U14s relish T20 format

Final club games for U14s this year were in a T20 format up at Morrow Park in Atherton.

The boys relished the social, carnival atmosphere, with all seven teams from the competition playing at one venue it was a great chance to catch up with friends and foes.

Our first game was against Mareeba Gold, an experienced team that had beaten us soundly on our home turf early in the season. Muddies were happy to bat first and sent openers Keel Sorensen and Levi Trewick to the crease, hoping to see out some of the fiercest bowling with their allocated 20 balls to face each. That plan didn't work too well with Keel being caught out after 2 runs and Levi walking with a waddle back to the shed after being caught close to the ground by a tiny but nimble fielder for the Mareeba side.

First drops Nathan Deuble and Brayden Wall came in to rescue the day and left the crease after a much more respectable 19 balls each,(Nathan having contributed a much needed 19 runs) both also being caught by well-timed fielding, off the bowling of Liam Bajsak, a Mareeba bowler with the very tidy figures of 2/4 from his 2 overs. Rex Hawke and Ryan Doble succumbed cheaply to the next bowler (Reece Thomas) in the Mareeba arsenal but the tone changed a little when Reuben Allison and Curtis White took to the crease. Curtis was able to retire on 6 off 20 and Reuben and Finn Stanaway batted out the remaining overs finishing on 16 off 30 and 1 off 9 respectively. After 20 overs the Muddies has finished on 6/68. This was not a score that Mareeba was shy of chasing down in the second half of the game.

After a few games of really tightening up our bowling and fielding work, this was not our best performance. Muddies bowling suffered from a bit of the sundries virus and a few of the Mareeba batsmen received second lives from our slippery hands. Wicket takers were Finn (2/9), Nathan (2/11), Brayden (1/10) and Reuben (1/11) off their 2 overs apiece. Catchers of the game were Nathan, Levi and Rex. Mareeba finished on 6/147 giving them a 79 run victory.

Lunch was a short affair as we moved fields to take on a team we had not previously played, Innisfail Storm. Innisfail was batting first and we had a chance to improve on our bowling performance from the last game, which we did, keeping the sundries this time to a much more respectable 14. Levi took an early wicket from the opening batsman, assisted by a catch from Curtis that put us off to a good start. Ryan and Keel worked together to get a run out soon after and we felt like we were on a roll, but not for long.... Innisfail had put 60 on the board before Keel was able to break the drought and take a much needed wicket with his handy catch off his own bowling. A bit further along Ryan followed suit with a caught and bowled that took care of another batsman that was putting way too many runs on the board for our liking. Reuben and Tex also contributed a wicket each, and after the 20 overs we had Innisfail at 6/135.

Muddies felt confident that they could run down this score with some effort and sent in-form batsman from the last game (Reuben) in to open. Luck was not on his side this game though and he went out for a duck. His opening partner Brayden however found his feet and was able to get into the swing of things retiring on 23 off 22 balls. Curtis (5 off 11) andRyan (9 off 13) contributed well and Levi made up for last game's duck by hitting the Innisfail bowlers around to retire on 31 off 22. Rex and Finn came in but copped some good bowling and nifty catching and promptly left the crease with only a couple of runs. Our last two batsmen steadied the ship, Nathan making 20 off 20 and Tex 9 off 14, both not out. Valiant as the batting effort was, it wasn't quite enough, leaving us trailing Innisfail by 13 runs, disappointing when we had thought it within our grasp.

We are all looking forward to resuming our season after the Christmas break and moving the U14Muddies up a few notches on the leader board.