundred's, best of 134*. 71 wickets at 22.23 with 1 five wicket haul, best bowling 5/24.

Ross Hastings - 73 matches, 1436 runs at 23.16 with 7 fifties and 1 hundred, best of 106*.  71 wickets at 11.56 with 5 five wickets hauls and a best of 6/23. 

Cheers Ray and Chris Pitcher. 

MPCC Xmas party 2.0 at The Brewers Merivale! Please get down and support not only our club but one of our major sponsors! Thursday 22nd December from 5pm. $40 per person which includes food and 3 drink tickets!

Please RSVP to luke@lsp2020.co.nz ASAP

Match Reports from Saturday 17th December ..

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs OBC @ Edgar Mac 1 (1DAY)

A lovely day at Edgar mac, started with Jake winning the toss and choosing to bowl first. Sam and Jake opening the bowling with tight few overs. Sam getting prize scalp of Scott. They knuckled down and got through a tough patch of bowling. Wickets started to fall regularly with runs being tough to come come by. At 5-117 a good partnership applied by their lower order. Took them to a total of 213/7 off their 50 overs Thinking that was a very chaseable target. We started off with Harrison playing some good shots. The first wicket of Aaron Chapman saw Teddy joining Harrison. The lads got into their work and put on a great partnership of about 130. Both playing some beautiful cricket shots. Harrison departing after some bad calling and being run out for 61. Teddy carried on his work and kept chipping away to the 3 figures. A couple of quick wickets off Luke and then unfortunately Ted got a good ball to dismiss him for 95. Then Lewis spooning one to mid on. Bert and Rory took it deep and a few tight overs. A couple of loose balls with Rory and bert punishing them to carry us over the line with 5 wickets in hand. A good win to take into Christmas. I wish everyone a good Christmas and new years and look for to seeing everyone in the new year.

Cheers Aaron Chapman

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs Heathcote @ Bishopdale Park (1DAY)

“Best pitch in Christchurch, Thanks dakesy“ Nice weather for game. Again skip lost the toss and we was in for batting. Before game we agree 125 will be good score to defend. Michel and Joel open the bat. Michel fall short 100 run for his first hundred for club. Ben gill join the crease and was in hurry to eat croissant that’s he bring from Paris on Wednesday. Then comet joined the party. Really nice partnership between Joel and comet But Joel was unlucky to knock ball on stump. Abby join the crease for last time And put on a much needed partnership with comet. Abby was next man to go Pavilion. After few over comet complete his 50 and go to pavilion. Not long we all out 139 in 42.5 overs. 139 was good total to defend. We started well Heathcote was 4-2 in two over. Than we bowled some lose to inderjit and he took away from us. Comet Xmas wish came early. He balled one over for 10. Main event of the day from Kyle Sloane's catch on boundary and flexing after bomb. Well we will be back stronger after Xmas. Man of match for is Michel Beattie for his duck, lateness and fielding with out shoes half of the match. Merry Christmas See you next year 

Cheers Mintu Singh

MP BBS Timbers Division 3 vs Riccarton @ Yaldhurst Domain

On Saturday we arrived at an unknown ground “Yaldhurst Domain” and for most, it was the first time playing here. Well to be fair it is a ground that should be used more often with it's scenic surroundings including planes flying above, lush outfield and a lamp post 5 meters inside the boundary line! 

After arriving late and inspecting the pitch (Also Listening to Nana) the pitch looked to be rubbish, grass was long and the weeds were glowing. I lost the toss and would have bowled first so much to my surprise, when Riccarton chose to bat first I was a little confused.. However after some chat it turns out Riccarton played at Nunweek Park last week so I guess this pitch must have been gold for them! Riccarton had the speaker cranking and were in party mode most of the day which is great to see and made the day more enjoyable.

Before we went out onto the park Mario William's had organized the president caps secretly during the week and so we had a team huddle and cap session presented by Ray and Chris, With John Costello also in support and Riccarton were ok with us delaying the start of the game. Special moment for all to be apart off!

With Princely arriving late - John Costello sub-Fielded for 1 over saving a certain boundary, but when Princely arrived John didn't want to leave the field so then embarked on a journey of poo picking! The amount of dog poo? on the ground was bit of a shame so thank you John! I opened the attack with myself and North West player Alex MacLennan and while we didn't bowl badly, Riccarton come out quite aggressive and a lot of shots just missed or went over the head of our fielder's heads with Alex creating plenty of chances. 

Change bowlers Nana and Max bowled very well which created a fantastic run out by Hemanshu of arguably their best batsmen for just 26 runs which then seen a small collapse leaving Riccarton 5 for 114 but unfortunately their number 6 (57 from 52) and number 7 (52 from 34) had different idea's. While some of their shot making was “Crazy and very lucky” they also hit some very good boundaries sending our fielders searching for the ball on many occasions. 

Slow bowling seemed the theme of the day and while Glen Bellam bowled very well without any luck, Ross Hastings and Jamie O'Connor were the pick of the bowlers with Jamie finishing 5 overs 1 for 13 and Riccarton finishing 210 for 6. 

After some tough performance's with the bat I felt this was probably the strongest batting line up we had so far this season so I opened with Hemanshu and Ranjith with Ash Reddy at 3. Ranjith and Hemanshu fell early, followed by Princely. Bellsy joined Ash and a little partnership formed with Bellsy playing some excellent cover drives. Mario, Jamie, Max and Ross didnt last long with Ash 29, Bellsy 15 and Matt 11 the only 3 to reach double figures as we were rolled for 91. 

Not a great first half of season for us but we will arrive January 14th ready to go against a classy Richmond side and look to improve on past performances. 

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Fantastic New Years with your families. 

Cheers Matt Wilcock

MP Frame'n'Copy Panthers vs Prebbleton @ Prebbleton Domain 1

On a fine day with green pitch @ Prebbleton domain, Panthers lost the toss and were put to field by the home team. We started off well with Andy Anderson and Roger Moore, there figures were 4 overs 2-7 and 5 overs 1-15 respectively. With not so great start for the hosts, the pressure kept mounting on them with Andy Richards and Adam Gonion bowling tight lines and picking up wickets at regular intervals. By drinks break the score was 64-6, and opposition captain was looking solid at one end with his 35 not out.

 Straight away after drinks spin was introduced and Ronnie Khuu was amongst the wickets from his second ball, this came after being hit for a boundary on the first one though. On the other end, Nick Kirk turned the tables by taking 2 in 2, which unfortunately, did not convert into hatrik again! (He was in similar position in 1st game of the season). The opposition’s final score was 76-10 in 23 overs.

This got Panthers into action, and knowing that these small total chase can be tricky, opening partner’s skipper and ex-skipper started the proceedings cautiously. But unfortunately after the knock of 15 with 2 boundaries Andy R was cleaned up with a beauty of an outie. Soon after Sunnie and Daksey came back too, the score at this stage was 37-3. With 40 more runs needed enters Roger ‘the’ Moore who stood his ground and scored clinical 23 including 4 four’s (1 of which was a reverse sweep), Nick Kirk and Deano finished the chase with 5 runs to go at the end of 21 overs.

 Thanks for reading this report. A good win for Panthers and ideal way to get into break with some confidence after few back to back losses. You may not hear from the writer for a while as heads away on travel but he wishes you good luck for the new years and thereafter.

Go Panthers!

 Cheers Sunnie Gogia

MP Geeks on Wheels vs Southbrook Blue @ Edgar Mac 2

Last game of 2022, and Geeks on Wheels were up against Southbrook Blue at our spiritual home, Edgar Mac 2. A lovely day it was, the pitch looked good and the outfield fast, so it was a toss we didn't want to lose. Sammy G duly obliged by not screwing it up, and put us in to bat.

Alan and Thomas opened up, and Southbrook immediately showed why they were known more as a bowling side than a batting one. Their opening bowlers bowled with accuracy and good pace, and unfortunately the pitch didn't play as true as appearances would have implied, with a fair amount of variable bounce. Alan was out pretty early for 8, and I didn't last much longer before departing for 7. Harry was out for a blob, leaving us a bit precarious @ 3/21 when Karim strode out to the middle. In typical Karim fashion he decided attack was the best form of defense and swung his willow with great vigour. Thomas and Karim proceeded to resurrect the innings with a 63 run partnership, getting us through to 84 before Karim was bowled for a fine 32.

Thomas batted on.

Ritwik couldn't duplicate his previous week's form and was gone second ball for 0, and Sammy G didn't hang round long before departing for 8, and things were again looking a little shaky @ 6/98.

But Thomas batted on.

With Nitissh joining him for another innings saving partnership of 87 in rapid fashion, before Nithissh was out for a better-than-a-run-a-ball 37, leaving us 7/185.

And Thomas continued batting.

Pratik was bowled for 8, and Thomas and Dave (0*) saw us through to the end of the 40 overs. 8/195 - considering our shaky start, and a couple of nervous patches throughout, this was a very good total, helped by the fact they only had 10 players. One that was based on a superb 85* from Thomas, who carried his bat for the innings. His highest ever score, and our first 50 for the season. Well done that man!

So Southbrook needed 196 to win, and they started off with intent (but not much in the way of technique). While their methods were pretty agricultural, the result was effective, with Sam and Nithissh coming in for some real punishment - Nithissh especially. Southbrook were going at better than 9 an over before Sammy finally made the breakthrough, 1/30. From that point on they lost regular wickets, while still scoring at a reasonable rate (albeit not as high as the initial overs). Sammy removed the top 3 batsmen, leaving them 3/59. David came on and got the 4th while on the same score, and Ash, at the other end, also got in on the action, reducing them to 5/81.

Just like the Fagradalsfjall eruption, it was essentially the Frosty Ash show from then on. Southbrook's innings collapsed, 6/81, 7/89, 8/108 & 9/108. All out for 108 after 21 overs - a resounding victory by 87 runs. The wickets were shared amongst 3 bowlers, with David the pick @ 3/20 from 7. Sammy turned in 3/20 from 5, and Ash 3/29 from 6. With Nithissh having 0/24 from 3.

An excellent bowling performance was supported by a significant improvement in the field from last week as well, with only one catch going down - Ritwik took 3, and Alan did a fine job behind the stumps (taking over from Thomas after his marathon innings) with 2 catches and a stumping.

A great way to end 2022, leaving us remaining top of table heading into 2023.

Have a very merry and safe Christmas and New Years, everyone. Cheers, Richard.

MP Bombay Tandoor Presidents vs Heathcote tunnel rats @ Hillsborough Domain

MPCC Bombay Tandoor Gold travelled to Hillsborough Domain to take on the Tunnels Rats from Heathcote with an established plan in mind, Humey lost the toss which saw us having a bat first which went against the plan A. Turns out the pitch played worse than it looked with McClimont especially being able to extract a variety of bouncing actions from similar areas so there was no ability to play with confidence early on. Simon and Rob headed our batting effort against Scott and Cam with a sedate opening partnership before Bell (3) walked past an innocuous McEwan ball to be stumped by Shay in the fourth over. Rob had a change of glasses, was able to see the ball and proceeded to middle a couple with Humey. Unfortunately this partnership didn't last nearly as long as we needed when bounce from McClimont accounted for Robbie (9) edging a ball to Keeper Shay to have us 2/13 at the start of the seventh. This bought Pickle to the crease who saw out the rest of the over in a watchful capacity. From this point the batters got into a groove running well and in Hume's case popping a few to and over the boundary. Then, when the partnership had reached 50 in 9 overs, disaster struck when a miscommunication had both batters at the same end debating who's call it was and Pickle (18) sacrificing himself to ensure Hume (who was timing it better) stayed in, 64/3. Mike Stocker making his debut for the team (and called out of retirement) partnered up with Hume for a mini collaboration which consisted of 2 x 2, 1 x 4 and 1 x 6, before Hume picked out Chopper on the boundary off the bowling of change bowler Poole to fall for 38, team score still a respectable 78/4 at the end of the 18th. Unfortunately we ran into a brick wall when Steeman was knocked over by Poole without scoring, Mike missing a straight ball to be bowled by Stewart for 8 and then two more going down on the same score (82), Mendis (0) adjudged LBW and Kapralos (0) being the victim of a debacle of a yes call, run out by half a pitch. Kokiri in to steady the ship was a rock but the wickets kept tumbling at the other end. Mayo nicking off for 6, Shay claiming a good catch behind the stumps and Skudz trapped in front, leaving Frankie isolated on 7* and our team effort curtailed at 94. Stewart being the recipient of most of the spoils with haul of 7.4/1/23/4. That 16/6 tail end effort threw all the momentum to Heathcote, we figure ourselves to be 30-40 short of a par score and we'd have to break through early to put up any sort of fight...

And that is exactly what had happened. Mendis getting the first wicket second ball when Lambert guided a wide ball to Simon at backward point and walking back to the sideline giving us the start of the start we were after. It was then a case of applying pressure and turning up the heat. We let ourselves down a little with 5 boundaries being taken by McEwan and Spicer over 4 overs which released anything we had managed to build up, that is until Spicer called a tight single that Scott was unable to reply to, being caught short by a good throw from Bell being deflected onto the stumps by Stocker in the role of acting keeper. Scott going back with 21 to his name to be replaced with Inglis. Speaking of replacements, Bell and Stocker switched positions so Mike could get a go with the ball. This gave Bell another go at catching when Pickle induced the snick from Inglis bat and gratefully received, Inglis goes for 1. Next over Stocker gets into the action when Robbie takes a good catch in the field to remove Stewart for 1 and McClimont being dismissed a few overs later to have the Tunnel rats at 49/5. The pressure being reapplied by Stocker and Kapralos and their miserly stints got us to drinks and Heathcote a little nervous and almost another down when Robbie made a spectacular effort to almost haul in a travelling one-hander from Smith (three runs saved anyway). After the break, unfortunately for us, swung the other way when we tried to change things up introducing Kokiri and Campbell, Jono Spicer being able to kick start his inning early with some wayward bowling being dispatched to the boundary with aplomb and the pair (with Smith) racing to 92 at the end of the 24 and pretty much all hope gone, we bought back Pickle... First ball to Jason, slow full toss bashed into Ritchie at midwicket, whom recovered quickly and pulling back 20 years of geriatric misadventure, fired in the perfect backhander to Steve hovering over the stumps to find Smith short dismissed for 8. Tight lines for the rest of the over yielded just the one run as the last ball popped up into the midwicket area found ground. This meant the next over had 2 runs to defend with Spicer on strike, a bye, scores tied with Shay to face his first ball, the field all moved in and Shay swipes across the line and gets hit on the pad. Not straight enough to give LBW so move onto the third ball of the over... same ball, same shot, difference being contact and ball beating the field to give the necessary run needed for a Heathcote win, score 95/6 and worthy recipients of retaining the Frampton Shield (if the rumours prove true).

A hard fought contest under trying conditions with tension threatening to get out of hand at time, ending in a good spirited bonding session afterwards...

Cheers Steve Van Grunsven

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Article added: Wednesday 21 December 2022 by Matt Wilcock