It was a tough day at the office for 5 of the 7 Sporting Edge MPCC sides on Saturday with the shining lights being both 4A sides who were able to come away with a win from their respective games. Senior A & 2B will both be looking for much improved batting performances on Day 2 of their latest matches and MP Identity Signs Presidents face an important top of the table clash with BWU Foxes after having lost their first game of the season (against Hornby) and thus setting up a nailbiting last 3 weeks as they fight for a 3rd consecutive grade win! Good luck to all sides for their games this coming Sunday.

  Sporting Edge MPCC once again congratulates Nathan Columbus who passed 50 wickets for the season on Saturday with his 5/59 against Heathcote on Day 1. This was Nathan's 5th 5 wicket bag of the season and his 4th in his last five innings!!

  Having passed 1000 runs for MPCC exactly a month ago Sporting Edge MPCC again congratulates MP LBJ 3D skipper and current Club Captain, Joel Singer whose 2 for 3 off his 1 over bowled on Saturday saw him take his 100th wicket for the club in a close 9 run loss to OBC-SNCC at Bishopdale Park.

Sunday 11th March Reminder ...

Please be reminded that as a result of the Black Caps v England ODI this Saturday 10th March at Hagley all Adult and Boys Youth Cricket will be played on Sunday 11th March this weekend. All junior cricket will still be played on the Saturday.

MPCC Prize-Giving (Friday 6th April) ...

  The 2017/18 Prize-Giving has been scheduled for Friday 6th April at the MPCC Clubrooms (Edgar Mac) starting at 7:00pm. All members and their supporters are warmly invited to attend the farewell event for the season and help celebrate the team and individual successes of 2017/18.

MPCC Team Stats & Award Winners for Season 2017/18 ...

All Teams,

  As we head in to the final three weeks of the 2017/18 Season it's time to remind all team Captains/Statisticians to make sure they have their team statistics accurately and tidily compiled in readiness for the end of season prize-giving and inclusion in the Annual Report and Club Website.

  Ideally the stats will be emailed to Patto ASAP after Saturday 24th March and hopefully he will have received all 7 teams info by no later than Tuesday 27th March. This will allow him enough time to update current records and compile the required information in preparation for the MPCC Prize-giving on Friday 6th April.

  If teams are using the Excel Workbook and have filled this out accurately then it should contain nearly all the information he requires. If not then please ensure that your statistics ...

• Are accurate, legible and list ALL players that played throughout the season (Please use player first and last names rather than nicknames).
• List scores of 50 or more and who scored them.
• List of 5+ wicket bags and who took them.
• List any hat-tricks taken and by whom.
• Any all-round performances in a match (for example 50+ runs & 5+ wickets).
• As there are club prizes for Best Bowling Figures, Highest Score and Most Boundaries this information is also required.

  Lastly can you please also send through the names of the players who will be receiving the Batting, Bowling, Fielding & Players Player awards for each of your teams.

  Most of you will already be using the Excel Workbooks and these make it so easy to keep your seasons statistics quickly and accurately updated, especially if done on a weekly basis. If you don’t have a copy and would like to use it to make things easier let Patto know and he can email you one.

  Hopefully teams already have this well under control. If you have any issues, queries or require any assistance please don't hesitate to get in contact.

  Completed stats can be emailed to Patto at any of these email addresses ...

• mpcricket@xtra.co.nz
• rkpatto@xtra.co.nz
• ross.patterson@foodstuffs-si.co.nz

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Match Reports from Saturday 3rd March ...

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

  The MPCC Sporting Edge Senior A’s hosted top of the table rivals Heathcote at the ‘Mac in a must win match for both sides to keep alive their respective championship aspirations. Heathcote won the toss and inserted MPCC on a damp track and it paid off quickly as Hawes (1) got a short ball from Sturgess that rolled to hit him in the shin in the 2nd over. Watts and B.Mayo tried to solidify until Watts (7) was the victim of a superb run out from local hero Charles Grey. Mayo (15) and Rich (13) put on a solid stand until both fell in quick succession to the spin of Horrell. At this point the wheels well and truly came off, with the dibbly dobblies of McConnell running through the middle and lower order to claim 5-1. The only resistance shown was by A.Mayo who scored a boundary laden 30. MPCC all out for 94.

  Heathcote had a tricky period before lunch to bat out and MPCC made it as tricky as possible, leaving the top order of Heathcote in a shambles at 23-3 with Columbus grabbing 2 and Hawkins 1. The session after lunch did not go the way of MPCC at all with M.House and Charles Grey leading the charge. The wicket eventually came when Hawkins resorted to bowling off spin and it induced a Joel Singer-esque swipe from Grey (38) who was pinned in front LBW. This sparked a small revival from MPCC who then removed Jawaranga (0) a couple of balls later. Overseas hype player Thomas Sturgess then came to the crease and began to live up to the the hype by scoring a quick 47. House was eventually removed by Columbus for a chancy 91. After a few more wickets Heathcote eventually declared on 209-9. The pick of the bowlers was Columbus with 5-59.

  MPCC then had a niggly 10 over period before stumps, which we saw off without any hiccups. At stumps we were 17-0 with Hawes not out on 10* and Mayo not out on 2*. Onto next week.

 Thanks, Rory “the walking wicket” Hawes.

MP Sporting Edge 2B vs OBC @ Elmwood 4 (2 Day)(Day 1)

  2B visited Elmwood Park to face grade-leaders OBC. Dave won the toss and chose to bowl, and we opened up with Mike Beattie and Chris McCloy. Both kept it reasonably tight early on, but we couldn’t get a breakthrough with a chance going begging in the slips the only notable chance. After 14 overs, OBC had got to 57 before Jono Collins and Dave (after an expensive first over) put the brakes on, going for only six runs over a six-over period. The pressure told as Jono struck first, bowling Hastilow for 37 to make it 66/1 off 23 overs. Jono rested after about seven overs and Mike returned, bowling the number 3 to add our second wicket to make it 84/2 after 29, and then Dave got one through the other opener Paltridge (43) to make it 102/3 off 33. Mike picked up his second bowled wicket (121/4) in the 39th over, as we continued to restrict the scoring rate, though Burns continued to pick off boundaries from anything in his arc. OBC went in at lunch on around 140/4, and we expected them to come out for the final 17 overs aiming to double that. Mike (a good 2-46 off 18) and Tribhuvan Sharma (0-35) restricted the boundaries but the batsmen found it relatively easy to pick up 1s and 2s, while Rosie (0-48) suffered a couple of expensive overs, so we went back to Jono and Dave. Jono immediately broke a partnership of 79 between Burns and Hebden, courtesy of a catch by Dave at mid-on, was hit for four, then added another bowled wicket, to reduce OBC to 204/6. A couple of overs later, Dave returned and also picked up 2 wickets off his first over back, thanks to a good high catch by Sharma at mid-off to finally remove Burns for 80, followed immediately by a ball that clipped the OBC skipper’s off-stump. With Dave’s student keeping out the hat-trick ball, it was back to Jono (4-23 off 11), who added his fourth wicket in the next over, before Dave (4-61 of 14.4) who wrapped up the innings with a slower ball that hit the stumps. OBC thus went from 200-4 to 228 all out in about six overs. Given the strong start, and the impressive 80 from Burns, we did a very good job of containing the runs and knocking off the wickets in the end, and left the field feeling pretty good about how things had finished up.

          However, this feeling didn’t last too long. Ash got us off to a great start by flicking OBC’s Prem quick, Jeffrey, for two fours off the first over, but Stuart Knox chipped a catch to point in the next over, while Harry Khan had his stumps disturbed in the third. Sam Gillespie joined Ash, and the pair started rebuilding, turning the scoreboard over pretty well through to the 8th over, when Sam (11) nicked off to Jeffrey to make it 31-3. Things got worse when Hastilow trapped Ash LBW for a decent 22, and then dismissed Srinath Basaboena two balls later in the same way. Suddenly, we were 37-5 and a long way from safety. Things got no better after OBC turned to spin, as Ross (4-5) cleaned up Jono (1), Micheal Rochford (14), Sharma (1) and Dave (2), all clean bowled, to take 4-5. Rosie (2) was last man out, nicking off to their other spinner and leaving Mike 11*, as we collapsed to 69 all out in the 29th over. Very disappointing as only Ash, Sam, Rochie and Mike showed any signs of resistance against some good, but not devastating bowling from a group of Prem-experienced bowlers.

          This left us following on with 13 (or as it turned out, 14) more overs in the day, hoping to come through unscathed and see what next week brought. Ash and Jono were sent out to shut up shop, but unfortunately Ash nicked off to Ross (who ended up 1-0 off 7 overs) on the fourth ball of the innings, and Knoxy (5) was beaten through the gate by Jeffrey. Jono and Sam came together and successfully kept out the remaining 8 overs to leave us 16/2 overnight, needing another 144 runs next week to make OBC bat again. Well and truly up against it, but we’ll regroup and look to fight back next week.

          Dave M.

MP Little Brown Jug 3D vs OBC-SNCC @ Bishopdale 1 (Loss)

No match report supplied by this team.

MP Accessman 4A vs Richmond Blue @ Woolston 2 (Win)

  It was with great anticipation that we headed to the picturesque Woolston Park to meet Richmond Blue on Saturday. It was then with great disappointment that we gazed upon a paddock that would have satisfied a flock of hungry sheep for many days. And it was with even greater despair that we headed off to our replacement ground which was, of all places....our nemesis Nunweek Park! Anyhoo, we sucked it up and, 40 minutes late, won the toss, deciding to bowl for a change. Taking full advantage of bowling first on the horror that is Nunweek, we bowled with good control and discipline. Sam and Kumar bowled well up front, with Sam returning miserly figures of 1/23 from his 8, and Kumar 2/32 from his. Faiz was again a real handful, taking 1/16 off his 4. Ricky bowled superbly, with standout figures of 1/17 ffrom his 8. The best bowling performance, however, was probably from Malcolm, who finally took up the ball, and returned 1/9 from his 6 overs. Other highlights included Malcolm taking his second catch of the season, Kieran with a very sharp stumping, and Dean a run out with a direct throw from third man. While our bowling was good, our catching left a lot to be desired. Aside from a couple of drops, there were a number of occasions where a lack of calling and/or commitment meant we didn't even attempt to make the catch. In the end Richmond limped through to 115/8 off their 40 overs.

  Our batting opened with myself and Darren, and unfortunately I carried on my recent abysmal form, getting out early on with not much on the board. Ricky didn't hang around long, and neither did Faiz. All through that, however, Darren continued on continuing on, and was joined by Sam, who played exceedingly well (with a straight bat, no less!) for his 11 not out. The two of them saw us through to the victory, with Darren left not out on a fine 70, which included some potentially lethal tracer bullets to the boundary. So we ended the game 118/3 in the 31st over - an extremely pleasing win, with good bowling finished off by a fine 4th wicket partnership.

Cheers, Richard.

MP 4A Rebels vs Riccarton Warriors @ Spreydon Dom.1 (Win)

  MP took on Riccarton Warriors at Spreydon Domain 1 with Timba taking over the leadership from John Costello and winning the all important toss. At drinks RW were 5-74 with a couple of great spells of bowling, in particular Andrew Anderson bowling 6 overs of mostly yorkers to take 2/5 with a spectacular one-handed caught and bowled off his ankles. Shane Seelen picked up 2/26 from 5 before being forced to have a spell with a calf strain. Sam Gardner brought a mixed bag with him but did eventually find some consistency and picked up 1 before drinks then another 2 rapidly after - 3/17 off 7.4.  Shane Flattery had the ball on a string and toyed with the batsmen before grabbing a brace and finishing with 2/7 off 4. Some great catches from Anderson, Watts, and Hall x2 (wk) backed up by some superb fielding and a spectacular run out with a direct hit by Glen Martin had RW out  for 89, 7 overs after drinks - a period in which we took 5/15. Their opener top scored with 51. 

  Batting for MP, Sam Roose 1, Shane Seelen 21, Shane Flattery 18, Cameron Hall 6, Rafe Bjork 11, Craig Dacombe 15*, Glen Martin 0, Hamish O’Malley 0, Andrew Anderson 7*. Tim Watts and Sam Gardner not required. Highlights of the batting were the lifted shot over cover for 4 by Cam Hall and the patience and gritty determination by Dacombe and Flattery to get us through a very tough period then Andrew Anderson’s cameo at the death. We won with an over and 3 wickets to spare. Tremendous effort by all today. Player of day Andrew Anderson for his super bowling effort, fielding and not getting out. Well done lads.

Timba. 

MP Accessman Presidents vs BWU Foxes @ Burnside 4 (Loss)

  MP Accessman fronted up to Burnside Park to take on the gentlemen from the Burnside Foxes (obviously). Crash had the better of me at the toss and dictated first use of the pitch to have a bat. I opened up with Crimpy and Winz with the ball and we almost had a wicket first ball, unfortunately Boycey may not have been paying attention and put down a relatively easy chance at mid-wicket, but all good, my boys kept that run rate down and picked up a couple of wickets in the process... 12 overs 31/2, Kennedy (6) and Shackleton (4) back in the shed. Marty Conway then went to town, dining on some unusual short bowling from Pickle, whom is not available for comment at the moment, while Matt Everest played well knocking it round and rarely looking in trouble. When Winzy bowled out his allotment of 8/1/26/2, I played the "spin" card, bringing in Paul Dearsley, the “Wedding Singer” (to now be known as “Disco”) to partner myself where it turned into a I set them up he knocks them down situation. I'm not sure deceiving is the word but wandering down the pitch and missing the ball three times allowing Muzz (note: first time sober) to effect three stumpings was inexplicable from the middle order that had all looked solid in their own right. Conway (42) was caught well by Big G, Crash (13) took on that spin and missed out, Roy was a wanderer and eventually so was Everest (but as I indicated a classy 58 to his name). Disco's figures 8/0/53/4 a good return on that deck. A continuation of the slower bowlers ensued when both Strachan and Hume picked up a wicket each even though they both took a bit of tap, Buchanan (16) and O'Keefe (14). When I brought back Crimpy to finish up, he found the range early and knocked over the tail 7.3/1/15/2, Clare (19) and second Shackleton (5). I can now say I was in a team that have bowled out the vaunted Foxes batting side and am rather happy about that. Pity we let the cat out of the bag and conceded 203 on a wearing track.

  Muzz had to leave early so we played around with the lineup and had him and Winzy opening up to face O'Keefe and Wheeler (whom Muzz (11) took a liking too). The bowlers both bowled out with contrasting fortunes, Dan 8/2/38/4 and Mike 8/0/30/0. The stand out O'Keefe coming in quick and honing in on the stumps making a mockery of my top order (exacting revenge upon Humey after getting smacked over cover for 6 to have him out driving down the ground for 14). The score 28/4 after 11 brought Pickle to the crease to join Gavey and this pair brought a little sanity to the game, as we pushed it up to 73 a couple of balls before drinks. Disaster struck when Shooter played all over the top of a in-ducker, middle stump tilted back for 41. Disco Dearsley started his inning after drinks and looked and acted solid while Pickle (16), after hitting a boundary over cover, was deceived by Crash and had to exit via LBW (again). 36 runs later the last of the resistance was lost and we were consigned to an 84 run loss. Disco (8), Big G (8), Boycey (1) and Crimpy (13), left Skudz to fend for himself stranded on 8*. Buchanan being the prime recipient of wickets 6/0/11/3. Once again a lack of application in the batting turned a (slightly) possible win into a non contest, but to be fair Burnside stuck to their guns and almost always had an answer to what we had to throw at them. Our M.O.M. was Disco for his 4 for (pinching it off Muzz (for his outstanding keeping and opening antics)) due to the matter of a dropped catch (which would of made it 5) by Muzz.

Cheers, Pickle.

MP Identity Signs Presidents vs Hornby @ Edgar Mac 2 (Loss)

No match report supplied by this team.

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Sunday 11th March:

• MP Sporting Edge Sen.A vs Heathcote @ Edgar Mac 1 (2 Day)
• MP Sporting Edge 2B vs OBC @ Elmwood 4 (2 Day)
• MP Little Brown Jug 3D vs Parklands @ Parklands Dom.1
• MP Accessman 4A vs St Albans @ Barrington 1
• MP 4A Rebels vs Richmond Gold @ Barrington 2
• MP Identity Signs Presidents vs BWU Foxes @ Bishopdale 1
• MP Accessman Presidents vs ECS Blue @ 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
• Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc
• When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Facebook ...

Both the Senior and Junior sections of MPCC can be found on Facebook ....

• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Cricket Club
• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Junior Cricket Club
• Be sure to "LIKE" both pages.

If you have any queries send us an email to mpcricket@xtra.co.nz