Nightcliff Cricket Club

We rolled into Nightcliff with a few dark clouds hovering above and fingers crossed that we would get a game in.  The pitch looked pretty good for which credit must go to Bobby Saunders.

Won the toss and put Tahs into bat which paid dividends early with Jeremy Kuru taking his first scalp for the club.  Tahs top order bats then put a few runs on the board getting to 1 for 102.  Whilst the scoreboard looked ordinary for us I thought the boys bowled well (apart from a few too many wides) and we were always a chance to grab a few quick wickets.  Robbie Wheatley, Michael Cranmer and Sean Kenny put some good dot ball pressure on for us which started their collapse of 9 for 38.  Robbie picked up 1, Skinner grabbed 3 and Marky Hatton strolled in and grabbed a lazy 5 for 18 off 5.3, which included 10 off his first over.  Hatts seemingly had the ball on a string and showed why current Australian VC Michael Clarke still has nightmares about his left arm tweakers! 

Luckily for us some ominous clouds drifted by and we were able to get straight into the chase.  Whilst Calky fell for 0 Michael ‘Les’ Cranmer looked solid before falling for 11.  This however bought Tom Foley and James De Terte together who combined for a sublime partnership of 98.  The boys hit a classy 58 and 56 respectively before Douggy Bracewell was asked to come out and put the baby to bed. Passed the target (140) in 30 odd overs, easily achieving a bonus point.

Tom ‘Prawn’ Foley collects the PTA for Round 1 narrowly defeating and unlucky Hatts and the rest of us look forwards to another challenge this week, playing Darwin at the Den!

Benny Mitch filled in for the captain duties this week as i am weak and was draged to a wedding.  Nothing much to report.  The deck looked like a nice flat wicket until the first ball was bowled.  The rain soon changed the result with the tigers only managing 3.3 overs before calling it.  

They sat around for a while, hoping for sunlight but it was not to be.  Tahs were very keen to call it and from all reports the decision was made as late as possible.  

RD1 = Washout.  Bring on RD2

A Bus drove away in the glare of the rising sun and full of collective hope. A Bus came back again carrying a victorious NCC D-Grade cricket side, full of song, cheer and beer.

After falling for the oldest trick in the land when he called the toss before the coin had left the hand of his Jabiru counterpart, skipper Johnny Fryar readied his charges for a field. Brad Hatton and journeyman Anthony Snell combined for a sound opening spell, which placed immediate pressure on the Big Birds (Jabiru) and should have yielded more than 1 wicket after an edge off Hatton’s bowling unfortunately found its way back down to Earth. The “Velvet Sledgehammer” Nathan Jury (2 or 3 wkts) and NCC Action hero Brion Foley (3 wkts) then combined for an outstanding spell in tandem to first dry up the runs, and then the wickets began to fall. 4-63 at drinks then became 116 all out as the Jury/Foley show continued, before ‘Danny’ Glover chimed in with one scalp and pocket-rocket Andrew Moore on debut dismantled the lower order with a few tracer bullet like deliveries, one in particular shattering the stumps and effects mike.

The NCC innings started steadily but after a few wickets Brion Foley (31) then steadied the ship and played a sheet-anchor role that almost saw the boys home. Foley combined with skipper Johnny Fryar who carved out a dazzling 44, to take the game right away from the Big Birds and ensured a happier bus travelling home. The baby was put to bed with some Andrew “007” Moore pyrotechnics (including a brutally whacked six!) and it was a merry Tigers’ outfield that travelled home again – save for a small outburst from the President following a would-be assassination attempt on the bus (later downgraded by the Tribunal to a grade 1 ‘icing’)…no culprit has yet been caught, but safe to say the Jury is out in this Who-dunnit on wheels!<

We played Pints this week and managed to have them all out for 188, however our batting let us down and we were rolled for 65.

Unfortunately, the Vaughan factor didn't quite kick in for us this game. Ben was looking very solid after a few overs but was unfortunately runout and Rick went cheaply to a very good ball. Apart from Todd Smith (20), Sean Pardy (15) and Ben it was fairly untidy batting all round. We also had a significant number of sundries due to everyone trying to find their line and length.

One good side to the game, there is some promising bowling talent among the new faces in the side - just got to harness it on the pitch! Ben Vaughan and Leon De Marinis did a good job sharing the keeping duties. Also there were two screamers of catches - one by David Garnham and the other by Ethan Wake. Ethan's catch was probably the best catch I have ever seen in E grade - sky high and a significant distance from him when he started running after it.

Wickets: Sean Pardy and myself - 3 each, Todd Smith - 2, Leon De Marinis and Ethan Wake - 1 each.

Todd Smith takes the PTA for RD1