Congratulations to Mark Hume (5006) whose 25 runs on Saturday for MP Robbies Gold Presidents in a loss against Sumner took him past 5000 career runs for MPCC. Humey is the 12th player for the club to achieve this milestone.

  Congratulations to Richie Mayo (5003) whose 4 runs on Saturday for MP Robbies Gold Presidents in a loss against Sumner took him past 5000 career runs for MPCC. Richie is the 13th player for the club to achieve this milestone after team mate Mark Hume had become the 12th earlier in the same innings

  Congratulations to Jacob Wilson (102) whose spell of 4/43 helped the MP Sporting Edge Championship XI take a 2 run 1st innings lead against OBC at Elmwood Park on Saturday and took him past 100 career wickets for MPCC. Unfortunately OBC won the game outright by a single wicket in a close contest.

  Congratulations to MP Robbies Blue Presidents stalwart Stewart Rooney (2005) whose 41 in a win against Sumner on Saturday took him past 2000 Presidents Grade runs for MPCC, the 4th player to achieve the milestone.

Division 1 One-Day Final ...

  MP Sporting Edge Div.1 have earnt themselves a place in the One-Day Final against Sydenham with the game scheduled to be played on Saturday 21st December. Start time for the match is 10:30am which will be played on Sydenham Park 1. It would be great to see as many supporters as possible down at the park so get along if you can.

MPCC Six-A-Side Tournament ...

  The Sporting Edge MPCC Six-A-Side Tournament has been scheduled for Sunday 19th January, 2020 at Edgar Mac. Games will start at 12:00pm. Entry is $10:00 per person. Maximum of 2 Senior & 2 Div.1 players per team. Get your team together and register asap with Jono Collins or Sam Gillespie. Bar & BBQ will be operating throughout the day.

Chairman's Cup Availability ...

  Sporting Edge MPCC are scheduled to play St Albans at Hagley 2 on Sunday 26th January which will see the winner of this game playing either Heathcote or Sumner in the Final on Sunday 2nd February (venue to be drawn by lot).

  Anyone wishing to make themselves available for Chairman's Cup selection should contact MPCC Club Captain, James "Comet" Duncan either in person, by direct message or emailing him at jamesduncan6067@gmail.com

Life Members/Past Players Day ...

  Last Sunday hosted the Merivale Papanui Life Members/Past Players Day. Following a quick beer and catch up while watching the semi-final on the number one we headed down for a 30 over game of our own. With a few players from the Life Members team running late it was decided that they will have a bat first. Captain Matt Harrington opened up with Mark Hume, things obviously hadn’t changed over the years with Harrington struggling to get anything off the block while Humey was still a pleasure to watch. Opening the bowling for the Past Players was Craig Courtis (playing his first game at Edgar Mac for 20 years) who looked as if he was still playing regularly with some impressive pace from the big left armer. Russell Chapman bowled well at the other end keeping things tight. With the change of bowling to Chris McCloy’s left arm pies, Harrington decided it was time to start playing the actual format rather than his test match approach. Unfortunately, his slog sweep ended up straight down deep mid-wicket’s throat. Richie Mayo in at 3 had his usual positive approach throwing the willow at anything within reach of his wee arms. Henry was in at 4 and went about working singles while Hume was putting the ball all around the park. Hume retired at 40* and was replaced by Andrew Saunders. Unfortunately, this wasn’t to last long as Pixie had to retire early on 3* protecting a suspect hamstring. Cliff Watts was in next at 6 and put on a decent partnership with Henry before they both retired on 30 at the 20 over mark. Darren Leigh was quick to fall to a Craig Dacombe special bringing Collins and Devereux together. Neither of these batters was particularly interested in running hard so stuck with swinging across the line to get the run rate up. Devo hit a nice 6 against the returning McCloy before Collins put Nana and Mayo over the rope. Devo eventually missed a straight one, Collins retired on 35 soon after and Berry decided bowling was more his thing. Winchester and Hume both came out of retirement and Hume got the pleasure of watching Henry bat out the final over from the non-strikers perspective to see some good Sunday cricket styled batting. Life Members finished 217-6 off their 30.

  In the run chase the Past Players opened up with current players Dean August and Joel Singer, after a testing spell from veteran Malcolm Leigh, the openers were given some rubbish bowling from Darren Leigh and Jono Collins to hit around. After being hit into the trees first ball then being hit into the local playground the next ball Jono decided he might return to retirement with the ball. Singer batted well before retiring on 36. August fell to Steve Berry for 26, skipper Chris Fitzgerald was in at 3 and linked up well with fellow 5-footer Jamie O’Connor to take the game out of the Life Members grasp battering all the bowlers all over the park and both getting their 30’s in quick time. Limping to the crease after drinks was Pixie who got the key wicket of Andy Mayo first ball and cleaned up Sam Gardner an over later. Cliff Watts had a dream come true and he got to bowl down wind and bowled a tight luckless spell. Richie Mayo was given a short spell and after starting promisingly forgot how to bowl, and made sure he got value for money with his 2 over spell. Craig Courtis started well hitting a boundary but tried to play a reverse scoop similar to what he had seen by Sam Gillespie in the other game but in his case missed it to be LBW. Chris McCloy and Craig Dacombe saw the final runs hit to get the win with about 3 overs remaining.

  Thanks to the umpiring duo of John Costello and Ray Pitcher for their efforts. All players had an enjoyable day with a lot of catching up and a very good spread put on as usual by Juls assisted by Kendal and some charcoal sausages thanks to Michael Beattie. Will be good to have this as a regular get together over future years.

Jono. 

Match Report from Sunday 15th December ...

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs East Chch Shirley @ Edgar Mac 1 (One-Day Semi-Final)(Win)

  After earning a home semi final by beating the same opposition in the final match of the round robin, Div 1 played East Shirley to decide who would meet Sydenham in the Final. Ryan won the toss and elected to bat first on a firm Edgar Mac number 1. Opening with Abhaya Paudel and James Vann, we got through 8 overs before the fall of the first wicket when Abhi was caught behind for 14, James followed shortly after for 2 with the team score on 24. Early runs were coming mostly from one end, with Easts opening the bowling with Regan Sheehan (10-5-11-2), a young left arm spinner who was very difficult to get away. In desperate need of a decent partnership to build a platform for the hitters to come, Ryan joined James Eder and set about the task at hand, the pair put on 70 for the 4th wicket before the skipper was adjudged LBW for 32. Jamie Chapman came and went quickly without troubling the scorers, bringing James ‘Comet’ Duncan to the crease. Comet with James (23), Kyle Sloane (13) and then Sam Gillespie (15) upped the run rate in the latter part of the innings with Comet doing the bulk of the scoring. He made an unbeaten 68 from 78 balls, an excellent innings which got us to a total of 209 for 7 from our 50 overs.

Going into the 2nd innings with what we felt was a good total on the board, we knew we had to be disciplined against a strong East Shirley batting lineup if we were to win the game. We struggled early on to find a good line and length, giving away too many extras and boundary balls. The Easts openers put on 44 in 7 overs before Chris McBride got the first key wicket of their captain, Jeremy Duncan, bowled for 16. Chris got the 2nd wicket shortly after when Brad Entwistle, who had scored 3 100’s in round robin play, was caught low down at short extra cover for 2 with the score on 49. With the power play and fielding restrictions out of the way, it was time to take the pace off the ball and try to dry up the runs through the middle overs. Sam Gillespie (10-2-22-1) and Abhi (10-1-20-4) did the job perfectly, both bowling 10 overs on the trot and picking up wickets while restricting the scoring rate. At 109 for 7, we were firmly on top but Easts were not going to give up without a fight! Sheehan (who was dropped on 0 by the skipper at 2nd slip!) and Nathan Breen (29) put on 73 runs for the 8th wicket before Regan was caught behind by Comet for 51 from the bowling of Cam Norton (10-0-41-1) who bowled an excellent spell towards the end to keep us in the game. With 3 overs to go and and 24 runs required, Chris and Kyle were brought back on to try and finish the job for MP. There were plenty of nerves on and off the field with a large and vocal crowd having built after the conclusion of the Life Members/Past Players game on the number 2. Chris bowled the 48th over, not exactly going to plan and allowing 11 runs from it. 13 runs from 12 balls required. Kyle started the 49th with a chest high full toss! Luckily for us the free hit next ball was not taken advantage of. Four more runs were scored before Kyle found the edge of Breens bat to have him caught behind on the last ball of the over. It had all come down to the last over… 9 runs required to win, 1 wicket in hand and Chris McBride with the responsibility of getting the job done for us, and that’s exactly what he did! Four dot balls before bowling the number 10 batsman to give us the win by 8 runs and earn entry into next week's final!

Credit to East Shirley who always provide a tough game for us, it was an excellent game to be a part of and the boys showed some great fight to get the win. Now bring on Sydenham next week! Player of the Day - Comet for his 68*, 3 Catches and a Stumping.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/806073/1st_innings

Ryan Hawkins

Match Reports from Saturday 14th December ...

MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Old Boys Collegians @ Elmwood 4 (2-Day)(Loss)

  With day one being quite an even contest, it was all to play for at Elmwood Park on day two. We started the day 10 or so ahead with four wickets left to take, Jacob obviously got the message as he dismantled their bottom order to end up with figures of 4/43 off 14 overs after his marathon efforts the week prior finally getting a bit of reward and giving us a 2 run first innings lead. Henry provided great support at the other end with 4/49 off his 18.3. OBC bowled out for 166 in reply to our 168.

  In to bat we decided to change our mindsets a bit, being guilty of going into our shells and batting ourselves into a bit of a hole so far in these two day matches. Lingy got us off to a quick start as usual, with Henry slowly getting himself in at the other end, Deeley came and went and Jamal provided Henry with support for a while making a classy 21, this brought Rory Hawes to the crease who put on 108 with Henry, with Rory doing the majority of the scoring he ended up on a very well made 68, good to see Rory back into a bit of form with the bat and hopefully the change to a more positive approach gives him the bit of freedom he needs. Henry kept doing Henry things (by this I mean hitting three huge sixes which probably took him to 4 in his lifetime), once Rory departed we decided to promote superstar Morgy in to hit some bombs, he fluffed around for a while until Henry was out for 86 off 140, anchoring the innings extremely well. This left Morgy one ball until he was told we were declaring, so he finally hit a six, 21 not out off 14. MPCC 236/5 declared, setting Old Boys 239 to win off 49 overs, which we thought was a sporting declaration leaving both teams in with a sniff.

  In to bowl we started with Morgy and Jamal, our seamers overall struggled on a pitch that was getting slower and lower, our spin and slower bowlers bowled very well, unfortunately our quicker seamers only got 13.2 overs in between Beattie, Morgy & Jacob going for 101 runs for no wickets off just over 13 overs, Jamal and Henry were the top performers in our second stint bowling, Jamal 4/65 off 19 and Henry, what a star he is, 5/71 off 13 overs ending the match with 9 wickets and 103 runs to his name, and a boat load of MVP points. Unfortunately with little support for our front line bowlers we were struggling at the latter end of our innings, OBC getting the job done with a couple of overs to go and only one wicket in hand.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/802255/1st_innings

Mike Beattie

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs East Chch Shirley @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20)(Loss)

  Boasting a 14 game winning streak in T20's and looking to continue it, we hosted East Shirley for what would be a precursor to Sunday’s semi-final. Losing the toss we got what we wanted anyway which was a bowl. Sloane and Chris in traditional fashion started us off. Their top order managed to get a couple away before McBride made the breakthrough in the 5th over. Sam taking a great "diving" catch to his left. Chris then had another with Eder the recipient of the catch at long off. Basa then after being dropped for the semi-final felt like he had something to prove and was beginning to make Ryan regret that decision as he managed a couple of wickets for himself in a more than useful spell. With the power play over it was time for spin to take over the game and that's exactly what they did as Abhi, JK and Sam combined for figures of 10-0-51-4 as East Shirley stumbled to 112/8. Although we were relatively pleased with this restriction, runs on the board can be a funny thing.

  Going out to bat Eder and Abhi started us off. With Eder coming straight back off for a second ball duck. This brought Ryan out to the crease and together with Abhi they put on 41 in six overs. This left us 70 runs to win off 92 balls with 9 wickets to spare. This should have been a walk in the park. However, in the next six overs first Ryan went then Jamie and so on and so on as we lost five wickets while only managing 24 runs. With eight overs still to go Basa and Comet occupied the crease for a little bit making sure we took it deep. They added another 24 to take us to 91. This took the equation to 22 runs off 16 balls. However when Basa went, Chris ran himself out and then JK got a golden the equation came to 14 runs to win off the last over with Comet clutch himself facing. Starting with a dot we needed something special and as Comet launched one long over long on for six and a misfield gave us four. The equation was 4 off 3 with one wicket left and suddenly the game was in our hands. It wasn't to be though as Comet could only find long off and they took a good catch to win by 3 runs.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/805172/1st_innings

Sam G

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs Lancaster Park @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20)(Win)

  After a close loss in the morning we faced a 2 hour wait to our next game. This gave us a bit of time to watch Singer bat on the back track. However, as they arrived a bit earlier than expected it was agreed to just get going and we started. Losing the toss again this time we were batting first. Changing the order around a bit we wanted to give a couple of players a bit of time out in the middle. After JK went early Eder and Abhi took this a bit too literally as the pair took us through to 50 after 10 overs just the one down. With frustration brewing in the scoring box Eder finally started to get going after being 5 off 18 hitting a few glorious boundaries and a massive hit over long on. When Abhi went for a run a ball 28 our afternoon replacement Ash could only manage six before Ryan came out to join Eder. James and Ryan finally managed to bring us through to 125 before James was bowled with 2 balls to spare after bringing up his 50. Sloane after a lot of chat on the sideline swung and missed before finishing our innings off with a single for a well made 1* (2). So we ultimately finished with 126 on the board.

  Coming out to bowl apart from an early wicket from Sloane we started off pretty poorly and they looked like they were on track for a large portion of the game. Once again though it wasn’t until the spinners came on that we finally managed to wrestle some control. Sam went for 14 off his 4, Abhi 17 off his 3 and the golden arm himself JK got two for two off two. At this stage though they were still in the game needing 8 an over. However, Cam saw to that and took three wickets in an over and brought the game to a close. A victory and gave everyone playing on Sunday ample time to go home and get a good nights sleep!

https://www.crichq.com/matches/806351/1st_innings

Sam G

MP Little Brown Jug Div.5 vs Riccarton @ Bishopdale 1 (Win)

  Div 5 played Riccarton on the hallowed turf of Bishopdale Park on Saturday. Gilly won the toss and in a move that may shock some decided to bowl after getting a little insider trading advice from head groundsman Kenny Rogers.

  We opened with Matty and Nemo who set about their task almost immediately forcing the opposition openers into a defensive mode from the first few overs. Nemo was the first to strike when he sent the batters poles into orbit. He should have had another almost immediately but it seems this grade has less knickers than a prostitutes tallboy! Matty and Nemo toiled through bowling good lines and we were on top apart from the odd wild swing across the line that connected and after 14 overs had them 2 for not many. After a double change at the bowling crease Bellsy and the much older acting Dave "Monster" Monger started a swingers convention and at drinks we were feeling good having them 5 down for about 60. After the break we threw the ball to Gaurav Sharma who showed all the skill and guile we know he has to strike twice in the first over. After this the innings kind of petered out and we had them all out for 109 after 30ish overs.

  We then had our turn to bat and mixed it up a little with Nelson import Stumpy joining Tribhuvan Sharma to set about the task ahead. They played the opposition out of the game with an opening stand of 51 before Stumpy finally fell for a hard hit 44. Sharma was next to go for 3. It was a wall like performance that Donald Trump would be proud of showing resolute defence and impeccable judgement when leaving outside off. We kind of lost our way a little at this point losing Mani (also promoted) and Nana but Patto and Hermit Crab steadied the ship to get us within site of victory and Bellsy joined Patto to see us through. 

  After last weeks debacle it was good to get back on the horse with a win. Pick of the bowlers this week were Dr Dave with 2-18, G Sharma 2-13 (5) and Bellsy 2-7 (6) and batting honours went to Stumpy 44 (41), Gilly 26 (25) and Bellsy 21*(20). 

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year. Good luck to the Div 1 boys in their One-day Final this Saturday.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/805938/1st_innings

Bellsy

MP Like-Minded Div.7 vs Sydenham @ Nunweek 1 (Win)

  Final game of the year saw us playing top of the table Sydenham at the very dodgy pitch located at Nunweek Park. After losing the toss we were put into bat. Opened up with Steeman and Gardner who came out positively over the first 10 overs. Gardner was first to fall for 12 quickly followed by Jase Steeman for 14. Collins was hit early in the innings in the head off a length ball quickly deflating the rigs ego. We managed to get to drinks about 60-2 looking in a good position on a suspect pitch. After drinks Laurent and Collins went about cautiously getting just 15 runs over the next 9 overs before Collins decided he had had enough, hitting 3 consecutive 4s before holing out for 23. 90-3 with 10 to go looked like a good platform to aim for 130-140 but the always suspect middle order did not get going with Henderson getting a first baller, Simpson getting 1, Anderson 2 and Seelen getting 4. Tom batted through this large collapse to be out in the final over for a hard worked 35. Sam McDonnell finally getting a go hit a single off the final ball to get us through to 112-9 off our 40.

  Bowling time and Dan Linden coming out with some very attacking shots had us worried the first few overs but after edging one behind we knew they didn’t have much batting other than him. Andy and Sam G bowled a great 12 over partnership to have them 22-6 with Andy being basically unplayable during his 2-9 off 6 and Sam steaming in at the other end picking up 4. With his hunt for the 5 for he made the mistake of bowling when the tank on the rig was out of gas and sprayed a couple of lots of 5 wides. Flats and Ash came on after the openers and cleaned up the tail with ease with Ash getting 2-11 off 4 and Flats getting 2-4. Sydenham ended up 45 all out off 20 overs. Back to back wins for the team and we finish close to middle of the table at the half way point of the season. 

https://www.crichq.com/matches/805951/1st_innings

Jono

MP Little Brown Jug Div.8 vs Riccarton @ Edgar Mac 2 (Loss)

  Finally getting a home game, the LBJ Div 8 team was up against the 2nd place Riccarton "Teluga Thunders". The pitch looked fantastic - hard and dry, which mirrored the outfield. So it promised to a be a bit of a run-fest. Sam lost the toss for the 63rd time this year, but strangely Riccarton put us in to bat. A strange decision that seemed to backfire on them, as newly promoted Joel and Dean got us off to a flyer. They took 27 runs off the first 4 overs, with the first 4 scoring shots being boundaries. Once they changed their bowlers, things slowed down a little, but we still went into drinks only 1 down, Dean caught for a good 23, and with over 70 on the board. Joel was fired by Sam "Trigger Finger" Brunie not long after drinks, after putting on 36 (including, would you believe it, a number of actually decent off-side shots. I know, right??). I came and went fairly quickly for 2, as did JT for 9. Patrick was batting well though, before being c&b for a well compiled 28. Jonathan was dismissed for 9, which left Sam and Max at the crease for the final couple of overs. Sam basically just swung the bat at everything, and was left not out on 14, but not before running out Max on the last ball of the innings for 6. So we ended up on 147/7 - a reasonably decent score, but possibly one that was a little light. We would need to bowl and field well to defend it still.

  So Riccarton's turn to bat. And.....it would be fair to say that the delicious tomatoes we needed to send down at the batsmen, so as to splatter their wickets, turned out to be, generally, succulent watermelons that they could see a mile off, which included watching them sail to the boundary. One of their batsmen, Sunny, was especially brutal, dispatching us to all parts on a regular basis. We simply could not get our length right, and were not helped by a very average fielding performance. There's really not much more I can say - the bowling figures speak for themselves. Sam - 0/43 from 4, Aaron 0/29 from 3, Jonathan 0/33 from 3, and Patrick 0/40 from 2.3. The only bowler to escape relatively unscathed was Max, with (under the circumstances) a fine 0/12 from his 4. But yes, those of you with a keen eye will notice we didn't take a wicket, and not a lot of overs were bowled. Riccarton reached the target in only the 17th over, without losing a wicket. It really was a disappointing day in the field for us, especially considering how well we had done in the previous weeks.

  Hopefully the Christmas break will do us good and we can start back in the New Year refreshed and enthusiastic.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/806102/1st_innings

Richard Judkins

MP Robbies Riccarton Blue Presidents vs Sumner @ Barnett 2 (Win)

  Fish's crew headed out to the picturesque Barnett Park to play Sumner. In serene conditions Fish, true to form, lost the toss (you would think he might have been more in his element being so close to the ocean) and Sumner chose to have a bat. Nathan Columbus on pitch inspection was pleading for Fish to bowl first so he was a happy man ... a portent for things to come. We dressed as slow as possible as a couple of members of our team were still in transit. Anyway into field with the sun shining and a tranquil breeze and Nath produced a couple of plays and misses in his first over before getting the prized wicket of Paul Russell who timed the ball brilliantly to the only fielder on the leg side, Grunter, who was able to absorb the impact and clasp the ball on the 3rd or 4th bobble. Sadly for Grunter the only contribution he was able to make for the rest of the match was moan every time a ball hit his hand and being the caring team that we are we left him at cover so the ball was passed through his hands back to the bowler as regularly as possible. After the early breakthrough it was a mesmerising spell of bowling from Nath, picking up 4 wickets in his opening 6 over spell with the only scoring shot being a lovely shot behind point from Sumner stalwart Ray Steele on the final ball of his spell. Amy Rendel (2-28) chipped in with a couple of wickets from the other end and at drinks we had Sumner 6 down. Amy deserved more but we couldn't hold a catch behind the wicket. By this time Donut had rolled up after a quick drive from Rolleston and a few beers in the car. He then proceeded to have 4 toilet stops during the course of the innings ... one for each can so he claimed (made me wonder how many toilet stops David Boon had on his (in)famous plane trip). Sumner's best partnership occurred after drinks with 13 year old Charlie Hoban playing some delightful shots in top scoring with 22. Mayo came on and promptly cleaned up the tail with 3 wickets in 3 overs (3-7) and Nath came back to grab the last finishing with 5-4 of 7.1 overs.

  Chasing 85 to win we lost Dale and Knoxy early, both bowled by Singh without troubling the scorers, before Donut and Mayo established the partnership of the match. Donut playing some sublime shots in his 41 and Mayo riding his luck with 39*. After Donut's wicket Stacky added to the ever increasing number of ducks in the game before Captain Fish finished things with a boundary. Early finish, some beers in the sun and the club song reverberating around the basin that is Barnett Park, led by Nathan Columbus of course.

https://www.crichq.com/matches/806065/1st_innings

Dave Harrison.

MP Robbies Riccarton Gold Presidents vs St Albans @ Hagley 3 (Loss)

  Robbies Gold played away from home this week, taking on Saints at Hagley 3. A hard and relatively bouncy wicket saw me having a bat first after winning the toss. I sent in Dakesy and Dearsley to start proceedings and had a cautious approach against Muzza and Eagle whom were getting the ball to talk a bit in the early overs. The fifth over finally got our innings going Dearsley knocking a few out of the middle and a lucky boundary overthrow producing 11 runs. A mix up in the next sent Dakesy back to the hutch, run out without scoring, bringing Hume in with the first target of 18 needed for 5000 runs for the club. Another slow start but adjusting for the pitch had him playing out an over before he climbed into Hill's first over by hitting back to back boundaries. He then took his wicket into his own hands a few times, chances not being accepted by Saints as he and Paul built a partnership. Picket fence for a while, but maintaining the wickets were order of the day, Humey falling just before drinks to the bowling of Mather, trying to whip one off the legs but missing the ball to have the castle disturbed for 25. Still target reached congrats to that man. I popped in for a couple and with Dearsley managed to get to drinks with no further loss, but a little on the slow side with only 55 on the board. After drinks we put a little more effort into upping the run rate, unfortunately forcing a bit hard when Paul mistiming a pull collecting the end of the bat and being caught by Mantis lurking at a short midwicket for 29 off Mather. Gavey (1) leaving, almost immediately (two overs later) playing the same shot to the same catcher but Griffin being the bowler. Stuttering now we injected a pinch hitter in the form of Badger happy after last weeks effort verses "The Cards", not giving himself a sighter tried to boof the first ball and getting hit in the process. Had another go next ball and put it to the boundary, not heeding the advice from his captain sitting flabbergasted at the non strikers end. In for a good time not a long one Greg got hold of a couple more before Griffin picked him up via Hampo's hand at that spot midwicket, seems we don't learn very fast... 11 off 7 balls. This brought Mayo to the crease also chasing the 5000 run milestone. Circumspect start had him making the required run off his eighth ball to the delight of all. A little bit later eye's lighting up at a wide half tracker failed to get it past Jimmy, departing for 4, Mather taking his third wicket. At that point we had brought up 105 runs in the 32nd with all the bowlers used being quite economical. Pressure building, Wadey (4) planted a boundary then was ambitious against Hill who was bowling superbly, bringing one back on him first ball faced, poles making a mess. 112/7 in the 35th. Que the fun and games, Pricey against St Albans... After almost being cleaned up first and second balls, we determined after sorts that more runs were being scored when Price was missing the ball as byes underwent a renaissance, contributing 9 of the 22 in the partnership, but when he did start to find the range runs came easier but much to the detriment of my legs. When Brad finally did get Price (8) to play on we had the momentum finally coming our way, and Crimpy helped it along with a run a ball 5* and I had finally broken my own shackles contributing a knock of 49* which should have been curtailed 5 runs earlier after being put down chasing Eagle's wider ball. 152/8 showed a significant comeback, but would it be enough to carry the day?

  Early on it looked like it, as Crimp and Dearsley reduced Saints to 29 for 5 in the tenth, some good catching being displayed early on, especially from Mayo and Crimp removing Jimmy and Reado with blinders. Then we had a slip that probably turned the match. Mantis knicking off to Crimp, keeper not quite being able to drag it in... Hampo and Brad able to control their impulses after that to safely negotiate the spell before drinks adding another 33 in that period. Once Crimp 8/0/27/2 and Dearsley 8/1/25/3 had thrown down their 8 overs on the trot, I teamed up with Wade to try and strangle the Saint's line up and we did pretty well, perhaps losing five or six bad balls between our combined sixteen over effort, with the bonus of picking up Hampo for a well constructed 35, falling to Wade LBW. 97/6 at the 32nd over and looking in control. However Mantis was playing well and Eagle brought some much needed aggression to the crease, which spooked my change bowlers. I think a tactical error on my behalf combined with a lack of match bowling cost us in the end as the boys struggled to find the length required to shut down Hill and Smith, a fine edge being the undoing of Eagle caught Price off Gav for 25, but damage having been done already. Muzza (9*) and a deserved 63* for Mantis finishing us off in the 39th over.

A fine game to be part of again, as we are expecting most games nowadays, drawing board calling out for more attention...

https://www.crichq.com/matches/805906/1st_innings

Cheers, Pickle.

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Saturday 21st December:

• MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Sumner @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20)(10:30am)
• MP Sporting Edge Championship vs Lancaster Park @ Edgar Mac 1 (T20)(2:45pm)
• MP Sporting Edge Div.1 vs Sydenham @ Sydenham 1 (One-Day Final)(10:30am)
• MP Robbies Riccarton Blue Presidents vs MP Robbies Riccarton Gold Presidents @ 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 17 December 2019