First off all a big congratulations to Divison 1 player Josiah Leigh who married his best friend Emily on Saturday and while his priorities might be slightly out of line (Wedding day or cricket?), the club would like to wish you both all the best for you future!

Secondly this week's draw for Sporting Edge MPCC sees both our morning grade sides away, with the Championship team looking to pick up another win at St Albans, while Div 1 head to Burwood Park, as do the Bombay tandoor Pressies. Fixture of the week is on Edgar Mac 1, where the Frame n Copy Panthers take on their Geeks on Wheels rivals, with club bragging rights on the line. BBS Timbers Div 3 are on the back track vs LP. Good luck to all teams, and remember it's not too late to put your name down for the MPCC Poker Night back at the club after speeches!

Congratulations Michael Beattie who on Saturday took 5/38 in his game against Marist Harewood for division 1 and not only took his 150th Senior B / Division 1 wicket but also brought up his 300th Merivale-Papanui Cricket Club wicket. Michael made his debut in the 2013/14 season for 3A and took 13 wickets, since then has been a main stay in our top 2 teams taking 136 wickets for Senior A / championship and 151 wickets in Senior B / Division 1.

Congratulations Matt Wilcock on taking 5 for 15 against Lancaster Park on Saturday - Unsure on when my last one was but its been a while!

Congratulations David Frost who for the second time this season has taken 5 for 18! David is having a season to remember with the ball and we hope to see more 5fer's!

Upcoming club social events

We have a ton of upcoming social events to help you make the most of the summer. Get along to one or all of them!

The MPCC Poker Night is set for Saturday 28 January at the clubrooms, and is open to all club members and their guests. Jason Swensson and Chris McBride will surely be looking for harder competition in this year’s event after taking out the cash last season, and all players will be keen to work out who is this season’s prize nuisance (this has been a keenly fought-for role in previous editions!). The game will get under way immediately after speeches, at around 7.30pm. Buy-ins and rebuys are $30, with $20 returned in prize money.

If you are keen to play, please email mpcricket@xtra.co.nz or sign up on the noticeboard in the clubrooms.

The MPCC 6-a-side Tournament is scheduled for Sunday 5 February (Waitangi Weekend). This tournament is always hotly contested. Further details of entry fees and player limits to follow. If you are interested in entering a team, or just making yourself available to play, talk to Chris McBride at the club or send him an email at chris.mcb101@gmail.com.

The MPCC Trivia Night is scheduled for Friday 10 February at 7pm, and is open to all club members and their guests. Entry fees are $15 per player with teams of up to 6 players, with each player receiving a free stubby or soft drink with their entry. Get your team together, turn off your phones and show us who knows the most unnecessary things!

If you are keen to enter a team, please email mpcricket@xtra.co.nz. If you don’t have a team but are keen to come along, please also let us know or just turn up on the day and we can slot people in!

Match Reports from Saturday 21st January..

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

We were at home at the Mac against Lancaster park, the pitch looked very batting friendly but with the prospect of it flattening even further and a quicker outfield, lingy decided to insert LP. Sammy M and Jacob started off very tidy but it wasn’t till the 10th over that we got out first wicket - a trademark J Wilson nip backer. Lewis replaced Jacob and bowled with a bit of fizz, removing their other opener with a well directed short ball. By this point Sammy was in the last over of his spell when he pulled up with ankle tightness. Lingy looked around the team looking for the closest bowling equivalent to Sam and eventually settled on R Hawes who promptly bowled a tidy spell of 0.3-0-0. Benny mac replaced Rory (harsh) but we rewarded early with the wicket of jimmy stewart. The middle phase of the innings was made up of a very good spell from Sam G alongside some solid batting from Cooke and Wingham who looked like they were going to make a game of it until some late spells from Wilson, Lewis and B-Mac wrapped up the innings for 170. A total we were pretty chuffed with on a good deck. A change at the top of the order saw Hawes open up with lingy. The new partnership didn’t get off to a grey start with lingy nicking off early. Fortunately this meant another rekindling of the Hawes/Gipson partnership which has provided some excitement on and off the field. The two put on 80 in quick time with some class and power across the board. Rory then fell and Luke followed him despite looking the part as usual - getting out sweeping for the 19th time in a row. This brought A Chapman to the crease and he knocked it around for a very calm 25*. Teddy eventually got out on 74 which gave Lewis some time in the middle and he struck another quick 20 odd until he also skied one looking for the win. Bertie came and quickly hit the winning runs and put the cherry on a pretty complete performance from the championship side.

Thanks Rory Hawes

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

No report supplied .. Sad face

MP BBS Timbers Division 3 vs Lancaster Park Chestfield Warriors @ St Albans 1

Div 3 travelled to St Albans Park this week to take on Lancaster Park. 

Matty lost another toss and we were eventually put into field after LP had a mass debate on who would be there on time, what the pitch would do and how hot it was.

Last minute team entrant Cam Norton took the new ball with Rowey and set about their work. One of the LP openers tried to play positively and got a few lusty blows away being especially brutal to the leg stump line. Cam struck first quickly followed by Rowey and we were finally able to stem the flow of runs and even with the double change of Alex for Rowey and Max  for Cam  LP seems out of sorts. We got through to Drinks with LP 2 for about 80 and then the fire works started. Matty replaced Max at the northern end and went Wagner on their lower order. He bowled short and at them and they had no come back ending up with season best figures of 5-15 off 6. Bellsy at the other end had the ball swinging more than a Friday night in Waimate and LP capitulated to be all out for 112. Manni Jassal taking a "speckie" off Bellsy in the process. As he recalled it to me on Saturday night he ran 80+ metres into the wind while looking into the sun to dive full stretch in a Phillips like snare inches above the ground. (Disclaimer, he may have been drinking when he told me)

We then had our turn with the willow in hand opening up with Ash and man of the hour Manni. They proved there were no demons in the deck and took to the uniform optional LP bowlers playing straight out of the coaching manual. They  compiled a near 60 run opening stand being especially brutal through the off side before Ash finally fell for a stylish 34. After that the damage was done and apart from a couple of late wickets we cruised through to victory with Manni 43no seeing us home. 

Man of the match was really close to call between Matty's 5 for and that catch!! 

Cheers Glen Bellam

MP Frame'n'Copy Panthers vs Southern Districts @ Waltham Park 1

No Report supplied .. Sad face

MP Geeks on Wheels vs Prebbleton @ Prebbleton Domain

The Geeks on Wheels Div 7 team had the trek to play Prebbleton at their home ground, and to hopefully carry on our winning ways.

Things were made more difficult by the fact we were (not for the first time this season) only playing with 10 after another couple of late withdrawals.

As always the ground looked a well manicured pleasure to play on. Unfortunately Sammy lost the toss, and Prebbleton chose to bat.

We opened the bowling with Nithissh and our guest player Tawanda, and the Prebbleton batsmen literally had no clue.

We didn't make any breakthroughs initially, but Prebbleton hardly scored any runs. Nithissh's first 3 overs were maidens, and the majority of the few runs scored off Tawanda were extras.

It took a change of bowlers to start making in-roads, with Frosty first to strike at the end of his first over.

In fact Frosty took 4 wickets before drinks, with Ask chipping in with his first delivery.

Prebbleton were in real trouble at 59/5 at drinks, and didn't get much better after drinks either. They did manage to string together a relatively good partnership, but after Nithissh came back and broke that, Tawanda and Frosty quickly added to their misery, and Nithissh finished it off in the 33rd over - Prebbleton all out for 91.

Frosty was the standout bowler with an outstanding 5/18 from his 8 overs, with Nithissh turning in an almost unplayable performance, 2/5 from 7.1 Tawanda was impressive with 2/17 from 8, and Ash chipped in with 1/32 from 4. Sammy was miserly with 0/0 from 2, and Ritwik bowled well with no luck for his 0/11 from 3.

Our fielding was solid - really the only blemish was the 23 extras, including 15 wides, being the 2nd highest scorer.

So 92 to win, and Thomas and Sam got us off to a relative flyer (well, Thomas did, at least), getting us to 32 before losing Sam for 6.

Aaaaaaaaand....it kind of went all shades of poop from there. Alan played and missed approximately 358 times before being bowled for a blob. I walked out then left again shortly afterwards, also without troubling the scoreboard, and when Mr Monger departed for 3 we were looking decidedly shaky at 40/4.

And unfortunately it never got any better. Ritwik provided 7 runs (58/5), Nithissh 1 (59/6), Ash a donut (61/7), Frosty 0 (64/8) and Tawanda also a blob (all out for 64 in the 32nd over).

Thomas was the only shining light in an otherwise thoroughly dismal batting performance, carrying his bat for a fine 38*.

He in fact scored more runs than the rest of the team combined - including extras.

So our second loss of the season, by 27 runs.

Credit to Prebbleton, who bowled extremely well. But Thomas showed that with a bit of patience we could (and should) have chased the runs down with relative ease.

Hopefully some valuable lessons were learnt - ones that we'll need in the ultimate local derby this weekend. 

Forget Celtic vs Rangers, or Canterbury vs Auckland, or Hermosillo Orange Growers vs Culiacan Tomato Growers.

Saturday will see Geeks on Wheels vs the Panthers - on the #1 Edgar Mac no less. Be there, or be somewhere else if you get a better offer and/or free nachos!

Cheers Richard Judkins

MP Bombay Tandoor Presidents vs Lancaster Park @ Edgar Mac 2

Marivale-Papanui Bombay Tandoor played Lancaster Park on a low and slow wicket at Edgar Macintosh 2.

Captain Mark Hume won the toss and elected to bat hoping to make use of the pitch as history this season has seen it get slower during the second innings. However M-P were in trouble early at 3 for 12 with Jason Steeman, Steve VanGrunsven and Andy Zwies all brilliantly caught, especially VanGrunsven who drove fluently to McBride at short cover who dived, rolled and produced a stunning one handed catch.

A small partnership began to develop between Mark Hume and Simon Bell, until Hume (9) was well caught by Rob Genet and M-P were in all sorts of trouble at 4 for 28. C Genet claiming 3 of the wickets.

Rob Campbell joined Simon Bell at the crease and they slowly rebuilt the innings. However just before drinks Rob Campbell(10) was caught behind and when Wade Millar departed two balls later at 6 for 65 Lancaster Park were in control at the half way stage.

After drinks the M-P innings slowly recovered with a couple of useful partnerships. Firstly a 33 run partnership between Kelum Mendis (12) and Bell. Then a partnership of 36 between Petros Kapralos (13) and Bell. Simon Bell departed with the score at 132 having guided M-P through to a shaky but defendable total. Bell’s innings was a combination of guile and patience as he worked the ball around, picking the gaps and running well. He made over half the teams total scoring 71 from 95 deliveries, which included ten 4’s. Once he left, the last two wickets quickly fell without any addition to the total.

Bowling for Lancaster Park C Genet 3/31 off 8, Styles 2/15 off 8 and Corry 3/25 off 4.2 were the pick of the bowlers.

Lancaster Park had a slow but steady start interrupted only by the wicket of McBride who skied a difficult catch to Rob Campbell off VanGrunsven. Durham and Tim Corry combined to get the score to a comfortable 1 for 53 before Durham drove a ball directly to mid off and was caught by Wade Millar for 18. A few moments later Tim Corry hit a powerful 6 off Petros Kapralos which caused a long pause in proceedings as the ball had to be retrieved from thick vegetation. The very next ball saw Corry attempting to repeat the shot only to be caught in the deep by Rob Campbell for 32, his innings included 5 fours and the huge 6. Three balls later Toth was bowled and Lancaster Park had gone from 1 for 53 to 4 for 65 just before drinks, Kapralos claiming the three wickets.

After drinks the M-P bowlers attempted to squeeze the Lancaster Park batsmen and were rewarded when Wade Millar trapped Lidstone LBW for 14, Millar had further success when he dismissed Blair for 8. Wickets began tumbling as Frankie Kokiri picked up 2 in quick succession with his deceptive and accurate medium pace and at 8 for 115 Marivale-Papanui looked to have the game under control.

However, the Lancaster Park tail order had other ideas and with 35 needed off the last 5 overs Rob Genet and Wayne Derham pushed hard and began hitting boundaries at will. With pressure mounting, up stepped Wade Millar bowling the 38th and 40th overs. In the 38th he removed Rob Genet (22) with a sharp caught and bowled. Then 11 were needed in the final over but when Millar bowled Simpson with the second to last ball of the day, the match was decided. A 7 run win to Marivale-Papanui. Wayne Durham was the not out batsman on 10.

Bowling for M-P, Wade Millar had the figures of 4/23 from 8, he also took 3 catches. Petros Kapralos 3/30 off 8 and Frank Kokiri 2/33 off 8 and vanGrunsven 1/19

An excellent game, played in good spirits. Well done everyone.

Cheers Petros Krapalos

Subscriptions

Please note that adult playing subscriptions are due for all players. If you have not yet paid your subs or organised an AP with the Treasurer, please organise this urgently. The late subscription rate is $300 ($170 for students).

The club’s bank account details are:

•             Westpac 03 0866 0269318 000

•             Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc

When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Facebook ..

Both the Senior and Junior sections of MPCC can be found on Facebook ....

• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Cricket Club
• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Junior Cricket Club
• Be sure to "LIKE" both pages.

If you have any queries send us an email to mpcricket@xtra.co.nz

Article added: Tuesday 24 January 2023 by Matt Wilcock