The B Grade Douglas Muddies hosted the Mulgrave Toads in a home game at the weekend, and won by chasing down the Toads miserly target of 54 with more than 10 overs in hand.

In a technical loss of the toss (with Mulgrave calling correctly), Muddies were given first use of the ball, in what turned out to a blessing in disguise. Expecting good scores of at least 120 to win, with C grade Muddies played the morning game and comfortably chasing down a total of 99, the opening combination of Dave Johnson and Kaiden Sorensen set about making this target as small as possible.

Dave produced a near perfect start with a deadly accurate first ball, rapping the batsmen on the pads which everyone saw was hitting the stumps, except for the umpire down the other end. Not to be disappointed, Dave backed up producing a quick, rising ball that popped up behind square third ball of the innings, giving Kaiden his first of two catches for the day; Mulgrave 1 wicket down for 0 runs.

This brought Mulgrave’s premier run scorer to the crease. His stint in the middle was to be short lived with the combination of Kaiden’s tight bowling and Dave’s aggression bringing about many poor shots. The batsmen stepped up the pitch and Dave bowled a short ball finding the top edge that headed skywards towards Kaiden, whereupon he circled round and made a last minute outstretched grab, holding onto a great catch having Mulgrave 2 – 18. Kaiden then finally claimed a wicket after a dry spell with a catch to McCullough.

Adam Lucas and our top quality reserve Troy Shepard took over the attack with immediate success. Troy drew a false shot with his first ball of the season which saw Ben Vik take a low diving forward catch at covers. Troy then surprised the new batsmen with a full toss that he spooned to Logan catching in close. Luco, not to be outdone, produced his superb knuckle ball slower delivery that dipped under the batters gigantic swing, cleaning up his stumps. Troy then produced a splendid off cutter moving off the deck which took out off and middle stump.

This short burst then had Mulgrave reeling at 7 – 28 off 14 overs. Another bowling change saw Hayden D’Addona and Nathan Taig straight into the action, with both bowlers picking up a wicket. The 10th wicket partnership were doing their best to score and see the overs out, but the pressure of the tight Muddies bowling and fielding saw a running stuff up and a great piece of fielding from Troy Shepard that saw the last wicket fall to a great throw and run out to have the Toads squashed for just 54 runs.

Boasting their best batting line up for the season, feeling confident but wary, the Muddies got off to a shaky start losing Ben Gaske after he chopped onto his stumps in the first over. Nathan and Logan then set about getting quick easy runs, making the Mulgrave batting look dismal. However, Nathan played across the line to a full ball and was given out LBW: Muddies 2 – 9. Logan then continued on his merry way with Hayden, playing with graceful ease and scoring at will. However, a tight run resulted in Logan falling just short of his ground, leaving Muddies 3 – 15. Hayden and Ethan, the solid middle paring from the previous rounds, look settled again, until a shocker of an LBW decision saw Hayden out, and the rest of the Muddies team bewildered as to what they had done wrong to the umpire to get the short straw of the appeals.

Ethan was joined by the bowling and fielding star Troy at the crease. Looking to push the runs on a ridiculously slow and long outfield, Ethan was caught short of his crease on the second run due to the ball pulling up well short of where it would have gone on a decently mowed outfield. When Troy was caught paddling a short ball around the corner to backward square leg, the Muddies were looking shaky at 6 – 35. Julian Harrold was looking to display a sensible and mature approach to the game, but was drawn into playing a false shot by the cajoling remarks of the C grade Muddies watching from the shed, and was caught for 0.

7 down for 35 was looking ominous, and thoughts of a 1 run win as per the last game against the Toads were now coming to mind. Benny Vik and Luco were again batting together to save the game. After an early mix up and Luco surviving a direct shot at the stumps that missed, they settled down and took their time to work the ball around, picking up 1’s and 2’s when they could.

Luco hit a rocket along the ground, but was waiting to see whether Circus (one the of Toads players) would pick it up; he missed the dive, and they ran the single. But looking back at Circus, he hadn’t yet thrown the ball in, as he had lost the ball because of the length of the grass!! Unsure whether Circus was pulling his leg, Ben waited, sized up the situation, and then ran a second run while the Circus was still looking for the ball. Comfortably making the second, Luco and Vik had a great laugh at the ‘Circus’ that had just occurred. What makes matters worse is that the field was only mowed this week!! Maybe the mowing contractor can do something about making the playing surface more amenable to the sports that are played there.

From here, the Toads lost all faith, and seemed to be playing for the loss. Hitting the tying run, Ben scampered through for a run, feeling a hammie twinge as he took off, which turned into a hammie tear as he slowed down at the bowlers end. Not wanting to leave the field until the game was done, Ben went to block the next ball but felt his hammie disagree. So he slapped the next ball with the toe of the bat; the ball flopped in the air towards Circus, again; Luco was unsure whether to run, but saw Ben skipping and hopping to the other end so he scampered through to the other end for the winning run before Circus could get the ball to the keeper. B grade Muddies winning 7 – 56 to the Toads 54; what an appropriately ugly finish to an overall ugly game of cricket.

The tough win sees B grade Muddies sitting comfortably second on the table, with only a four games to go until the semi-finals. This week B grade travel to Crathern Park (Trinity Beach) to take on 2nd last placed Barron River. But let’s hope the weather clears up so they can get on!