Lots to celebrate in this week’s edition, including several individual milestones and team successes, so settle in for a long read!

Final day of the season at Edgar Mac

This season has been a memorable one for our Championship side. Having picked up the 1-day trophy earlier in the season, they are also leading the 2-day competition on the final day, and are well set to clinch promotion to the Premiership. If you’re not playing for another MPCC side on Saturday, get along and support the side as they look to finish the season with a flourish against Halswell. It would be great to see some of our life members, past members and any other friends of the club at the ground for the big final day! Then stick around, come what may, for the usual final day celebrations in the club rooms.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Championship player, Teddy Gipson, whose 22* in the ongoing first innings of a 2-day game vs Halswell on 18 March saw him pass 500 Championship runs for the season. Teddy passed 500 club runs for the club some time ago, courtesy of his early-season runs for Div 1, and he currently sits in 2nd place as the club's leading run-scorer this season on 698 runs. He has scored consistently since being called up to the Championship side in November, with three half-centuries and a high score of 95.

Congratulations to Bombay Tandoor Presidents' captain, Mark Hume, whose 45 runs against Heathcote this week took him past 7,000 MPCC runs. It also took him past 500 runs for this season (and for the seventh time in his MP career). Humey debuted for the club in the 2004/5 season. A long stint as Senior A's wicketkeeper saw him notch up 195 dismissals (2nd all-time Senior fielding record). He's also taken 47 wickets for the club. His achievements this season have taken him past life member John Yates into 7th place in our all-time run-scorers' list.

And none of it could have happened to a nicer guy. Outstanding work, Humey!

Congratulations to Roger Moore, who took his first MPCC 5-wicket bag in the Frame n Copy Panthers' successful defence of 72. Roger was the Man with the Golden Arm (sorry, couldn't resist) with his spell of 8 overs, 4 maidens, 6 for 7 tearing the heart out of Southern Districts, who were all out for 22.

Roger has been a stalwart for the Panthers in his debut MPCC season, with 20 wickets and 164 runs to his name so far. With one week of the season left, he's also in pole position to pick up the Pitcher Trophy for best bowling figures.

Congratulations to another stalwart of the Frame’n’Copy Panthers, Andrew Anderson, whose spell of 5 overs, 2 maidens, 5 runs and 1 wicket brought up his 200th MPCC wicket. Compliments on our Facebook page show how well regarded he is around local cricket.

Thanks – Ash Reddy

Huge thanks to Ash Reddy, for once again serving up an outstanding selection of curries at last week’s Curry Night. The food didn’t last long as members queued up to claim their portions and haggle for seconds! Social events like these are a great chance for club members to enjoy each other’s company beyond cricket. Along with other fundraising efforts like our weekly meat raffles at the Brewers, led by Glen Bellam, Juls Hansen and Ranjith Rangarajan, and grant applications led by Paul Thomas, help us to keep cricket affordable for our club.

It's great to have generous club members like Ash put themselves out on our clubmates’ behalf. If you have an idea for a social event you’d like to lead in the off-season or 2023/24, get in touch with any Committee member!

Upcoming club social events

The annual Owls vs Hawks game will take place this coming Sunday, 26 March. Will it be Jacob Wilson’s under-30 Hawks who win the day, or will Alan Cuthbertson’s wise old Owls claim the final prize of the season? Will all players make it onto the field after celebrating the season’s end at the club?! Come along and find out. If you’re keen to be involved, there’s still time to let Jacob or Alan know, or contact mpcricket@xtra.co.nz and we’ll pass it on.

The MPCC Awards Night is set for Friday 31 March. The celebrations kick off at 7pm at the MPCC clubrooms and all members, life-members, former members and their guests are very welcome to get along and help recognise this season’s achievements. As usual, the bar will be open for refreshments and catering will be provided.

Match Reports from Saturday 18th March

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Halswell @ Edgar Mac 1 (2DAY – day 1)

Sun was shining at Edgar Mac, home of Christchurch cricket, for day one of the final round with the Championship side holding a commanding lead in the overall title race and a slender lead in the two-day competition. With some inclement weather and high winds, the evening prior, the pitch had plenty of juice in it, this combined with a wet outfield saw the captains decide to delay the start of the match by ½ an hour.

There was little doubt with what our preferred option would be if we won the toss and stick to a winning formula inserting the opposition and trying to apply pressure early and restrict runs. Unfortunately, the opposition called correctly, but in what only could be described as an eyebrow raising decision Haswell decided to have a bat!

Despite the lead on the points table the lads were under no illusions that we had to go about our business and get the job done, the warm-up again set the tone and we hit the ground running. The big handsome came steaming in first ball, got one to jag off a length and before you know it 0/1! What a start. Not to be out done at the other end, Jake continued to do Jake things and with his first ball of the match 0/2! Things were looking good and the boys were on a roll. We continued to work to our plans with both Jake and Sammy picking up a couple more each (2 for Jake and 1 for Sammy) if my memory serves me correctly and we had Haswell well and truly on the rack.

There's no doubt that the wicket had started to flatten out into a pretty good pitch and we knew we needed to keep working hard to take the next 5 or so wickets and knock them over for under 100. A small partnership had formed until a full toss from turbo was hit down deep mid-on's throat, but ensued from there was one of the most bizarre not outs I've seen in a long time. Turbo (Sammy G) standard off spin delivery to relativity new batsmen, catches outside edge past keep and caught at first slip. Batsman does not walk, player umpire "not out". Bewilderment, nobody can believe this call. Scenes became a little heated and a few words spoken to say the least and I'll leave it at that. However, Lance Armstrong did go on to score 70-80 odd and give Haswell a respectable total of 186 before being bowled out in the 59th over.

Game on... we knew we had to start well and it would be again up to the top 6 to get the job done. Lingy and Rory got us off to a great start with an opening stand of about 80 before Rory was out for about 44. Teddy came to the crease to join the skipper. Unfortunately, with about 30 minutes before stumps Matt was caught by a screamer at short cover and we were 2 down. The old man and the young buck saw it through to stumps, with some classic "batsmanship" curating the pitch and mid-over conversations to slow the over rate down, much to the disgust of the opposition. We finished the day 2 down, requiring about another 80 to take first innings and secure promotion to prems next season. It’s all to play for this coming Saturday with promotion to the Premiership and the Two-Day Trophy on the line.

Luke

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs Hornby @ Edgar Mac 2 (2DAY – day 1)

Nice weather, great people and damp pitch. Last dance of year. Won the toss elect to bat.

Not the best start – at one stage we were 44-6. Then Jason ‘Choppa’ Swensson (39) took charge and we were all out 101.

We got them all out on 40 odd [Ed.: 48]. One of the best innings. Bowling-wise, it was our best bowling performance of the year. Chris 4, Mintu 3, Nithissh Rajkumar 2 [Ed.: on Div 1 debut] and Ritwik 1.

2nd innings

Nice start we are 50-odd for 2 wickets. Shout out to Ben gill to get out on next bowling after exchange some word with Hornby skipper.

Looking strong and we will try to finish the year with a great attitude. If the weather plays well.

Mintu

MP BBS Timbers Division 3 vs Lancaster Park @ Bishopdale (Win)

Playing at Bishopdale against LP. Nice to see a full opposition team before 1pm!

Bellsy lost the toss and we were asked to bat. Pitch was damp except for a foot by foot area on a good length. Interesting times. Nice to welcome young Tawanda Sunguni to the team this week, as well as the mighty Monger.

Ranjith and Nana got us off to a solid start, before we lost Ranjith in the 7th over with the score at 18. Unfortunately we lost regular wickets, then a clump, to be 69/7 at drinks, Nana (19) and Bellsy 17 (….Bellsy…enough said) the best contributors. Had a chat with Bellsy and I thought 120-130 would be quite a challenging target. Bellsy thought 110 would be enough.

After drinks, Masood (30*) Kris (28 – brilliant off his legs) and YES, Dave Monger (16, who walked on a stumping, even though the keeper didn’t have the ball in his gloves when he smashed the wickets – see Masood’s video for proof) batted very well. Kept the good balls out and hit the bad balls. LP weren’t helped by losing one of the main bowlers who pulled up lame. The lower order got us through to 151. We were pretty stoked with that.

After an inspired pep-talk we opened up with the trusty old Kris Rowe and young unknown Tawanda. Both bowled excellent line and length and picked up early wickets. 3 down for not many. Tawanda bowled with good rhythm and swing and finished his 8 overs with 2/19. Kris bowled his “8 overs” in two spells finishing with 2/9. Dave Monger replaced Kris and picked up a wicket in his first over (1/19 off 6). Masood replaced Tawanda and also had a wicket in his first over. At drinks LP were similar placed to where we were, 45/5 or 6 (their bookmanship skills – not flash).

Fortunately for us their tail were not as effective as ours was. Masood carried on after drinks to finish his spell with 4/20 (another great effort from the “Maxican”). Bellsy came on after Dave and continued the trend of picking up a wicket in his first over. As the good captain he is, he took himself off and gave some others who don’t get a lot of chances to bowl a go. Ranjith bowled a couple without luck, as did Princely. Still looking for the last wicket, Bellsy brought Kris back on. In his last over Kris bowled their #11 to wrap their innings up at 102 (Bellsy did say 110 would be enough). Credit also needs to go to LP’s keeper who batted well to bring up his 50 before he ran out of partners.

All in all a good days cricket and played in a very positive/friendly/fair way. Unfortunately, not a thing I can usually say about this grade with all the exclusive teams in it.

Anyway… our highlights  - tailenders batting and bowling…!!!

Player of the day went to Kris for a great batting and bowling effort as well as a top catch in slips. Masood, you were so close to getting it but that whole scenario of blowing on your hands before taking that catch, lost you that one crucial point. Hope that makes the highlights package though– lol

Well done team.

Thanks also to Lachie’s Dad who supplied the refreshments and the entertainment (jokes).

Darren

MP Frame'n'Copy Panthers vs SDCC @ Waltham Park (Win)

The Panthers rocked up to a sunny Waltham Park to play the plucky Gurkha Crusaders, a team which beat us by over 60 runs in our previous encounter this season. Looking to avenge this defeat, Skipper Andy A won the toss and decided to bat, considering Waltham is usually a good batting deck with short boundaries on one side of the wicket.

Andy R and Dean opened the batting, with Dean again being the aggressor, playing positive shots down the ground. The opening stand was broken in the 10th over when Dean was caught on 17. This brought Dakesy to the crease who nudged it around til he got trapped in front to a debatable LBW decision for 3. Nick came and went for a duck, bowled by a late inswinging yorker. Andy A came to the crease at 32 for 3 after 14, runs were fairly hard to come by at this stage with their first change bowlers. One of them was getting late inswing, while the other was bowling good change-up deliveries, also the pitch was holding up, making the timing of shots difficult. Eventually Andy R fell just before drinks, when he popped-up one back to the bowler for 21. The Gurkha's had their tails up and had an aggressive field in place, Andy A then falling into the trap a few overs after drinks, knocking the ball straight into the hands of short mid-wicket for 6. Connor was caught at mid-on trying to release the shackles on 4. Roger came in and played some aggressive strokes including 2 boundaries but ran out of batting partners, Adam (0) Harsha (1) and Ronnie (0), leaving Roger on 18 not out. Panthers all out for 72 (only 10 players).

At half-time we knew we would need to put in a special performance to come away with the victory, also we only had 10 players because Jack had badly hurt his hand at school the previous day. The pitch was difficult to bat on, but wasn't a minefield but we knew if we bowled in the right areas and let the pitch do the work we would have a chance.

We needed someone to rise to the occasion, and that someone was the Panther's own 007, Roger Moore. The 'Roger Moore Show' started in his very first over, bowling the opener with a ball hitting the top of middle, cracking the stump in the process. He again struck in the first ball of his second over, another bowled. Andy A then decided to come to the party when the batsmen decided to play all around a yorker hitting the bottom of the off peg. Roger struck again in his 5th over, another bowled. Harsha was then brought on to replace Andy A and he struck in his first over, a sharp catch to Andy R at gully. Roger then picked up his 4th when Ronnie absorbed a bullet at mid-wicket. Harsha then picked up his 2nd wicket, a ball which nipped in and hit top of middle. Roger then deceived the batsmen with a slower ball which popped back to him which he then snaffled up. In Roger's final over he picked up his 6th, with the slowest of slower balls which had the batsmen in knots and seemed to take forever to hit the stumps. The innings was wrapped up by Harsha in the next over, another bowled.

So the Gurkhas all out for 22, with Roger the absolute star of the show with figures of 6 for 7 off 8 including 4 maidens (3 wicket maidens). Harsha's figures were also impressive with 3 for 9 off 3.4. Andy A picked up the other wicket with figures of 1 for 5 off 5. This result shows you're never really out of it in cricket. Low totals can be defended if you bowl in the right areas. The key for us was Roger bowling stump to stump really targeting those stumps and making the pitch do the work. An awesome result for the Panthers which really leaves us on a high at the end of the season.

Cheers

Andy Anderson

MP Geeks on Wheels vs Sydenham @ Centennial 3 (Loss)

Saturday afternoon saw Geeks on Wheels up against the Sydenham Tamil XI at the always interesting Centennial #3 ground. It was a vital matchup for both teams - the winner would be going through to the Grand final. A pitch inspection revealed no surprises - we lost Alan briefly in a particularly boggy patch but a human chain managed to pull him to safety.

Barrel won the toss (the first one in 6 matches!) and we decided to bat, as it was clear the pitch was not going to get any better - and indeed may get worse. Alan and Thomas opened up, and the pitch proved to be not as thought - it was even worse. After the first over it looked like a driving range. Alan managed to get a few scoring shots in before being caught for 7, bringing myself to the middle. Thomas put things in perspective by saying straight up “watch for the clods of mud flying up from the deliveries”.

Awesome.

Anyway, Thomas wasn't to be bothered by the flying mud for very long before departing for a blob, 2/9. We had Alan's son Henry playing for us today, who was next in. He and myself put on a reasonable partnership of 21 before I was out for 8, 3/28. Henry was gone not long after for 12, and we were beginning to slide @ 4/32.

And....it never got any better. Pav was next to go for 5, 5/34, Phil for a blob, 6/35, Frosty also for 0, 7/39, Barrel for 5, 8/40, Sanath for 0, 9/40, and Sunny, a rando dude who was literally just walking past the ground and came in to play for us at the last minute, for 1 - all out for 52 in the 30th over. It really was tough going - but it wasn't helped by too many of our batsmen not showing enough patience and going for big shots, instead of knuckling down and grinding it out.

So Sydenham needed 53 to win - hopefully they would find it just as tough as we did.

They didn't.

Barrel did make an early breakthrough, having them 1/2, and then, well, that was pretty much it. Their spin bowler who took 4/6 off his 9 overs also proved to be a batsman, and basically took us apart with some very clean hitting, including 4 sixes.. They got the runs in the 10th over, taking the game by 9 wickets. Barrel had the only success, returning 1/15 from 3, Frosty did well to restrict the runs at least, with 0/10 from 4.2, and Ash took some stick unfortunately with 0/28 from 2.

So a disappointing match, and one that kind of summed up our post-Christmas season. We've shown we can really produce some excellent cricket and grab impressive wins, but can also completely fall apart and throw up some shockers. The upshot of it all being that we'll be playing for 3rd place against The Wanderers this Saturday.

Cheers,

Richard

MP Bombay Tandoor Presidents vs Heathcote @ Heathcote (Win)

MPCC Tandoor Bombay Gold "Canaries" took on The Tunnel Rats of Heathcote on the Hillsborough Domain pitch for the second time this season.  After our last attempt it was consider imperative to win the toss to make dictating the flow easier. Humey managed to call correctly and we asked the Heathcote batsmen to set a target against our proven opening pair of Mendis and Pickle. Opening the innings Heathcote lost both openers early, Howard (4) beaten outright to a Pickle swinging ball collecting the stumps then Inglis (1) getting the same treatment from Mendis, 6/2 after 5. Spicer and Pullar in which stopped the flow of wickets, seeing off the openers first five overs each with very chances generated but on the other hand little damage to the scoreboard, 16/2 at the ten over mark. In an effort to change up the momentum we introduced P.K. and Dearsley which unfortunately didn't go to plans early as Greg especially, started to find the boundary. The pair pushed the score to 70, blasting Paul out of the attack after three over and picking off P.K. whenever the opportunity presented itself (which turn out to be infrequent as the ball was being controlled extremely well). The 19th over finally saw the elusive third wicket fall Pullar on the charge walking past a P.K. slower delivery and found short of the crease by Slick behind the stumps whipping off the bails. Greg, making what turned out to be a important 40, disappointed of course, might have damaged some gear on his return to the sideline, but that may have just been hearsay... Harris in just before the break with Spicer saw out the over and one ball to get to drinks somewhere around that 70/3 area. Petros and Frankie continued after the intermission and P.K. undaunted, dismissed Harris for 2 caught behind first over after drinks, couple of overs later going for a decisive crack down, Hume bought Pickle back to partner P.K. who replicated the same wicket taking ball to knock over Law without scoring. Mendis took over from a tapped out Kapralos (8/1/20/2) and had immediate success bowling Spicer for 27, in another set of stingy partnership bowling between the openers, Pickle finishing 8/3/9/2 and Mendis 8/4/8/2. A game of hit and miss ensued between out remaining bowlers Hume and Kokiri with Heathcote's "tail" (still containing some handy bats). Hollway and Bungard providing some stubborn resistance ended only due to an unwise decision to take on Steve's arm close in Hollway sold down the river for 19, score about 101. McClimont combined with Bungard for about 13 before Ralph (12) missed a straight ball from Frankie after planting the previous ball boundary-ward. The next ball to Smith might be one he'd want to take back and consider after it got spanked over the midwicket boundary for a maximum, silly full toss. Campbell took this as a sign to tee off being all of two overs to go, racking up 18 of his 21 runs in seven balls finally holing out to Hume on the long-on boundary to give Frankie two. The third was achieve on the next and final ball of the innings bowling Chopper Te Koeti, Frankie getting the goodies 7/0/40/3 and Heathcote getting themselves out of a mess ending 139 all out.

MPCC run chase, suffice to say didn't start well... Bell (0) lunging at Pullar collecting an edge to be caught by Smith behind in the second over, Pickle (0) departing an over later bowled by an unkind ball from McClimont, MPCC 5/2 after 2.2. Thankfully Humey to the rescue finding a bit of form batting with Zwies found some gaps to tick the score over until 24 when Andy got suckered into playing at a good ball from Campbell nicking off for 3 (15). Hume stung into action put on most of the 32 run partnership with Steeman who had his own brief moment of glory before being caught out of the crease when Inglis took the ball off McClimont who had finished his allocation of overs 8/1/25/2 and pretty much decided the slow ball concept was the way to go. Good decision as we were strangled into submission, Hume's frustration after the drinks break being at 63/4 causing him to attempt to pull Inglis's fourth ball back and only getting a top edge very uncomfortably caught by Chopper at midwicket, Hume’s effort of 45 taking him past 500 runs for the season. Crimp was next to go bogged down by the flighted moonball's of Bungard, bowled for 2 and when Dearsley (5) became Inglis third victim with the score on 73/7 and then Kapralos (1) fell to Bungard attempting an extremely late cut, leaving the fight at 76/8 it was going to take a minor miracle to help us out. We did get a bit of a reprieve when Kelum took the long handle knocking up 18 quick runs before trying once too often and being caught by Inglis off the bowling of Hollway. The final insult occurring at the score of 95 a major mix up of calling having both Frankie (2*) and Skudz (0) out of creases and a young replacement player aged 8 or so chucking down the stumps at the strikers end consigning us to another substandard score...

However, although the final score was a bit one sided and a little embarrassing the aftermatch banter was on form and Heathcote rightly deserved the spoils of the day having worked out the better tactics to use on the day.

Cheers, Pickle.

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Article added: Tuesday 21 March 2023