This week saw the top two sides begin their respective 2-Day campaigns and both will be looking to end the 2017 portion of the season on a good note when their games resume on Saturday. Commiserations to the Senior A 1-Day side who succumbed to LP-Addington in Sunday's semi-final. Saturday 16th December is the last day of cricket for 2017 so good luck to all MPCC sides as they look to finish the year on a positive note. Hopefully we will see a good number of teams and their supporters back at Edgar Mac to enjoy the Xmas Party and farewell the first half of the season.  

  Congratulations to MP Little Brown Jug 3D stalwart Nick Kirk whose innings of 22 on Saturday against Sydenham saw his runs tally for the club become 1000 exactly. 

  Congratulations also to former North west Youth 1st XI players, Hugo Howard and Jamal Sukhon who made their Senior A debut's in the cauldron of the 1-Day Semi-Final against LP-Addington on Sunday 10th December. Hugo picked up his first Sen.A wicket in a very tidy spell of 9 overs, 1 maiden, 1 wicket for 21 runs. He becomes player #258 and Jamal scored 16 runs coming in at No.6 in the order and played some nice shots showing glimpses of his ability. He becomes player #259.

Sporting Edge MPCC Xmas Party Saturday 16th December ...

  All teams and their supporters are warmly invited back to Edgar Mac after this week's games for the Sporting Edge MPCC Xmas Party. Team Fancy Dress (with bar tab for the best dressed), Games & BBQ. Come along and farewell cricket for 2017!!

Match Report from Sunday 10th December ...

MP Sporting Edge Sen.A vs LP-Addington @ Garrick 1 (1 Day Semi-Final)(Loss)

  No match report submitted for this game. However a kind spectator has been able to contribute that LP-Addington apparently won the toss and elected to bat first at their home ground, a decision they were probably regretting after 9 of their 45 overs as the Merivale side had them 22 for 5 with Mike Beattie bowling the dangerous Van Zanten for 6 in the 2nd over and then Nathan Columbus claiming the other 4 wickets in a superb opening spell. Unfortunately LP-Addington's middle and lower order fought back superbly only allowing the MP side to claim 3 more wickets (1 each to Dimond , Hawkins and debutant Hugo Howard). MP still had them on the ropes at 116/8 when Pitts was out for a well made 41 but LP-Addington got through to an ultimately match-winning 168/8 after an unbroken stand of 52 for the 9th wicket off the last 6 overs from Hill (53*) & Campbell (13*). Best of the MP bowling was Columbus who finished with 4/14 from his 9 and young Hugo who finished with a very good 1/21 from his 9.

  Chasing 169 to win the Merivale innings never quite got the momentum it needed losing wickets at regular intervals throughout after a number of players got starts but were unable to convert those into an innings of real substance. Andy Mayo fought hard with 30 off 56 balls as did another debutant Jamal Sukhon with 16 off 40. Mike Beattie rode his luck at No.9 hitingt 23 off  17 and got the equation down to where MP needed 22 off the last 24 balls with 1 wicket in hand but he was yorked with the 1st ball of the 42nd over which meant MP was bowled out for 147 and an ecstatic LP-Addington claim a place in the Final against Heathcote after they comfortably beat Sumner in the other semi.

Match Reports from Saturday 9th December ...

MP Sporting Edge Sen.A vs Halswell @ Edgar Mac 1 (2 Day)(Day 1)

  This Saturday marked the start of the 2 Day campaign for the MPCC Sporting Edge Senior A team. We turned up to The ‘Mac to face Halswell on another scorcher of a day. Luckily, this time Ryno decided to bat first after winning the toss. After a patient start to the innings, Hawes was the first to go, channeling his inner Sam Gillespie and late cutting C Primmer straight to first slip. Knoxy was next to the crease and looked in sublime touch after hitting 50,000 balls on Tuesday and Thursday trainings. He timed a series of cover and straight drives until he was bowled by an inswinging yorker from Primmer. Bevan Rich came to the crease and he counter-attacked as C Watts at the other end dug in for the long haul. Rich found a liking to facing the duo of Barclay and Chatterton as he raced to a run a ball 40 before eventually falling with the momentum fully in the hands of MP. Andy Mayo tried to stamp his authority on the game but unfortunately top edged a sweep shot off the bowling of L Johnston. The special one, Mitchell Dimond then came to the crease and with the entire Mitch Dimond fan club in attendance sitting around a few chilly bins by the clubrooms he proceeded to put on a show for the groupies. By this time C Watts had compiled a well made 50, the glue which kept the top order together. However he was dismissed on the stroke of drinks, with G Barclay rolling back the years to hit top of off with a peach of an outswinger. At this point MPCC were 140-5 with 15 overs still remaining. James “the scoopologist” Duncan lived up to his nickname by treating L Johnston like a certain ex Blackcap (who will not be named), before he got seduced and hit the offspinner straight to long on. Dimond started finding the boundary at regular intervals and he along with the lower-middle order took MPCC to 257/7 off their 50 overs, with Daddy Dimond not out on 84.

  In reply Halswell opened up with McClintock and Pearson. As usual Columbus got us off to the best possible start by removing Pearson for 1. Jeet joined McClintock and the 2 went about building a partnership in unconvincing fashion with lots of top edges and half chances. McClintock obviously hadn’t been reading the news outlets in the UK as he eventually ran out of luck and was bounced out by hype player Kyle Sloane. Jeet decided that he didn’t want to carry the team and was dismissed the very next over by Columbus. Halswell were now 40-3 and we felt we had our opening. However captain fantastic, Leighton Johnston counter attacked and he along with the Halswell middle order put pressure on the tiring MP fielders who were not at their best, letting down several catches in addition to overthrows and misfields. Effectively a bowler down with Sammy the spider injured, Daddy Dimond was thrown the ball and continued his good day with 3 middle order wickets. Ryan Hawkins also also came back and took two with his second spell. Halswell were eventually dismissed for 221 and while that was probably par on a good deck we will feel we could have easily had them all out for under 200. Having said that, gaining first innings points is a great start to our two day campaign and leads against Halswell are always hard earned. On to next week.

Rory.

MP Sporting Edge 2B vs Hornby @ Denton 1 (2 Day)(Day 1)

  2B began its 2-day campaign with another trip to Denton. Hornby won the toss and batted on another hot day. We opened up with Jacob Wilson and Mike Beattie, and Mike got our first breakthrough in the fourth over with a ball that jagged back to clean up off stump. After 11 overs, we had them 3-30 with another wicket to Mike and a nick through to Steve Devereux from Jacob. After a few good overs for Hornby we got back on top with two more wickets, first from Josh Dyer (1-16 off 6), courtesy of a good slip catch by Mike, and then from Chris McCloy, drawing a cut from Dave Kennett that was well caught by Ben Gill at second gully. Another 30ish-run partnership was then broken up by three quick wickets as Hugo Howard, on debut, picked up a nick-off to Jacob in the slips, while Rosie (2-25 off 8) got his second with a bowled wicket off his final ball. Hugo (2-26 off 8) added another with an edge to Devo, leaving Hornby 101-8. Unfortunately, the tail wagged a bit, as the ninth wicket added 30 runs before Mike (3-41 off 10) had Andy Clarke caught by Devo, and then the tenth wicket added another twenty before Jake (2-22 off 8) wrapped things up with an LBW. Overall, we felt 151 all out was a good first innings result, with plenty of time to chase the required runs.

          We got off to a rocky start in reply, with Jamal Sukhon returning early after an edge to the keeper. Ash Reddy and the Crab then rebuilt for a while and were starting to look good before a misjudgement led to Gilly being run out for 13 (31-2). Unfortunately, this then led to a bit of a procession with some decent bowling on a tricky deck, as Ash (11) and Srinath Basaboena (4) nicked off to the keeper. 35-4 after 19 overs. Nemo and Devo dug in for a bit before Devo (3) also nicked off to slips to make it 38-5 after 24 overs, and things got worse as Jacob returned for 4, Josh for a watchful 5 off 47 balls, and Mike for 2, to leave us 49-8, still a couple of runs short of an embarrassing follow-on. Hugo and I stuck around long enough to get the score past that landmark, but we were at 62-9 when Hugo pushed a bit too firmly at a ball from Kennett (4-38 off 24) and was caught at gully. With about twenty overs left in the day, Rosie joined me at no. 11, and we dug in for a bit, leaving a fair amount and picking off what we could to bring up a 52-run final partnership. Rosie was eventually last man out in our 52nd over for a well-compiled 23 off 32, leaving me 37* off 59 and MP 114 all out – disappointing, but an improvement on how it might have been.

          With five overs left in the day, Mike and Jacob had a chance to ruin someone’s day 2 for Hornby, and Jacob got the breakthrough with an edge to leave Hornby 6-1 overnight, and 43 runs ahead. Lots of work needed on day two to come away with a favourable result, but with some grit and application with ball and bat, we’ll get there.

          Dave M.

MP Little Brown Jug 3D vs Sydenham Cardinals @ Barrington 2 (Loss)

No match report submitted from this team.

MP Accessman 4A vs Richmond Blue @ Bower 1 (Win)

  The 4A Accessman team met Richmond Blue at quaintly rustic Bower Park on a blisteringly hot day. Unfortunately, we lost the toss, and even more unfortunately (although not altogether unexpectedly) we were put into the field. What unfolded was quite probably our best performance in the field all season. While a couple of catches went down, they were far from simple, and were more than made up for by a couple of outstanding successful pouches. Trent, in first outing at the bowling crease this season, took a great caught and bowled diving athletically to his right. His figures of 3/32 from 6 was fair return for some good tight spin bowling. Faiz in also his first bowling stint ended up with great figures of 2/3 from 2 overs. There was good support from Kumar with 2 wickets, and Hari and Sam chipped in with 1 each. And once again our young keeper Caleb Cottam was outstanding, taking a fine catch standing up to the stumps, and only letting through 2 byes. The highlight, however, had to be the huge improvement in the line of our bowling. We have been averaging 20+ wides a game, but in this innings we only conceded 3. And it made a huge difference – dismissing Richmond for just 98 in the 24th over.

  So then it came down to the batsmen to do the job, and fair to say they did. An opening stand of 34 between myself and Hari was broken with Hari’s dismissal for 17, bringing in Dazzle and that was the only success Richmond had. Darren did his absolute best to feed the strike to try and help me get through to my first 50 of the season, resulting in a most unusual scorecard (for him) of a 3, a 2, and 15 singles. All of which didn’t help at all, as I failed miserably to convert. However, Darren and I knocked off the runs in the 23rd over, with me ending on 41 not out, and Darren 18. So, a 9 wicket win, and quite comfortably our most efficient and convincing all round performance of the season to date.

Cheers, Richard.

MP 4A Rebels vs Richmond Gold @ Spreydon Dom.2 (Loss)

  The 4A Rebels arrived at Spreydon Domain to play Richmond Gold on what looked like a flat track in 30-degree weather so after winning the toss local radio station Jase Steeman elected to have a bat first. Roose and Gardner went out to bat and found out quickly that the pitch was more like a 5^th day wicket at Eden Gardens. Gardner got us off to a positive start with some early boundaries unfortunately Richmond legend Kerry Holdem slipped one between Roose’s bat and pad to get the initial breakthrough followed up by Gardner being bowled after being deceived by a low bouncing bouncer. Having been as consistent as a re-released Michael Buble Christmas album Rafe joined 4^th grade icon Shane Flattery, they battled for a bit until Flats got out just before drinks. This brought in the broken and rejected 2B player Collins. Collins and Rafe created a huge Rig pairing that could only be improved with the addition of maybe an Andy Mayo like figure. With things starting to go down both dug in for a bit before Rafe was eventually dismissed for 10. Andrew Anderson was next man in and took to the spinners with Ramisetti-esk wrists, until he decided to go full Daniel Bushby and get out stumped being half way down the pitch. Glen came to the crease but was back 2 balls later bowled which brought together the sponsored GM pair of Jono and new recruit Hamish O’Malley. With 15 overs left and the team only on about 90 Jono decided to go big putting a couple over the Black Horse Tavern and a few boundaries being put into the local water ways bringing up his 50 in the 32^nd over. With the team starting to look like putting on a decent score, Jono (with a head the size of Kyle Sloane’s guns) fell trying to clear Barrington shops for 58. Trying to hide from a Richmond attack containing a couple of quick bowlers, Captain Steeman came in and joined Hamish. Having a reputation of being a genuine lower grade wall, Hamish really came out of his shell with some delicious shots hitting a few boundaries in the death, before running himself out in the final over for a well batted 28. Steeman at the other end had more chat going out there than runs and youngster John Costello finished not out 0. Rebels ending the innings being bowled out for 147 after 39.3 overs.

  Richmond required 148 to win and things started off poorly for them with 4A superstar Andrew Seederson bowling unplayable deliveries and soon picking up their opener caught at cover. Hamish put in a great piece of athletic fielding at about a Joel Singer standard to take a caught and bowled to have them 2 down for not much. Andrew took 1 more before being taken off at the 10 over mark. John “Sly Fox” Costello was brought on from Andy’s end and was instantly effective seducing the younger more inexperienced batters in an inspirational spell with keeper Hortin appearing to be a cat in a 50-year-old mans body taking 2 sharp catches behind. John picked up a 3^rd to continue his wicket taking form finishing on 3/24. After such a positive start the lads started to get Monger hands with a few rather easy chances being put down. Rafe was brought on and got a quick wicket before succumbing to the heat with his rig not quite able to handle the high moisture levels. Sam Gardner bowled an over with not much luck as Richmond took an uglier approach to the chase. They hunted down the score at about the 30^th over mark with Steeman bowing himself an over and going for “16 bro”. It was good to see both the new and the old contributing to the team but in the end lack of discipline at the top followed up by an average fielding performance cost us the win. MOTM went to Hamish for contributing with both bat and ball showing glimpses of his potential.

Jono.

MP Identity Signs Presidents vs ECS Blue @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

  Identity Signs MP Thirsty Fossils took on Easts Blue on the #2 at Edgar Mac today. Captain Fish the Big Mako demonstrated perfect tossing technique and chose to bat in the heat of the day. Ice clearly was not at home in the 30 degree temp and missed a full bunger on the first ball of the day. This brought the promoted Tonks to the crease who along with everyone's favourite Donut played effortlessly seeing off the new ball and establishing a run rate. Donut fell for 38 without having to run on more than a couple of occasions and Tonks top scored with a pretty 63. The luscious Bellsy played well for 61 sacrificing his wicket to ensure Tonks remained top scorer. Grunter made an attempt to spend another week in the company of the team 'buoy' through showing his support of the ACC and believing in the leave to a straight one first up but Ice's royal duck couldn't be ousted. A cameo from the Town Mouse saw us through to 245/8.

  Easts started brilliantly and had us under the pump with a bright 64 from their captain Kasan however when Kim Minogue got the key breakthrough things slowed to a crawl. From 105/1 at drinks Easts limped to 152/8 at the conclusion of their innings with the spin twins Snoop Lion Brown and the curvalicious Bellsy, bowling in conditions resembling the sub-continent, stemming the flow of runs and picking up wickets at regular intervals. Bellsy ended up with the sexy figures of 5/11 taking his 199th President's wicket in the process. Ding-a-ling!

  On a more important note my latest homebrew Smashed China Remix a green tea infused beer went down a treat gaining the approval of the entire team along with club legend Mayo! Now to brew something that represents this team for the end of year break up in Hanmer ...

Dave Harrison.

MP Accessman Presidents vs Sumner @ Bishopdale 1 (Loss)

  Accessman MP again had the hosting rights at the Bish, this time Sumner were the travelling team. The way this has been going I'm seeing a hell of a lot of kilometers in the second half of the season to be traversed. After throwing up the coin and having Paul call correctly, that sinking feeling had time to come to the fore as we were consigned to the field with the sky clear of fluffy white things and the wind playing hide and seek, a hot afternoon beckoned. Looked like it was going to be a long one too as Mr Russell dispatched my bowling partners to all areas of the park. Badger, after finally being able to make a game, had a dream start wicket maiden, only to throw it away, losing his line and length and forgetting to hit the deck on a couple of occasions, to be removed forcibly after his third. An inspired decision to take pace off the ball from one end (although to be fair there wasn't much difference in speed), Dearsley was introduced and gave me a maiden first up and combined beautifully with Gavey to tighten up the leaky ship. I let them compliment themselves through the first drinks break, and carry on until they ran out of overs. Gavey's magic foot proved the undoing of Russell, run out at the non-strikers end for a blistering 58, while Pauley set up Wilson (25) and Yock (17), finishing with good figures of 8/1/32/2. The dismissal of Russell allowed me to convince Winzey to come back (after taking a bit of tap), and he started to deliver the pie cart we have come to expect and picking up a couple of wickets to boot. I chipped a couple out to take the initiative back to have the Sumner lads reeling at 146 (ish) for 8. Then Pricey picked up his first wicket for the club bowling Davison around his legs, got the blood pumping, which turned to slow sluggish flow as some lusty late order hitting from Nuttal (24*) and Sherwood (9*) put on an additional 30 runs unbeaten to drive the score to 179/9. An excellent fielding effort from my boys, (in stark contrast to the week before (apparently)), even some accidental stoppage provided by Winz, in the intense heat. Que the cloud cover and cooling winds...

  Batting wise, was very reminiscent of the game against Burnside, wicket in the first over, as Davison found some rhythm and plenty of hoop, swinging it big time from the get go. By the time we had got to 40 in the 9th over he had snagged 4 for 5 and the top order was left in tatters, including the "Crazy Frog" Hume. A fight back ensued, Gavey not intimidated, got his account opened with a booming straight drive for six and had some form of boundary in his first six scoring shots to race along. Big G provided good support on his way to 17 and the 42 run partnership was only brought to a halt when Wilson latched on to a full blooded pull off the bowling of Fluff (Swampy, Marsh, take your pick). Pickle (batting well down the order) joined Strachan and after a very shakey start started to see the ball to contribute to another decent partnership. We got well past drinks making inroads into the score when Gavey picked the wrong ball to try and launch down the ground, again from Marsh, saw his castle wrecked but a commendable 58 to his name. A second wicket in the over started the nails going into the coffin, Fluff picking up his 4th in his eighth over to all but seal it. Muzz (4) tried his best under trying conditions, got too much under a drive played off Sherwood and spooned it to Nuttal in the covers to leave us 40 runs off the pace. Pickle stranded on 27*, Sumner bowlers winning the day, Davison 8/2/21/4 and Marsh 8/0/33/4. Despite the discrepancy in the scores it was a great game to be a part of, spirit of the game well and truly alive (pardon the cliche).

Best of luck for next week guys...Cheers Steve (a.k.a. Pickle).

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Saturday 16th December:

• MP Sporting Edge Sen.A vs Halswell @ Edgar Mac 1 (2 Day)
• MP Sporting Edge 2B vs Hornby @ Denton 1 (2 Day)
• MP Little Brown Jug 3D vs Riccarton Cannons @ Nunweek 1
• MP Accessman 4A vs Prebbleton @ Prebbleton Dom.1
• MP 4A Rebels vs Richmond Blue @ Bishopdale 1
• MP Identity Signs Presidents vs Sumner @ Barnett 2
• MP Accessman Presidents vs St Albans @ Edgar Mac 2

Subs for Season 2017/18 ...

• Mens Subs for Season 2017/18 … Men’s full subs to be $260 for a season if fully paid by 31 October, 2017 or if an AP has been established in writing with the Treasurer by 31 October, 2017. Otherwise the subscription to be increased to $300 for late payment. ($130 for students and team captains, or $170 for late payment).
• Womens Subs for Season 2017/18 … Women’s full subs to be a flat rate of $100 for all players if fully paid by 31 October, 2017 or if an AP has been established in writing with the Treasurer by 31 October, 2017. Late payment would incur a further $40.

Internet Banking ...

When paying your subs by Internet Banking ...

• The clubs bank account details are:
• Westpac 03 0866 0269318 000
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Facebook ...

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• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Cricket Club
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If you have any queries send us an email to mpcricket@xtra.co.nz