Another rain-affected week saw two games unable to finish, while our other senior sides got a result, whether they wanted it or not!

MPCC Trivia Night

Remember the MPCC Trivia Night is set for this Friday night, 16 February - get together a team of 4-6 people to show off your knowledge of the obvious and not so obvious. Entry is $15 per person, which includes a free stubbie or soft drink. Events like these are not only great fun, but help keep the club funds going and the subs affordable, so get some mates down to Edgar Mac! The trivia gets under way at 7pm.

Massive Congratulations to junior player Ben Whitta (pictured) who scored 101* for his MP2 team vs Burnside. Read the fuller write-up below!

Ben’s fantastic innings of 101 not out came off only 43 balls. Playing for MP2 against Burnside on Saturday 10th February, Ben faced 25 balls in scoring 56 not out before retiring. It is normal to retire compulsorily in junior cricket after facing 25 or 30 balls. He then came back in towards the end of the innings after the others had batted, facing another 18 balls to add another 45 runs to his score. Ben absolutely blasted the opposition bowling, hitting in total 11 fours and five sixes. He hit four sixes, a two and a four in one over to accumulate 30 runs. Ben probably could have hit more boundaries, but someone had told him that he was on 96 in the last over, and so he carefully hit ones and twos to reach his milestone. Ben capped off his innings with an immaculate forward defensive shot for no runs, the only block of his innings! It was a fantastic achievement which was celebrated by all his team mates.

Chris White

MP 2 team coach

Congratulations to Simon Cartmell, whose score of 63* for BBS Timbers Masters in a winning effort vs East Shirley was his first MPCC half-century.

Congratulations to Mark Hume, who hit 57 in the same Masters innings.

Congratulations to Hamish Robertson (6/39), who took his second 6-for in two matches for Sporting Edge Div 2 vs St Albans to help them claim the outright win in their 2-day game.

Congratulations to Hemanshu Savsaviya, who blasted 60* for Burger Station Div 3 in an unsuccessful attempt to chase down Halswell's score before the rain came!

Congratulations to Jamie O'Connor, whose 50* in another rain-halted innings was his fourth half-century of the season.

Match Reports from Saturday 10 February

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

No report.

MP Sporting Edge Prems vs St Albans @ Bishopdale (Two Day, Day 2 - Outright win)

Back to Bish where the weather was a lot better this week, in the field only a handful of runs behind from the first innings. We opened with Beattie and Junior who had got us off to a good start with Beattie 2 for 20 off his 8 and Junior finally grabbing a red ball wicket after a wee dry spell, 1 for 17 off 6. It was then time for a change of pace. Robbo was bought into the attack where he just went about his business - a little bit expensive at times but managing to do a job for us, picking wickets up and ending with 6 for 39 off 12. McBride went wicketless and Wolfie managed to come on and grab a wicket with a seed.

Into bat and we opened with Jibin and Lou who got us off to a great start before we lost Jibin for a well made 48, followed by Lou for 20. Caleb settled in for a period before we had a mini collapse at the other end. Then Sloane came in and saw us through to the end, Caleb not out for 21 and Sloane not out 18. Well done Hamish Robbo Robbinson on another 6fa!

MP Burger Station Div 3 vs Halswell @ Halswell (Abandoned)

We travelled to Halswell for the third time this season to meet the high-flying Halswell Lions. Two previous games had seen us lose from promising positions, so the aim was for third time lucky on the no. 3 block. Things looked good when I won the toss and, with an eye on forecast rain, opted to bowl first. We opened up with Nathan Columbus and Ritwik Parupalli, visiting from 2nds, and they both got a wicket in the early overs (bowled, and caught by Cam Williams at square leg, respectively), despite some very aggravating early umpiring calls. Change bowlers Matt Wilcock and Cam took over and bowled tightly through to drinks, with Matt (1-15) picking up a wicket caught by Dave at mid-off as they went in at about 52-3. One batter was hanging in after benefitting from a couple of early reprieves. After drinks, we dropped the pace with Anil and Russ taking over. Anil looked good early on, drawing a nick to Darren at slip, but then lost his radar, while Russ was mostly tight but got picked off for a boundary a few times, not helped by a couple of sloppy bits of fielding. Cam and Dave also struggled to stem the runs and it wasn’t until Ritwik and Nath came back that we regained control. Ritwik took an excellent low c+b to remove the opposition skipper, then he and Darren combined for a run-out. At the other end, Nath cleaned up their top scorer for 57, and suddenly we rattled through the rest of the order, Ritwik ending 4-24 off 7 and Nath 3-14 off 7.3. Both showed the rest of us how to do it right with several disciplined overs on the bounce finishing off Halswell for 151 in the 39^th over in hot, bright sunshine.

A few more runs and overs used than we’d have liked, but with the pitch looking better than first sight we set about our chase. After weeks of complaints about our innings’ starting too slowly, Gilly had himself promoted to the top of the order, with he and Joel taking 7 off the first over before Ben was caught for 6 in over 2. When Joel (1) and Darren (0) came back early too, things looked pretty average, and could have been worse if Anil and Hemanshu had not both had skiers dropped at the start of their innings. Instead they started to impose themselves on the change bowling. Things got very heated over a disputed chance, obliging Nath to call me out to speak to their skipper – this didn’t prevent a send-off when Anil was caught on the boundary for 27. Ritwik joined Hemanshu and worked it around, while Hemanshu took a liking to a loopy spinner, hitting 6, 4, 4, 4 off his first four balls, having already lost another ball in the creek. With the wind and rain getting heavier, Ritwik was caught for 6 trying to push on, and Matt joined Hemanshu, who got belatedly clapped for his half-century with his score already on 59! We were at 105/5 after 24 overs when the weather became too heavy to continue and, after a team conference, their skipper agreed to split the points. Hemanshu ended up 60* off 58 and Matt 2*.

A bit of an ugly encounter after a couple of good, friendly previous games with this team, unfortunately. Lots to admire in our bowling and fielding in the first 20 overs, as well as Nath and Ritwik’s second spells, but we gave away more than we’d have liked in between, which was probably the difference between a successful chase and the abandonment in the end. Great to see Hemanshu in swaggering form, however, and the 3 points lifted us off the bottom of the table, with a crucial game against the side we’ve overtaken scheduled this week.

Dave M

MP Bushnell Builders Panthers vs Southern Districts @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

The Panthers found themselves in familiar territory this week as we were on the Edgar Mac back track for the 4th time in 5 weeks. Armed with local knowledge that it tends to get easier to bat on later in the day, when skipper Andy A won the toss, he had no hesitation to bowl first. Andy A and Max opened the bowling as usual, with the opening bat for SDCC, Darcy, soon calling for a helmet after one of Andy’s balls reared up off a length. Andy A wasn’t done terrorising the batters, when in his next over the other opener, Tom, snapped his bat in half when he dug out a yorker, his blade went flying while he was left holding the handle. I doubt he’ll be using the new bat his teammates ran out to him again, as the very next ball, he hit it straight into the hands of Conner at mid-wicket. Max was next to strike, putting on a bowling masterclass, his slower inswingers managing to bowl 3 batsmen in his 8 overs on-the-trot spell. Roger came on and bowled very miserly at the other end and picked up an LBW in his 4th over. Jack and Ronnie came on, both carried on where the other bowlers had left off and picked up wickets for bugger all runs. Frankie, on loan from the Masters team, was under the lid at silly mid-off and took a brilliant diving catch for Jack’s first wicket. Jack took another wicket in his 3rd over, a sharp caught and bowled. Ronnie cleaned up the tail with a couple of catches, one to Max at mid-wicket and the other to Roger at cover-point. 10 man SDCC crumbled for a mere 46 runs.

With a paltry target to chase, we decided to mix up the order a bit. Conner and Frankie opened, Conner played a couple of nice cut shots in his total of 3 before he twisted his knee and was forced to retire hurt. Luck hasn’t been on Conner’s side, injury wise, as he injured his other knee in the first game of the season, which put him out for 6 weeks. Fingers crossed we see Conner again before the end of the season. Max came in and didn’t muck around, putting away the bad balls, hitting five 4’s in his innings of 23 before he was bowled. Meanwhile, Frankie was holding up the other end, defending some very accurate bowling. Andy R then came and swiped a few two’s before he was caught trying to finish things off. Glen and Frankie ensured there were no more hiccups in the run chase when Frankie finished things off with a boundary to cow corner.

A comprehensive win for the Panthers, all the bowlers bowled well and picked up at least one each. There was a marked improvement in the fielding, with five catches taken and not a drop in sight. The Panthers are building momentum, let’s hope it continues next week.

MP Div 7 vs Prebbleton @ Prebbleton (Abandoned)

No report.

MP BBS Timbers Masters vs East Shirley Black @ Clare Park (Win)

MP BBS Timbers Masters travelled to the wild fields of Clare Park out East to contend with pukekos, ducks (and the byproducts that are produced by both), wind and of course the East Shirley Black team missing a few regulars but supplemented by some able bodies. Having done some research on the ground provided by the brains trust the plan was to win the toss and have a bat first which came to fruition when P.K. correctly called again.

Our new regular combination opening partnership of Verma and Rangajaran were sent out to contend with Leys and Harkerss, with the first two balls failing to come remotely close to the pitch surface, Verma dispatching the first to the boundary then taking an easy single on the second of the no balls. A start of 7 before a legitimate ball being bowled... However when the pitch was successfully exploited it did show up a variety of interesting results. Blair started the wicket tally off with a ball that could only be described as sticking in the deck and Rakesh (6), in the middle of a lifted drive, when the bat held at the 45 and the ball finally contacting, deflected up and looped into Ley's hands at slip, 10/1 1.2 overs in. Hume in looking to settle early, which was unfortunate for Leys as he found himself on the end of a Hume period of belligerence. He did get the next breakthrough though with Ranjith being given LBW for 12, MP 30/2 middle of the seventh. Harkerss bowled out 3 overs of long run up and passed the reins to Will Grocott who employed a short ball tactic to try to upset Hume, this would be prove to be an error as from my perspective Hume would be one of the few that would feed upon such a strategy as the pull was used to great effect, finding and exceeding the square leg boundary. Bell, at the other end, continued to work upon Ley's deliveries building up his own score at a decent clip. Leys was let down in the field as some fundamental errors was letting him down. Our lads were cracking along when another change of bowler (J. Morrison) ended Hume's stay, a faint edge being caught behind followed up by the stumping, Mark giving himself up for another excellent 57 (52), score at 106/3. Wade, promoted to 5, scratched around early but got the team to drinks with Bell, a late flurry to get to 114/3 at the intermission. After the break the score continued to build as both Bell and Millar found the middle of the bat until the 25th when Bell fell foul of the LBW law departing to James for a very handy 34 (38). Two overs later Morrison was in the action again, tempting an improved Millar (19 off 34) into a false shot resulting in a catch to W. Grocott, team reduced to 142/5. Cartmell, who was in for Bell was joined by Rowe. The new pair were watchful for a couple of overs but ultimately broken when Rowe (3) smoked a Tim Grocott short wide ball straight to Harkerss at cover who was able to recover the juggle. There was a little discussion on our sideline as to the next to bat, before the result was to send out the hopelessly out of form Pickle with the dodgy knee ahead of Mendis. Turns out it worked out as the pair worked well together from the start of the 32nd right through to to final ball of the innings pushing that all important total from 157/6 to 228/6, Simon trusting his timing and the calls of his partner to dominate the strike on his way to 63* (45). Steve, for his part, played with a goal in mind found his drive and got to 20* (14). This total represented our best effort this season. Morrison best of the bowlers 8/1/27/3.

On to the second half of the game, with Easts getting off to a bit of a flier. Seaton also found the classy drive early, dealing in boundaries combined with Leys to have them 21 off the first 3 before Rowe and Mendis adapted and found their lines and lengths. Mendis struck first clipping the top of off stump to remove Rob for 4 in the sixth over. This introduced Smith to the middle to access conditions. Rowey accounted for Murray adjudged LBW for 24, allowing Harkerss to have a go. At this point East were 28/2 and it would be a long time before the next wicket fell. We definitely let ourselves down at this point our hands not being correctly set up for multiple easy chances resulting in Easts getting to 90/2 at the drinks break. Pickle and Kapralos working in conjunction at this point, got a stroke of luck from the pitch that had been threatening it all day Harkerss unlucky to be the subject of a pitch anomaly bowled for 33. Grocott junior joins Smith with the score at 101 but needing to up the ante. Kapralos being the target for the up the rate motion but did manage to remove Smith, LBW, for an impressive 45 in rapidly deteriorating conditions. When Pickle accounted for Will (LBW 22) and Waldron (Bowled 1) the contest was effectively over but Morrison and T Grocott continued to try to make inroads. Hume and Millar were trusted with the final 7 overs (which turned into 8 with a glitch to the matrix that was the scoring book). Hume messed up the woodwork of first Morrison (10) then O'Connell (0), leaving Grocott not out 21 and Cottam 4* with Easts Black 178/8. Pickle 8/2/20/3 and Hume 4/0/14/2.

A shortened after match gathering as the heavens opened up to discuss events but many fines to be collected as reflective of the game...

Steve van Grunsven

MP Bombay Tandoor T20 vs Burnside @ Nunweek (Loss)

No report.

Article added: Wednesday 14 February 2024