Wins all round for mighty Muddies
CRICKET
B GRADE:
The Astute Financial B grade Muddies team travelled to a wet Griffiths Park to play two 20/20 matches against United and Tully.
With a few of the lads suffering a bit after sponsors Hemingway’s Brewery’s Porttoberfest spectacular, the delayed start and decision to bat from new captain Ethan McCullough was a relief for many.
Batting first on a damp track and with regular opener Ben Shrimpton away Randall Smith went on about batting with his usual methodical and planned technique. Newcomer to the Muddies and chief brewer Jared Stewart was dismissed for one trying to lift the run rate, enter fellow kiwi and newcomer Travis ‘Jesse Ryder’ Gooch.
Gooch and Smith put on a nice 28 run partnership with Jesse Ryder accumulating the bulk of the runs with a fine display of power and timing, both set batsmen were than dismissed in consecutive overs setting the middle order a great platform to unleash on the United bowling attack.
Evergreen Gary ‘buckets’ Postans was joined by Sam ‘The Big Show’ Evans with nine overs to go and a score of 100+ on the cards things were looking positive for the Muddies, before buckets was bowled by a peach and captain Ethan given out dubiously caught behind first ball.
Simon ‘custard arm’ Cody came out to face the hat-trick ball shaking and sweating profusely only to be bowled a wide ball, but that didn’t last long out for a duck. With the score a 6/37 the rains started to pour, a revised 14 over game was restarted with the Muddies given another 5.2 overs to bat on a wet wicket.
With the tail not showing much resistance the Big Show did his thing dominating the bowlers to all parts of the ground, even finding time to dab the crowd, with 32 off 22 balls, a defendable target 76 off 14 overs was set.
Pistol Pete Gilmour opened the bowling with a tight fiery line and length and was unlucky not to get a scalp, up the other end Kaiden ‘kaos’ Sorenson picked up 3 early wickets to set the tone.
Adam Lucas bowled without his usual fire and brimstone attitude but still managed to bowl well picking up two wickets. But it was Keel ‘#1’ Sorenson who tore apart United’s middle and lower order with an amazing spell of spin bowling well beyond his years taking 5/11 which included 4 wickets in 1 over and narrowly missing out on a hat-trick and bowling united out for 49.
The second match saw the Muddies take on Tully winning the toss electing to bowl the muddies quartet of bowlers were on point with pistol and keel taking two wickets each and Luca and Kaos taking three wickets each and bowling Tully for 66.
Randal and Jared opened up this innings in a much more fashionable start piling on the runs together for a 50 run partnership dispatching the bowling attack to every part of the ground.
Jared went out towards the end of the innings whilst Randall put on a clinic and showed he’s not just a two-day player with a solid 23 not out carrying his bat. Muddies convincingly beat Tully by nine wickets with eight overs to spare. The Muddies B grade has a home game when they take on Mulgrave this Sunday at 1pm at the Mudpit.
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C GRADE:
The Muddies C Grade team have made a perfect start to the season, winning their first one-day game against the competitive Mulgrave at home last weekend.
It was a supreme team effort with everyone making a contribution. Skipper Ryan Doble won the toss and decided that runs on the board was the best option. Darlington returned to the team to open with Taylor and both made solid starts.
Darlington was edgy early on but found the middle with a typical risky innings, scoring a free flowing 36. Taylor was more circumspect and was happy to accumulate runs initially before freeing himself, top scoring with 64 before he was run out by number three Alex Jenkins.
Jenkins seemed reluctant to score boundaries; compiling 44 not out without scoring a shot that didn’t require running. The top three of the Muddies did the job, putting on a defendable 3 for 164.
The opening bowling partnership of Shiesser (3-21) and Schultz (0-28) tied down the visitors, allowing only 18 runs in the first six overs. Doble (1-11) and Taylor continued to apply pressure, the run rate still only three after 12 overs.
Doug Barnes (3-26) bowled in tandem with Liam Clatcherty (0-6) and rookie Ben Barba (0-17) to continue the pain for the Mulgrave batsmen. Alexander was the only opposition batsman to score over 20 but it was too little too late, with Schiesser cleaning up the tail to give the hosts a 53-run victory.
Next week the Muddies make the tedious road trip to Innisfail for another one-day game in what will cement their number one spot on the ladder.
