4 wins, 2 ties and a very close low scoring loss for the Sporting Edge MPCC sides after a fantastic day for cricket on Saturday.

Congratulations to MP Robbies Gold Presidents player, Paul Dearsley, whose outstanding spell of 8 overs, 3 maidens, 6 wickets for 18 runs in a win against Lancaster Park on Edgar Mac 1, Saturday 2nd November was Paul's maiden 5-wicket bag for MPCC. His bowling and 21 with the bat also saw him adjudged Metro's Presidents Grade "Joe's Garage Performance of the Week"

Congratulations also to MP Robbies Gold Presidents skipper Steve Van Grunsven (1025) whose 65 not-out against Lancaster Park on Edgar Mac 1 on Saturday helped his side set a match winning total and saw him become the 7th Sporting Edge MPCC batsman to have scored 1000 Presidents Grade runs for the club.

  Finally the Championship side welcomed another english visitor to it's ranks on Saturday. James Deeley has arrived with a reputation as a handy batsman and made his Senior debut in the win against St Albans in which he scored 2 and will be looking for bigger innings in the games to come. James becomes player #272

MPCC Single-Wicket Competition ...

Sporting Edge MPCC will be holding a Single-Wicket competition on Sunday 24th November at Edgar Mac (12:00pm Start). Entry Fee $10 per player. To enter register at the clubrooms or contact Jono Collins. Challenge your team and club mates and earn the bragging rights along with other prizes. Get amongst it!!

Match Reports from Saturday 2nd November ...

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs St Albans @ Hagley 2 (1-Day)(Win)

  With the sun out, the pitch hard and the outfield fast there was no hesitation when Henry won the toss, for the fourth time in a row, to have a bat. This was looking like a pretty good decision when after 30 overs we were 140-0 with Lingy and Henry both ticking along very nicely. However, when Lingy looked to pull a ball that was a touch full and was bowled for a well made 74 (94) it triggered a collapse in which 7 batsmen had their bails dislodged and suddenly we were reduced to 185-8. Henry the only other notable scorer out for 65 (109). This brought Sam and Sri to the crease with 9 overs to spare and they combined for a useful 63 run partnership to help the team post an above par score of 248/9 off our 50 with Sri finishing with 46 (34) only falling off the last ball of the innings. This was the first time we managed to bat our 50 overs this season which was a positive. But, given the position we were in we were probably 30-40 short of what we should have got. Saying that we went out to bowl in a pretty good mood.

  After their success last week Jamal (10-2-35-1) and Henry (8-2-29-1) took the new ball and it didn’t take long before they had a bit more success. Srirag ran out one of their openers for a black duck, Jamal had Ryan James caught at mid wicket, then Henry had an LBW and suddenly they were 10-3 after 4 overs. This brought their captain to the crease who to his credit batted extremely well, ending agonisingly short of his ton with 96, and they worked their way to 88-3 after 20 overs. After Jamal finished his overs Sam (10-3-19-3) replaced him and instantly got the breakthroughs taking three wickets in his first three overs courtesy of some natural variation in the pitch. However, their captain continued to bat and as long as he was at the crease we were still a bit worried. The run rate continued to climb though and with the ball more closely resembling a potato especially after it was submerged in the river for 5 mins it was proving difficult to up the run rate. This proved to be the end as they fell quite quickly as soon as they tried to up the run rate as Morgy had a run out, Sri (7-0-33-2) took a couple and Jacob (2-0-11-1) finished it off and they fell 79 short. Shout out to newcomer James Deeley who made his debut this week and we’ll be hoping he has got an abundance of runs in him going forward. This win also keeps our extremely slim semifinals chance alive so relying on other results we’ll be hoping for a bigger comeback story than last year.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/785475/1st_innings

Cheers Sam

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs East Chch Shirley @ Burwood 2 (1-Day)(Tie)

  Our Division One side travelled to Burwood Park to meet an unbeaten East Christchurch Shirley side in round 5 of the One-day Competition. We arrived to find what looked to be a great batting deck and quick outfield on the small number two ground, it was going to be a tough day for the bowlers!

  Ryan lost the toss and we were put into the field. The East Shirley batsmen came out intent on scoring quick runs, and they did. At 181 for 3 at the halfway mark, the MP bowlers were struggling to contain the scoring rate. After drinks the skipper decided it was time to take the pace off the ball by bringing Dave Monger and Jacob Koster into the attack. JK yet again proved to have a bit of a golden arm, grabbing a sharp caught and bowled with his first ball and creating a run out off his own bowling an over later. Dave was able to keep it tight at the other end and for once in the innings we had established some sort of control of the run rate. We couldn’t keep it up for long enough though and the runs soon began to flow again. East Shirley batsman, Brad Entwistle scoring his second 100 in two weeks was the main contributor for them. Wickets were shared around and eventually East Shirley were bowled out for 323 in the 49th over.

  Into bat, we knew we had to try and conserve wickets early if we were any chance to chase down the big target. We lost our first wicket of James Vann for 12 in the 10th over, Abhi Paudel at the other end punished anything loose and went on to score a very well made 72 from 78 balls which included twelve 4’s and a 6. At the halfway stage we were 115 for 3, needing a further 209 runs from the last 25 overs it was going to take something special to get us close. Jamie Chapman took on the challenge, he had a few small partnerships with the middle order before he was joined at the crease by Chris McBride when the score was on 188. That’s when things started to get interesting! In the space of 7 overs they dominated the bowlers by targeting the short straight boundaries, scoring a combined 88 runs including seven 6’s (6 of them from Chris’ bat!) and six 4’s before Chris was bowled for 45 from just 23 balls. Mike Beattie came in and hit a couple of 6’s of his own, while Jamie kept on scoring at the other end. Somehow, we were now in the unlikely position of needing just 21 from the last 4 overs, with 2 wickets in hand and Jamie still at the crease with Josh Dyer. Unfortunately for Jamie, he was bowled for 96 from 68 balls (15 x 4’s, 3 x 6’s) with the score on 316. It was now up to Josh and number 11 Dave to try and get us the last 8 runs required for an unlikely victory with 3 overs remaining. Josh faced three dot balls from the off spinner before hitting the 4th ball for 6 over midwicket! A single on the 5th ball and the scores were tied!  Dave now on strike and all the fielders up in the ring apart from the one man out on the cow corner boundary…  

The game ended in a Tie, 323 runs each, what a game of cricket!

An amazing effort from the team to get so close against a very strong side. Jamie, Abhi and Chris all batted brilliantly. Work to do on the bowling side of things for next week but we will take a lot of confidence out of that performance heading into next week.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/785447/1st_innings

Cheers, Ryan.

MP Little Brown Jug Div.5 vs Lancaster Park Sunrisers @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

MPCC Div 5 played at home this week on the hallowed turf of Edgar-Mac. With another quality early season wicket from the curators king crab Gilly had no hesitation in batting first. Like a scene from Middle Earth we opened with Nana and Patto and yet again they put on a quality opening stand of 57 before Patto fell for a patient 13. Lancaster Park had no respite with Darren Leigh then joining Nana to push the score to 96 for 1 at drinks. We were staring down the barrell of 250 plus after drinks before disaster struck. First, Darren misjudged the length of Nana's legs to have him run out for a well compiled 52 (51 balls). It was a good innings for us starting cautiously before unleashing on the bowlers being especially brutal on the short boundary sqare cutting two 6's in two balls. Then at 106 Gilly missed a deceptively straight one to be adjudged in front for 2. 106 for 3 then became 122 for 4 with Darren being bowled for 40 with his innings including all the normal class and mastery we expect from him. Then it went from bad, to worse, to oops, to oh f**k as Bus, Eder, Sloane and Bushby saved the scorers ink and we were staring down being all out for under 130! Brayden Cottom then joined Bellsy and showed some great application in defending the balls that deserved respect while chipping out singles here and there to help the team through to 168 all out in the last over. The final total didn't reflect the start we were given by our top 3 and maybe a few work ons for our middle order at training this week. 

  We then took to the field confident after seeing the opposition bowlers turning the ball square that it would be a competitive total if we kept chipping them out. We opened with the pace of Sloane and swing of Bushby with great success having them reeling at 5-2 after 3 before a small partnership of a shot a ball got them to 26 before Bushby struck again. 26 for 3 became 53 for 4 then 5 then 6 as Eder got his first and Bushby got 2 more and we were well on top. At 74/7 I think our minds went off the job a little with our fielding letting us down a little and their captain teamed up with his number nine to get them almost within sight before falling to a generous LBW decision for a well made 40. After he fell we wrapped it up quickly securing our win by 32 runs, our 3rd win out of four for the season. 

  Player of the day was a toss up between Nana for his 50 and a vital wicket and Milky with his 4-33 ripping through their middle order with Nana shading the decision just. All in all a great day to be playing.

  Dick of the day goes to Gilly because while umpiring and seeing Milky face a ball and not get out quipped that it was now his longest innings for the season only to see him get run out 2 balls later without facing another. Nice one skip! 

https://www.crichq.com/matches/786388/1st_innings

Bellsy.

MP Like-Minded Div.7 vs St Albans @ Nunweek 1 (Tie)

  We played against St Albans at Nunweek Park, we won the toss and decided to field as we weren't going to put ourselves in after last weeks batting performance. Andrew Anderson and myself opened the bowling with Andrew not having much luck in his 5 over spell. I managed to nick off one of their openers in my 2nd over and bowled 4 overs in my spell. Next to bowl was Ash Steel and Comet's mate James Dalman bowled up to drinks with Ash struggling to keep his length consistent but bowled well when he got his length right. James was bowling well and was unlucky not to get a couple of wickets with a couple of dropped catches off him and a batsman who clearly edged it and didn't walk and at drinks they were 81/1. After drinks James bowled his final 3 overs at one end and Shane Flattery bowling his 8 overs in a row bowling out the opening batsman for 69 and finishing with 2/42. Next to bowl was Cam Rickerby who bowled really well as the pitch was spinning for him getting the guy who didn't walk for 63 and causing the St Albans team to collapse as Cam picked up 3/19 off 6 overs. After Flats finished his spell I brought myself on for 2 overs and cleaned up the tail finishing with figures of 3/8 from 6 overs and St Albans being bowled out for 170.

  So it was our time to bat and I was a bit nervous as we were bowled out for 40 last week so this week I opened with Jason and Sticky and with them opening the batting we looked a lot better than the week before until they both fell for 5 and 10. Next to bat was Thomas Laurent and Andrew Anderson who batted really well in the heat and at drinks we were 2 for 60 odd needing about 100 to win. After drinks both of them continued to bat well until Andrew was out for 45. We lost a couple more wickets and then the heat finally got the better of Thomas and he was out for 36 with less than 10 overs to go. Next to come in was James who hit a quick 20 before getting out, finally we needed 6 off the last over which Cam hit a four first ball then got a single so we needed 1 off four ball! Flats couldn't squeeze a single in and got out caught on the 5th ball for 17 finally our last batsman came in still needing 1 off the last ball but failed to do it as Cam was run out trying to get that last run and the game ended in a tie!! I was proud of how the guys batted this week after the week before.

Player of the day was Cam as his bowling spell changed how they batted.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/786596/1st_innings

Sam Gardner 

MP Little Brown Jug Div.8 vs Heathcote Tussocks @ Centennial 3 (Loss)

  A fine day greeted the LBJ Div 8 team at Centennial Park #3 as we came up against the Heathcote Tussocks. We were joined this week by Craig Dacombe, who was a welcome fill-in for us. We lost the toss and were inserted on a good looking pitch. It may have been good looking, but it proved to be a very difficult deck to bat on. Only two of our batsmen got into double figures - although it was notable that Craig batted for over 20 overs for an extremely tenacious 11. Max was the other double-figure batsman, who made 14. The fact that he hit the only boundary of the entire innings was also an indication of how we struggled to get any momentum at all. We clawed our way through to the 37th over where we were dismissed for a disappointing 72 runs. The only consolation was that we knew it wasn't easy to bat on, and that we had a very strong bowling line-up so we hoped Heathcote would also struggle.

  Which, they did! Only two of their batsmen made double figures as well. They lost regular wickets to some fine bowling and fielding, and at one stage they were 9 down with 20 runs still to get. This was due to outstanding bowling once again from Max, who finished 4/6 from his 8 overs. Not to be outdone however, and playing his debut game for us, KK (Karthik Kurapati) boweld beautifully and also took 4/6 from his 5 overs. Jonathan Abbott was finally rewarded with his first wicket of the season, ending with 1/14 from his 4. Craig bowled well for 0/14 from 6.3, and Sam also bowled well without reward for 0/25 from 7. However, we simply couldn't snare the final wicket. The last pair held on to score the winning runs in the 32nd over.

  So a loss by a solitary wicket. Once again we simply did not score enough runs, but our bowlers were magnificent and were backed up by good fielding. Hopefully, soon, our batsmen will be able to also get into the game and give them either a good target to defend, or chase down whatever they can restrict the opposition to.

Hopefully, soon....

https://www.crichq.com/matches/786301/1st_innings

Cheers, Richard  

MP Robbies Riccarton Blue Presidents vs St Albans @ Hagley 4 (Win)

  We travelled to Hagley 4 to take on St Albans last Saturday. Saints predictably won the coin toss and elected to bat on a nice looking (and dry) wicket. If you were writing a script on where you would like to be after 10 overs, this is certainly it. We opened with Columbus and van Tongeren. Both bowled maidens in their first overs and the battle was on. Nathans 2nd over was a beauty. He bowled Saints prolific run scorer Hampton (0) who thought the ball was missing his stumps only to see his off bail get knocked off. Two balls later he sent Mather (0) back to the sideline LBW. Just to top the over off he also sent Flavell (2) packing, LBW not playing a shot off his last ball. Three wickets in the over and we were fizzing. Tonka battling a bit of an injury went for 8 off the 4th to give them some respite. It didn't last long though as Nathan in his next over grabbed White (8) bowled and Carrigan (0), LBW for a golden. Nathan at that stage had 5 for 3 off 3. It was poetry in motion watching him bowl. Saints were 11 for 5 and we had visions of a very early finish. It wasn't to be though as Alabaster and Anderson-Evans battled and batted for the next 21 overs accumulating a partnership of 71 before Townrow got Alabaster (55) in another LBW. Cini finally induced a very patient Anderson-Evans (10) into a false shot and was well caught by Tonka in the gully. Towny trapped Griffin (3) in front with a full toss. He also picked up the last 2 wickets of Cooper (0) and Smith (9) caught and bowled. We bowled them out for 101 in the 34th over. The chalk and cheese bowling combo of Columbus 8-4-10-5 and Townrow 8-0-27-4 doing all the damage.

  Out to bat we went with Grunta and Knoxy doing the honours. Knoxy (0) only lasted 2 balls before the ball found his pad right in front of middle. Triggered by the captain. Ice joined Grunta and they started rebuilding the innings through some testing bowling. Ice (7) then got a bit keen, tried to up the tempo and got his leg bail removed. 11/2 after 7 and we needed a partnership to set us on our way. Andy Mayo joined Grunta and although both found timing the ball a wee bit difficult at times they built a nice partnership of 44 until Grunta (32) holed out to mid off. Donut joined Mayo and they got us most of the way there until Mayo (36) basically walked on an LBW shout. With 15 needed Cini (2*) joined Donut (22*) and they saw us through in the 27th over without any further loss of wickets. 

  A good win against a pretty decent side. We were able to witness some outstanding bowling by Nathan. Three of the top 5 batsman got into double figures which has been lacking a bit so far this season. There were a few candidates for Dick of the Day. In the end it went to Amy who had a bit of a bra malfunction while bowling. On refection though it probably should have gone to Towny who claimed to have taken his 100th Presidents wicket when in fact he is on 99. The skipper is on 98 so maybe some tactical bowling might be in order next week.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/786659/1st_innings

Cheers, Fish

MP Robbies Riccarton Gold Presidents vs Lancaster Park @ Edgar Mac 1 (Win)

  MPCC Robbies Gold played host to Lancaster Park this week, on a glorious day on Edgar Mac's number one. Richard continued his poor form at the toss, gifting an easy decision to bat first to me. Missing Rob this week but getting back Dearsley from Raro, I gave the big man the opening responsibilities with Richie Mayo who gave us a slow but steady start up to the sixth when Richie (3) tried blasting Lomani down the ground not getting enough elevation on a crisp drive to beat Corry at mid off. This brought Humey to the middle where he and Dearsley combined for a handy 53 run partnership seeing out Lomani and Derham and the start of Corry, before Paul walked over a Corry yorker, departing for 21. Pickle came out and set about rebuilding a score with Hume reminiscent of last weeks performance, getting a little luck off Corry and benefitting from some wayward lines from McBride. We pushed the score to 99 when Hume got impatient and tried unsuccessfully to bully Corry over cover presenting an easy catch to McBride just after bringing up his second half century (50) in consecutive weeks, not bad as he was nursing some suspect fingers on his lead hand. Shooter (Gavin Strachan) next on the line didn't muck around hitting his first ball to the boundary (between first and second slip) then settled in for a bit adjusting the eyesight (first game in glasses) hitting the bad ball and keeping out the good. Some consistent scoring off McBride and Simpson pushed our score quickly up to 165 when things started to fall apart somewhat. Gav finding Corry on the midwicket boundary, leaving for a quickfire 35, giving Kerry his first, Price chipping down to Zack to leave with no score, Kerry's second. Wade and Pickle having a disagreement resulting in a runout, Millar leaving for 7, Crimp backing to far off a cut having leg stump disturbed. Badger nailing his second ball to Quinn at cow, comfortably taken for no score, setting back our progress from 165/3 to 189/8. Simpson notching up 4 wickets bowling out his 8 on the trot. Skuds managed to pick the bones out of a short ball from Corry, but succumb in the end off the last ball, beaten all ends up, castle in disgrace, bringing up Tim's third wicket. This left Pickle forlornly holding up the other end 65* out of a total of 195/9. Simpson 8/0/42/4 and Corry 8/0/40/3.

  A good score, but short of what we were targeting halfway through our innings. A very good score in the face of the start my opening bowlers gave me... Tim and Ben having the wrong end of the stick against Crimp and Dearsley, not giving themselves time to get used to the pitch which wasn't as quick as they had anticipated, Dearsley cleaning both openers up in his second over. Patel and Quinn brought together at 11, tried to counter attack with success for a small period of time, both removed by Dearsley and some great catching. With both Corry (4) and Quinn (18) removed relatively cheaply we moved into a position of strength and Park were reduced to defensive tactics which played into my hands. I persisted with Dearsley who didn't disappoint continuing to force false shots and picking up the bonus wickets of Richard D (2) and Stace (1), bringing up a career best of 8/3/18/6, magic. I held up the other end and had Wade take up the reins from the Condell Ave end, together we strangled most thoughts of a comeback, Wadey unlucky not to pick up a spoil, first slip shelling a couple. The only sign of resistance came from Wayne Derham as Zac got a goody from me, terminating off stump in my miserly stint of 8/3/7/1. Gav took over from me and had some issues finding the pitch, all coming good in his fifth and sixth to knock over the tail 5.4/1/18/2. Back to Wayne and his antics, a belligerent 32 brought to an end by a straight drive from Genet deflected onto the stumps by Crimpy following through. Park 90 short this time round with three overs left in the day. Good win and assessing the conditions well, Park unfortunate to run into Paul, who insists every dog will have it's day, took all he could to make it his... MoM not surprisingly going to Dearsley.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/786355/1st_innings

Cheers, Pickle.

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Saturday 2nd November:

• MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Lancaster Park @ Garrick 1 (1-Day)
• MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs Lancaster Park @ St Albans 1 (1-Day)
• MP Little Brown Jug Div.5 vs ECS Strikers @ Bishopdale 1
• MP Like-Minded Div.7 vs Prebbleton @ Edgar Mac 1
• MP Little Brown Jug Div.8 vs Riccarton @ Nunweek 1
• MP Robbies Riccarton Blue Presidents vs Hornby @ Denton 2
• MP Robbies Riccarton Gold Presidents vs ECS Black @ Edgar Mac 2

Mens Subs for Season 2019/20 … 

Men’s full subs to be $260 for a season if fully paid by 31 October, 2019 or if an AP has been established in writing with the Treasurer by 31 October, 2019. Otherwise the subscription to be increased to $300 for late payment. ($130 for students and team captains, or $170 for late payment).

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 

Article added: Tuesday 05 November 2019