Muddies in strong position against Punjabi
B-Grade Muddies in strong position against Punjabi
Tuesday December 9 2014, 12:05pm
The Astute Financial B Grade Muddies hold a 184 run lead going in to the second week of their home clash against Mulgrave Punjabi, and need only 9 more wickets to take 1st innings points.
With the thunderstorm that hit Saturday night, it was unsure as to whether the game would go ahead on Sunday with the possibility of ground flooding, covers leaking due to car tyre wear and tyre and more potential rain Sunday.
However, none of the above happened and the game started on time.
Tossing the coin, Benny V had a shocker, with the coin spinning sideways rather than end over end.
Consequently, Punjabi won the toss and sent the Astute Muddies in to bat.
With the late arrival of Randy, Ben Gaske filled the void at opener, with new no. 2 batsmen Ethan McCullough.
Both batsmen looked comfortable against a new bowling line-up for Punjabi who were extracting uneven bounce from a pretty harmless looking deck.
Seeing out the openers, Gaske and Peanut were setting up to increase the run rate.
However, the slowing of pace undid Peanut, who was through his shot early, scooping the ball for an easy catch to short mid-wicket, with the score on 24.
Gaske then followed 1 run later, and Kingy was in and out with adding to the score.
All of a sudden, the Astute Muddies were 3-25. With memories flooding back of batting collapses past, nerves were creeping into the camp. But with the two highest run scorers for B grade Astute Muddies in the middle, things somewhat settled down.
Smith and D’Addona set about rebuilding the innings, working the ball through the gaps and running with precision.
With a new found confidence from his last two sensational games, Haydos then tried an uncharacteristic flick off the stumps, but only managed in getting himself out LBW.
The most “Astute” of batsmen, Simon Cody, then joined Randy in a patient 27 run partnership.
In the search for more runs, Randal called Cody through, but he was found well short of his ground.
Tom Goodall then made a quality 25 from 40 balls, but was caught trying to clear the boundary.
At 6 – 137 and only 18 overs scheduled play left for the day, the Astute Muddies were now looking for quick runs.
Taigy received a skidding ball trapping him LBW for 3.
Postons and Smith then added 28 runs off 6 overs before Randal was finally dismissed for a superb 71.
Ben V joined Gaz for a maximum of two and a half overs according to Captain’s instructions, but this only lasted 3 balls as Buckets was bowled by a slower ball.
At 9 – 175, BV wanted to get over the 180 mark.
The next four balls went for 4, 6, 6, 4, and then Ben was caught on the boundary going for another maximum.
The Muddies then finished at 10 – 195, scoring their last 70 runs off 13.5 overs.
This innings was set up by the superb concentration and patience of young Randal Smith.
It was great to see Randal finally convert a 50 after making two 40’s earlier this season.
With 7 overs left, the Astute Muddies wanted to gain the ascendency by grabbing some Punjabi wickets.
Deep nearly got the early break through, collecting the edge that fell just short of Randal at second slip.
Benny V then got an-swinger to the lefty to keep moving off the deck and take his off stump without offering a shot.
In celebrating this, Kingy missed Ben’s hand and smacked him in the temple, such was the enthusiasm of the celebration, the force of which left a sore head for the next few days.
The B Grade Astute Muddies now only need a further 9 wickets with 184 runs to play with to claim 1st innings points.
Punjabi were rolled for less than 100 last game, and with the Astute Muddies laying claim to the best bowling attack in the B grade comp, they are looking forward to getting stuck into Punjabi.
