Week 3 complete

Another day will all games completed, despite the wet conditions in mid-week. A mixed bag of outcomes, with the Prems missing 1st innings points but well in the game with Heathcote 5-down in their second innings, Div 2 and Div 7 getting wins, while Div 3, Div 6, Masters and T20 came out on the wrong side of their results. Hopefully a few more wins to report this time next week!

Subscriptions for the 2023 season

A reminder that adult subscriptions are now due for the current season.

Senior club subscriptions for the 2023/24 season are set at $260 ($130 for students/apprentices) if paid, or if an AP is established in writing with the club's Treasurer, before 30 November 2023. Late subscription rates are charged at $360 (or $230 for students/apprentices). Note the increase in the late payment rate for this season.

Players joining the club from high school in their first season are not required to pay a subscription.

As always when paying your subs by Internet Banking ...

• The clubs 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.

Parking at Edgar Mac

A quick reminder to all MPCC members and supporters that there are parking restrictions on Saturdays across the road from Edgar Mac, between Jennifer Street and Flower Street.

Congratulations to Sporting Edge Div 2 bowler Michael Beattie, whose 6-14 (including 12 wides!) contributed to his side's bonus point win.

Congratulations to Sam Gardner, whose 5-18 helped Div 7 to a big victory defending a smallish total out at Mandeville.

Match Reports from Saturday 14th October

MP Sporting Edge Prems vs Heathcote @ Edgar Mac 1 (Two Day – Day 1)

Unfortunately no report from our top side this week.

MP Sporting Edge Div.2 vs St Albans Jaguars @ Bishopdale (One Day, Win)

MPCC Div 2 came up against the St Albans Jaguars on Saturday, looking to get the season off after a poor display last week. With the use of covers no longer allowed in Division 2, we knew the pitch would be a touch on the slow side. MPCC bowling first, we knew we would have to restrict Saints to under 120 to have a chance to chase it down later in the day. 

Beattie and Chris opening the bowling were almost unplayable when the ball was on the pitch. Unfortunately, a number of wides being the few scoring deliveries for the first 10 overs. Beattie claiming the first four wickets for a combined three off the bat, but the score at 4/21. Chris also struggled a touch to find the edge, just doing too much for the batsmen. Ritwik and Lachie, bowing first change, were significantly less erratic and really put the squeeze on through the middle overs. A really good partnership in the middle for Saints ended on 48 with Lachie picking up a very well deserved wicket quickly followed by another. And in fairness, he was the pick of the bowlers despite not getting the rewards today: 2/21 bowling 9 on the trot for Lachie with just one wide. Woolfy bowled some handy spin at the other end picking up two quick ones, 2/13 off 6, and the most erratic bowler of the day, Michael, picked up 6/14 off his 7, including 12 wides. 

Set 83 to win we knew we would have to get in the trenches to get the job done on a really tough wicket. Saints had two spinners who bowled exceptionally well at one end with combined figures of 16.1 overs 2/20. Unfortunately, at the other end wides were also a bit of an issue with saints bowling 20 wides in reply to our own 22. Highlights of our batting innings were few and far between, with Woolfy scoring 20 off 48, Sloaney 17* off 34, and a dogged Comet scoring 9 off 65, facing out a lot of their two threatening spinners. 

Overall, a still below par performance from the Div 2 boys, but with a bonus point win secured, a good result. Plenty to improve on to gain promotion out of a now difficult 12 team grade.

Chris McBride

MP Burger Station Div 3 vs Lancaster Park @ Garrick 1 (Loss)

The worst part about a game at Garrick Park used to be the restrictions on drinks – otherwise it was a decent block and outfield with good changing facilities. Judging by our game against Lancaster Park (who no longer have control of the ground), lemonades are about right for a lemon of a pitch. About 70 overs into the day Nithissh bowled a ball on a good to full length that leapt past the batsman’s head – a few balls later the same guy was out to a similar length ball from Nithissh that hit a quarter way up off stump. No boundary marked either, an outfield where short fielders needed a light and whistle for attention and an area two metres from the pitch a bit like Tolkien's Dead Marshes all added to the Woolston charm. So, on an overcast day and a dodgy deck, bowling first was the obvious choice. 

So we lost the toss and batted. Ash Reddy’s retirement lasted a week longer than Ronnie Khuu’s as he returned to open the batting with Srinath Basaboena, and the pair cautiously advanced the score for a while till Basa was out for 11. This brought Josiah Leigh out to bat (still recovering from a dodgy ankle), and he and Ash got us to drinks at about 54-1, with a lot of patience shown. After drinks, however, our attempt to push on with the scoring saw both Ash (23 off 53) and Josiah (21 off 38) hole out in the same over. As a succession of others found out, trying to attack on a suspect wicket was challenging as Joel Singer was caught close to the ground, Darren Leigh (9) charged past a straight one and Himanshu Savsaviya (4) spooned one up. Sam Hall and Nithissh Rajkumar (7 and 6) hung around for a while but were both caught, leaving Russell Chapman (8*), Dave Monger (3 – caught) and Tawanda Sunguni (0*) to finish out the innings with a limp to 103/9.

Given a track that seemed like your average mountain goat might try to open a rideshare app with its hooves rather than trot along it, we felt we were still well in the game, and opened up with Tawanda (0-15 off 6) and Nithissh, but struggled for an early breakthrough. Russ replaced Nithissh and got into a good rhythm, hitting a consistent length and inviting batsmen to attack, with one of them hitting a sharp catch to Ash at silly mid-off to make it 22-1. At the other end, Dave (0-20 off 5) started OK, but four balls dragged down trying to chase a wicket all went to the boundary. Russ (2-12 off 8) picked up his second courtesy of a catch by Nithissh, while Josiah had a go in place of Dave without success, and Park had cruised into the 80s a couple down. Basa (2-20, blown out by a 6 for the winning runs) waited patiently for his bowl and then did a very good job restricting the batters in tandem with the returning Nithissh, picking up 2 wickets in an over, including a second, steepling catch from Nithissh, while Nithissh himself (1-15 off 8 in two tight spells) finally got some reward via a bowled wicket. However, one of their batsmen batted most of the innings for 37*, unfortunately receiving a couple of lives as sharp catching chances went begging, and Park got to the total 5 down after 35 overs. A few wides, despite generous lines, didn’t help our cause.

A frustrating day with the bat and in the field was brightened up by Ash and Josiah’s grit and Russ, Nithish and Basa’s discipline with the ball. It was also heartening that, despite the game seemingly slipping away we kept working hard in the field till the end and caused them some worries. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to grips with the dodgy pitch as well as a couple of their batsmen did and that ended up being the difference. Next week, a road, no doubt.

Dave M

MP Bushnell Builders Panthers vs Marist Harewood @ Polo 3 (Loss)

The Panthers must have drawn the short straw this week and were allocated a rubber ducky, Polo 3 at Hagley. We knew it was probably going to be a more high scoring encounter than last week being a rubber ducky and also the boundaries were fairly small. I lost the toss and the opposition captain had no hesitation in deciding to bat first. Marist started aggressively, with the opener hitting a six down the ground in Andy A's first over. Max was the first to strike, in his second over, removing this batsmen with an inswinger which crashed into his stumps. Max bowled well and should have had more wickets in his next overs but was let down by at least 3 catches dropped behind the wicket. This let off really cost the Panthers as this batter eventually went on to get 58. Steve and Jack were the first change bowlers, Steve getting a bit of tap but Jack bowled beautifully, ending with figures of 1/26 off 8. He could have picked up a few more wickets if we had held some catches. Adam and Ronnie came on, Adam managed to tie the batsmen down and Ronnie bowled a great spell of 3/34 at the death. The Tuskers ended up on 194/6 after 40 but it should have been a lot less had we held our catches.

At the halfway mark we knew 195 was a good score but not insurmountable given we were playing on an artificial pitch, the outfield was quite fast and boundary size reasonable. We opened with Andy R and Dean who got us off to a brisk start, Andy R falling on 15 after edging one behind. Max came to the crease and started where he left off from last week, keeping the scoreboard ticking over nicely with Dean. Dean fell on 27 being caught at point after another great start. This brought Panthers debutant, Glen Allpress to the crease, it was a long awaited debut as Glen had signed up for last season but tore his achilles before the season even started. Talented left hander Glen really impressed on his debut, playing some superb shots square of the wicket, the highlight being the cut shot for six. Glen and Max showed plenty of hustle at the crease, running plenty of quick singles alongside cracking boundaries. Max eventually fell on 56. Another Panthers debutant, Navi, was next in but didn't hang around, was bowled second ball. Andy A then came in and nudged it round with Glen for a while until Glen was caught at square leg trying to up the ante. Baheer came in but didn't trouble the scorers. Steve joined Andy and at one stage we needed 30 off 5 overs, Steve hit a boundary alongside a few singles then was caught at mid-wicket on 9. Andy was next to fall, on 15, when he tried to smash the opening bowler back over his head but got the timing all wrong and was caught by a running catch by the mid off fielder. Adam, Ronnie and Jack all came in and gave it their best but we were eventually bowled out in the last over, 12 runs short.

The Panthers were then left to rue what might have been, had we held our catches and if the tail wagged a bit more it could have been a different story. Onward and upwards for next week!

Andy A.

MP Div 7 vs Ohoka @ Mandeville (Win)

The MPCC Div 7 Travelling Wilburys were out in the fresh air this week taking on the might of Ohoka. Bellsy's wrist let him down in the toss and we were soon inserted on a good but green looking deck. Fresh from their heroic exploits of last week we had Scooby and Scrappy Doo open up (You can decide for yourself who's who, it works both ways). The pair got us to 24 before Nana chased a ball that was as short as it was wide and dollied up a catch to the very happy cover fielder. Pav then joined Alan only to see the latter bounced and struck on the head so hard the ball landed behind the square leg umpire. He hit the deck understandably and was a bit dazed but seemed to come round when, in the absence of ice, we sent out cold bourbon cans to apply to his head. He braved on with a 27-run partnership until Pav went ice skating down the track only to half fall in being bowled. Richard Judkins then joined Alan and got a few lusty blows away before meeting the same fate as Pav, which created a mini collapse. We lost Richard at 79 then Muthu decided to reverse sweep his fourth ball and got his castle tampered with leaving us 79 for 4 and when Ayan tried to hit one back to the Mac and Alan got judged in front we were up a brown creek without means of propulsion. Sam tried to steady the ship for about 10 mins then he was caught leaving Timber in his first game for awhile and Bellsy to try to stem the flow of wickets. Although batting up till now was easy it wasn't until the 50 plus year olds were at the crease the ball truly started to move around. They hung round for 29 vital runs together with Tim running Bellsy off his feet but when both fell within 2 runs of each other the writing was on the wall and only a small cameo from the Iceman Dave Frost got us up to 119 all out.

Second innings started well with the ever reliable Frosty and Sanath making their way through the order early. We had them 1 for 1 then 2 for 5 before a bit of a partnership but it wasn't until the bowling changes that we started to go through them like fresh water in Chennai. Cometh the hour cometh the man and taking over from Sanath, Sammy G took control. He was at times unplayable and bowled one of the best spells I've seen from him, snaring an impressive 5-17 off 8 with a Stop, Drop and Barrell Roll after every ball to keep his adoring fans happy. Ohoka capitulated under the pressure, being all out in the 25th over for 53. Special mention goes to Frosty for a stunner of a reflex catch to remove the last batter so we could all go have a few beers and a bit of a yarn. Player of the day is obviously our part-timer Barrell. 

Cheers Bellsy

MP BBS Timbers Masters vs OBC @ Hagley Nursery Ground (Loss)

MP BBS Timbers Masters played OBC at the pristine Nursery Ground on Saturday. Merivale-Papanui won the toss and elected to bat. Prior to commencing the innings, there was a late shuffle in the batting order as traffic and then a lack of parking saw players arriving late.

Simon Bell and Kelum Mendis opened the innings. Some accurate opening bowling saw us make a cautious start. With the score at 10 after 7 overs our batsmen began increasing the run rate. At the 9 over mark, we were 28, but Simon Bell was dismissed, spoiling a sound start. Simon made a classy 19. Kelum Mendis and Mark Hume moved the score to 55, before Hume was dismissed leg before and asking for 3rd umpire intervention. At 63/2 at drinks, we had a solid foundation and looked to go on.

After drinks, however, there was a procession of wickets as we struggled to put a decent partnership together. Kelum Mendis was the 7th man out for a well compiled 48. Kelum’s innings included 5 boundaries. Kelum, mindful of the team, constantly had to adjust his tactics as wickets fell around him, instead of playing his natural hard-hitting game. We were eventually all out for 124 with unbeaten Simon Cartmell 18 not out in his first game for the club, a solid effort which included hitting a hattrick ball for 4.

Into the field, Kelum came to the fore again with 2 wickets in his opening spell, to have the opposition at 43/2 off 10. With no scoreboard pressure to subdue the batting side, they went into 20/20 mode, racing to their target in the 22nd over. Wickets fell, but not often enough. Wickets were shared by PK, Wade Millar and Simon Cartmell, who finished a good day, claiming a catch as well. OBC reaching their target of 125 with 5 wickets down. Kelum finishing with figures of 2/20 off 5.

A highlight in the field was a catch in the deep by Frankie ‘I can’t catch’ Kokiri. Who now can catch and a brilliant one too. It wasn’t a great day, with only ourselves to blame. Wade introduced the fines bucket, which was jingling well as we limped home, disappointed but eager to redeem ourselves in the next game. 

PK

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs Riccarton @ Polo 1 (Loss)

No Report Submitted

Article added: Wednesday 25 October 2023