By Roy Weavers

After the torrential rain over of the last few weeks it was great to see clear azure blue skies for the two games of cricket that were played this weekend for the Court House Hotel Port Douglas Mudcrabs.

The C Grade started the weekend with their game against cairns Norths on Saturday which was a game to decide who took home the wooden spoon for the 2009/2010 season.

Skipper Steve Doble lost the toss and the Muddies were in the field for the first 35 overs which proved to be a blessing in disguise as they managed to pick up the first wicket of the game in just the second over with a great runout after some superb fielding by Michael Armour.

The opening bowlers of Ryan Thwaites and Simon Cody bowled superbly early to keep the pressure on and created the second wicket in the third over when Armour took a catch off Cody in the covers. Only a few overs later the third, fourth, fifth and sixth wickets fell with Thwaites picking up a well earned wicket in his last over. Cody picked up another three wickets for his efforts and when he had bowled his last of seven overs, he finished with the very tidy figures of 4 for 12, and Norths were reeling at 6 for 37.

The middle overs saw Norths build a good partnership between Penny and Kroiser with the latter making a well earned 52. Steve Doble then brought himself on and immediately put a halt to the runfest and started taking wickets. When Doble took his last wicket and the last wicket of Norths batters he had taken 4 for 22 off just five overs leaving Norths all out for 134.

After a nice break from the heat and a scrumptious BBQ provided by Mossman Butchering Company the openers were determined to get a good start and that's exactly what they did. The first wicket came when the score was on 50 which was a solid start when chasing 135 to win in 35 overs. Darren Wall was the rock for the Muddies and batted superbly the whole innings making a flawless 54.

Ryan Thwaites also made no mistakes when he was batting in the final overs and with one over to go he and Simon Cody passed the required total and won the game for the Port Douglas Muddies C Grade team.  So after a tough season it was great to see the C Grade finish off with a win and ready to go straight from the gun next season.

The Court House Hotel Port Douglas Mudcrabs B Grade team took to the field on Sunday afternoon, again in extreme heat against second on the ladder Rovers who had beaten them earlier in the season in the One Day competition when Port had fielded only nine players.

After Skipper McConnell lost the toss again, Rovers choose to bat which was a good choice as late in the day when they were bowling the clouds came over and gave them some much need respite from the sun. Dale Arnell opened the bowling for the Muddies after a sleepless night from the birth of his new baby boy early on Sunday morning and started off as always with very tight bowling putting pressure on the Rovers openers from the start with his partner from the other end in Powell. However it did take the opening bowlers a little longer than normal to pick up the first wicket.

In the seventh over Arnell caught the inside edge of the bat and hit the off stump.  Four overs later he picked up his second wicket with Rovers on 2 for 21 off 10 overs. Arnell finished his seven overs with 2 for 5 with two of those runs being wides.  In the middle overs Rovers got away with a few chances when Harris, Powell and Evans all dropped Moeser who went on to make 60 which proved to be the bulk of Rovers runs.  Tony Gooding came on to bowl the last overs with Darryl Mison and with tight line and length started to slow the runs down and each picked up two wickets. At the end of Rovers 35 overs they were 8 for 132.

Arnell and McConnell opened the batting for the Muddies.  They were both eager for runs to remedy the shortage over the past couple games. McConnell pulled the first ball for 2 and looked to be in some sort of form. but Arnell came up against an off-spinner who opened the bowling miss-timed a pull shot on his first ball which took a top edge to point going out for a golden duck.

So again with the score on 1 for 2 Harris came to the wicket with a lot of work to do and hoping that McConnell could help out. Unfortunately McConnell received a beautiful leg-cutter off the opening bowler and was bowled for seven. From then on Port's middle order batters could not get on top of the bowling until Harris was joined by Manns. With those two at the crease the situation began to turn back to the Muddies, but Harris was judged LBW on 27.  Manns then watched as Evans and Mison fell on consecutive balls.

Gooding walked to the wicket with a determined air and took the game by the scruff of the neck and batted beautifully for his 29 which featured some great running between the wickets and one of his huge trade mark sixes. When Gooding was caught on the mid-wicket boundary Port were still in the game with 34 to win off 7 overs with 2 wickets in hand. Powell's first ball went for six and the Muddies players had some high hopes off pulling off a close win. In the next over however Manns was given out LBW for a very nice 22 leaving Powell and Schiesser to chase down the remaining 24 runs.

Schiesser held up his end very well and managed to turn the strike over to Powell who needed a couple of big hits to get the total. Unfortunately it was not meant to be and Powell was caught on the long-off boundary for 12 leaving Port Douglas 16 runs short when they were all bowled out for 116.

The Muddies have finished top of the table taking out the Minor Premiership and now play in the semi final over next weekend (March 13th and 14th) for a place in the B Grade Final at Griffiths Park the following weekend.  Come on down and support The Muddies attempt to get the finals for the second year in a row.  The game starts at 10am Port Douglas Sports Centre.