One more week of cricket before the mid-season break. A last chance for all players to line up something to bore the relatives about at Christmas lunch! But before that, a round-up of last week's action, featuring an unwelcome comeback from COVID.

Last game of 2023

Come along to the clubrooms after Saturday's games for the end of year party - there will be a couple of contests, including tug of war and, apparently, a few foot races as well as drinks specials and pizza.

Chairman's Cup semi-final

Enjoy the party but save some energy for Sunday 17 December, when Ben Gill's Chairman's Cup XI will be taking on Richmond at Edgar Mac. The game gets under way at 12pm.

Congratulations to Jamie O'Connor, whose innings of 31 for Div 7 brought up 7,000 club runs for MPCC.

Congratulations to MPCC Vice President Glen Bellam, whose innings of 30 in the same Div 7 game took him past 6,000 MPCC runs.

Congratulations to Club Captain Jacob Wilson, whose 8 runs vs OBC for MPCC Sporting Edge Premiers took him past 1,000 club runs.

Congratulations to Ritwik Parupalli, who helped his Sporting Edge Div 2 side to a commanding win over OBC with his MPCC career-best figures of 7/27!

Congratulations (and small commiserations) to Jibin Joseph, who set up that win with his own MPCC career-best score of 99 - agonisingly close to his first club century!

Congratulations to BBS Masters opener Rakesh Verma, who scored his second half-century of the season in a loss to Ohoka.

Match Reports from Saturday 9 December 

MP Sporting Edge Prems vs OBC @ Edgar Mac 1 (One Day – Loss)

Unfortunately, no report.

MP Sporting Edge Div.2 vs OBC @ Bishopdale (One Day, Win)

We turned up on a hot sunny morning hoping to win the toss and bat first. After ticking off the first box, we needed to get to a good start to put the opposition under pressure. The opposition definitely made it easy for us by conceding about 20 extras in the first 55 runs. This meant that the openers had to take little to no risk to get their eye in.

Jibin and Louis played good cricketing shots and respected the good balls to get us to a really good start. Louis scored 36 off 66 which consisted of a few glorious covers drives. At the 20 over mark we were 120 for none and Louis got out trying to get the run rate up. With the perfect start it only meant that we could take the opposition out of the game and it led to the promotion of Jamie Chapman to number 3 on his “debut”. Jamie scored a blistering 35 of 15 balls with 4 sixes and one four. He looked like he was on track to get a big score before he got out trying to attack. With two down for 171 we were on track for 300. However, the “Bomb squad” and the other middle order batsman didn't capitalise on the start. We were 7 down for 218. With all the chaos, we still had our run scoring machine batting calmly and taking calculated risks to get to his fifty. Jibin was playing beautifully to hold up one end while he saw the collapse on the other side. With about 12 overs to spare Jibin was in his 80s and was running out of partners when Michael Beattie and Josiah did well to get 15 and 12 respectively off not many. With a couple of overs left and 2 wickets in hand, it was all set up perfectly for Jibin to get to his maiden 100. On 99 with the team on their feet to celebrate the 100 Jibin charged towards the bowler and top edged one back to the bowler to get out on 99. It was a disappointing end to a wonderful innings. With Jibin out we got 262 at the end of 44 overs.

At the start of the second innings OBC needed to go at about 5 per over to get to the target. Before we went out, we knew we needed to bowl good lines and work in partnerships and not give anything away. George and Chris did really well bowling good lines and getting a wicket each. With both bowlers being affected by Covid earlier in the week they couldn’t keep going for a long spell. Chris ended up with figures of 5 overs, 10 runs, 1wickets and 2 maidens to his name, while George bowled 3 overs for 13. Ritwik came on first change and it took him a couple of balls to find his length. But once he did, he found ways to get through the opposition and ended up with 7 wickets off his 8 overs with 2 maidens and giving away 27 runs. He could have been more economical if not for his extras in the 7th over, which ruined his figures. Michael came on from the other end for a short spell of 4 overs before being replaced by Josiah. At the end of Josiah's first over, there were talks of giving Comet a bowl with only 1 wicket to go, and Josiah was gracious enough to leave the last wicket to witness this “act”. Unluckily for Comet, Ritwik picked up the last wicket from the other end and OBC were rolled out for 75 off 22 overs. This only meant that the “song” came out sooner than we thought it would!

Ritwik Parupalli

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

It’s a good thing there’s not a large international betting market on CMCA Div 3, because I think our team would be under investigation for match fixing after throwing this one away. We met Lancaster Park at the Park itself. Normal service was resumed as Dave lost his 8th of 9 tosses and we were put into bat. Shane and Joel opened up on a hard deck with holes in it, and a hard, fast outfield with short boundaries. Shane got a couple of boundaries away before being bowled with the score at 17, then Joel and Anil got together and took the score past 50 before Joel was out for 14. Darren added a few with Anil before he fell to make it 84-3 shortly before drinks. Soon after drinks, Anil brought up his 50 with a booming six into the wind but was bowled soon afterwards for 56, but the runs kept coming with Himanshu hitting a couple of sixes, while new boy Jeet Singh Saini got his first runs for the club, looking good until he chipped up a catch for 7. 131-5 became 146-7 when Jason (13) shouldered a ball leaping up off a length and Dave was run out. Himanshu and Pratik added a few more before Himanshu was out for 28, then Cam joined Pratik and added a few more before Pratik was caught for 16. Cam ended up 4* with Tawanda missing a deceptively straight ball and we were 178 all out with about four overs left. A pity not to get to about the 200 that looked likely but this still seemed like a good score.

It seemed even better when Cam and Tawanda ripped through the Park top order. Tawanda got the first breakthrough with a high shot caught by Cam at fine leg. Then for the next few overs it was the Cam show as he bowled his 8 on the trot, picking up 4-9 with 5 maidens with a catch by Darren at mid-wicket, LBW and two catches through to Jeet behind the stumps. With Jason adding an LBW along the way, Park were 53-6. A partnership then ensued with a few shots going to the boundary off Jason and Dave, helped by some fielding errors (we must have had about 30 runs squirm past fielders on the boundary through the innings). The pair put on about 70 runs before Dave got rid of them both in the same over with a bowled and caught behind wicket to leave Park 128-8, still 50 short. Pratik bowled a few overs without getting a breakthrough, so Tawanda (2-38) returned to try to break another resilient partnership, and did this, drawing a fourth nick-off through to Jeet, who had a good day behind the stumps. 158-9, with a guy who evidently wasn’t expected to last long by his team-mates. However, we couldn’t challenge his stumps, while at the other end, Park’s captain, Ben Pimm, continued to punish anything loose, hitting the winning runs to end up 41*.

There’s not really much to excuse not winning this game. With the ball, as seemingly every week, one of our bowlers had a good day, with Cam excellent, while the rest of us didn’t follow up his lead. With the bat, we probably could have done a bit better and certainly should have batted our 40. And in the field, we could easily have saved a couple of dozen runs. Until we believe we’re going to win and put in a full match performance to do so, we’ll continue to struggle. No faulting anyone’s commitment, but as a group we’ve just got to get better at holding our standards for the full day.

Dave M

MP Bushnell Builders Panthers vs Marist Harewood @ Sheldon (Loss)

The Panthers had their bubble burst this week after four big wins in a row. Skipper Andy A won the toss and had no hesitation to bat against Marist Harewood on a rubber ducky at Sheldon Park. Dean, usually Andy R's partner in crime, was feeling the effects of a Covid encounter at the club Raffle night (apparently, Covid enjoys a good raffle), so he opted to bat down the order. Conner, determined to keep the good times rolling from last week, played some beautiful cut shots in his score of 22 off 18, only to chop-on a steeply rising ball. This brought our team hero Max to the crease, but to everyone's shock he was dismissed for a second ball duck after he tried to tuck a ball fine but ended up playing on to his stumps. The Marist team were obviously aware of how good Max was and celebrated his wicket like they had just won the world cup! I wouldn't have been surprised to see them line up for selfies with him after the game!!

Next in line was Roger, who batted patiently with Andy R building an excellent platform for the team, both playing great cover drives on an outfield which didn't give too much value for shots. We ended up with around 80 off our first 20 just two wickets down. Unfortunately in the second 20 we couldn't really kick on as they picked up wickets fairly regularly, Andy R fell first on 38, then Dakesy on 5, quickly followed by Roger on 30, Alex Maclennan came in and played some nice lofted on drives but then hit a full bunger straight to mid-wicket. Dean got bowled second ball obviously still suffering effects of covid, Andy A nudged it round a bit with Adam, Ronnie and Jack but our final score of 145 wasn't really up to par.

When we came to bowl, we knew that Marist Harewood loved to hoick the ball legside, so we stacked our legside boundary. Unfortunately, they hit the ball a bit too well! We had our chances though, there were catches dropped left, right and centre. Max was the first to strike with a bowled, then Conner took a catch off Jack's bowling, we seemed to be picking up wickets regularly, Max got an LBW and another bowled but we couldn't seem to stem the flow of runs. Alex Maclennan came on and bowled some good balls but the batsmen were loving the legside hoick, Alex did manage to get the batsmen caught on the legside, a well judged catch by Roger. Roger entered the bowling crease but struggled for his line, despite this he got their best batsmen out, an excellent running catch by Adam at Cow. Ronnie came in and bowled very tightly initially but then the batsmen let loose a bit, Marist eventually winning in the 27th over just 6 down. It was a disappointing result for the guys after we've been playing some great cricket recently. We didn't quite put together a competitive score, then when we bowled we didn't get our lengths right, bowling a tad short at times which allowed the Marist batsmen to play to their strengths. Also, our catching let us down this week. Things can only get better next week.

Andy A

MP Div 7 vs Oxford-Rangiora @ Dudley Park (Win)

The Div 7 team were travelling once again this time to Dudley Park to take on Oxford. Having already played on Dudley this season we knew bat first is the key as the pitch has a slow leak and gets lower and slower throughout the day. We soon lost the toss and were fielding (One Job Bellsy) and had the usual suspects with ball in hand again Sanath and Frosty. Oxford started cautiously getting through the opening Stanza unscathed and it wasn’t until BMW mechanic Ethan came into the attack that we struck our first blow. Another small cautious partnership ensued until Marimuthu in his first over got our second then Ethan struck again and we were on a roll. The Oxford middle order counter attacked for a while but with the introduction of Pav this saw the end of them both and apart from the odd boundary the innings ended on 127/8 off their allotment. Special mention to Sanath who took 2 catches one of which was a absolute “Specky”. Pick of our bowlers was Ethan in his most consistent spell for us grabbed 2-15 off 6 with special mention to Marimuth with 2-27 and Pav 2-25.

Our turn to weld the willow and Alan and Nana went out to start us off. We were once again in deep s**t with Alan back in the hut (4), then Ayan (1) and although Richard hung around for a while with Nana trying to get a partnership going he eventually fell for a hard fought 7. Nana got a few away (30) until his luck ran out then when Pav fell for a quacker a victory was the last thing on our minds. Goutam was joined in the middle by Bellsy and they set about the rebuild. Goutam found the going tough at first but like they say if at first you don’t succeed try and try and try and try again. Eventually he started finding the line he enjoyed and dined out more often enjoying a partnership of 49 until Bellsy hit one down the throat of mid off. Goutam's vigil ended in the next over (16 off 48) and we were 98 for 7, which one ball later became 98 for 8 when Ethan came and went and a game that had ebbed and flowed gave us another twist. We shouldn’t have worried though as Marimuthu threw the form guide out the window and strode to the crease and owned the moment. He blocked his first few then unleashed hitting the Oxford main strike bowler for 6 and ended up with getting us within sight of victory then sat back and watched Mr reliable Frosty smash a 4 to win the game. Marimuthu’s 22 off 19 was head and shoulders above his previous scores and was the injection the end of the innings needed.

So a whole heap of ticker shown by the lads to pull that one out of the bag. Player of the day was Marimuthu for his 2 for and 22 off 19.

Bellsy

MP BBS Timbers Masters vs Ohoka RFL @ Mandeville (Win)

MPCC made to trip out to Mandeville Sporting Grounds to face up to the Ohoka RFL team for the first time ever. One eye on the weather reports I believe we were going in with the intent to have a bat first so when Regan won the toss and inserted us we certainly weren't discouraged with the decision. Opening up with Rakesh and Paul with RV spanking boundaries off the first and fourth balls of Nathan's first over, we settled in, looking of a good start on a pitch that looked great from the get go. The pair compiled the runs quickly especially Verma, who seem to take a liking to Nat and only marginally more sedate against Steve dV. The pair put on 47 after eight before Nathan used a slower ball to good effect getting Dearsley to pop up a short ball to a regulation short mid wicket, Paul departing with 8 to his name. Hume made his way to the middle taking a few balls to get used to conditions. Verma, unperturbed at losing his opening partner, continued to hit out, anything in his zone was going one way or another. Having survived the opening pair for Ohoka they didn't spare Andre or Liam early on until Rakesh going for another bop over the top didn't get the line, edging through to Keeper Tom, making way for the new batter, with a credible 54 (49), Liam and the Ohoka lads grateful for that piece of work. Bell in, but unfortunately for us Hume out not long after for 19, another slower ball defeating the timing of Hume, not getting the distance to clear Sam at mid off. MPCC reduced to 88/3 in the eighteenth. Worse to come as Pickle continued his form slump with the bat, edging the first ball from Dave through to Darren at slip for 1. Harpur in before drinks, but between him and Bell managed to get to that mark without further damage. However the break did it's bit for RFL, Harpur (6) walking across his stumps second ball back and Dave not missing leg, MPCC further depleted at 97/6. Bell and Ranjith played a bit of picket fence cricket taking the single options available and rotating strike in an effort to consolidate. This partnership was eventually broken at 114 when Ranjith, on 6, knicked off to Darren taking a second slip catch. Millar next in line, off the mark immediately had a small but useful knock with Bell before Bell also found an edge to Tom behind the stumps off Darren bowling his fifth, departing for a patient 18. Kokiri gets in and see's Wade efforts go in vain when upping the run rate plants a full toss to Andre at mid on, gone for a quicktime 13. At 132/8 we looked to have squandered a great start, made more desperate at 134 when P.K. was adjudged LBW for 1, Dave bringing up the Michelle in a fantastic effort with figures of 8/0/24/5. A bit of a tail wag as Frankie (12) and Skudz (2*) notched up 13 more runs before Liam had the last laugh, snicking Frankie off, MPCC all out for 147.

After having to reevaluate expectation and knowing the par score was probably around 200 we had to get off to a decent start to make a game of it. Pickle got the rock first up facing to the ever dangerous Reekers and Pollard. When the fourth ball sailed to the boundary from Pollard it reinforced the need for early wickets which came about via a run out. Ball punched out to cover and a call for the quick single which didn't really eventuate, ball into Harp's hand, shaped up to the strikers end, sending Pollard back, an inaccurate throw to the bowler with a backhand flick that found Reekers (1) short of the mark. The news got better when Paul from the other end tempted Pollard to cut high and into the hands of Frankie for 4, RFL 8/2 within two. From that point it was some fight back from Ohoka and Henry especially finding the boundary at seeming will until the score posted 45 when Pickle uprooted Regan's castle and had the captain trudging back to the sideline for 11. Henry and Lowe took up the mantle of rebuilding for Ohoka and was doing a reasonable job of it pushing the score onto 72 when Steve was in the action again, Matt playing on for a match turning 41. Having bowled out SVG passed the reins to Kapralos to pair up with Harpur doing the pace work form the other end. A bit of tooing and froing had Lowe depart for 19, score at 83 then Scanlon going for 15, score at 97 one wicket for each of the bowlers both caught by Ranjith acting at Keeper. The match defining partnership occurred at this point between Steve de Villers and Tom Rochford, a well watched 43 only broken when Millar got a successful appeal for LBW against Steve (16). Not much longer than that Tom pulled away for two and that was all she wrote, Tom unbeaten on 31*, Sam escorting him with 1*, the target of 147 not nearly enough in the end.

A fantastic breakdown session afterwards over a much appreciated BBQ and drinks, with another what might have been talk thrown in...

Cheers, Pickle.

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs Burnside (Win)

No report

Article added: Wednesday 13 December 2023