U12s look forward to full strength team 

DARREN KILLEEN 

Douglas Muddies Under 12s played host to Atherton, with both teams under-manned. 

Fielding first, the Muddies toiled hard but had to wait until the eighth over for their first wicket with Connor White taking the first of his two. The second wicket soon followed with Luke Twomey’s pace responsible for disposing of Atherton’s top two batsmen.

Nick Raynor only just missed out on a hat-trick while Ashton Davenport and Scott Cooper contributed with one wicket each. Vincent Killeen, Abel Terry, Lachie Dowling, and Captain Bailey Elliot all bowled economically keeping the pressure on.  This week saw a marked improvement in the sundries with one third less wides bowled than the previous week. 

Nick and Luke opened the batting for the Muddies with Nick being bowled for a duck. Luke displayed his usual polished stroke play to retire on 9 not out.  Both opening batsmen immediately travelled to the tablelands where they’d been seconded to play in the U14’s team.

In a first for the cricketing world Ashton was run out after hitting a four which confused players and spectators alike. Connor played a steady innings before being bowled for 4 runs while Lachie was faced with Atherton’s best bowler and fell for a duck. Abel was unlucky to be out, caught and bowled for four after smashing one back at the bowler that somehow stuck. 

Scott Cooper was cruising along at a strike rate of 100% before being caught for five. Bailey Elliot played a great captains knock making 5 from his 24 balls faced.  Vincent Killeen hit 5 boundaries on his way to a personal high score of 32 not out, which bought the Muddies total to 96. 

It wasn’t quite enough to beat Atherton this week but the boys are looking forward to fielding a full strength team next week on the tablelands.

U14s to push run rate against Tolga Boyz

U14 Muddies started the first of their two day games for this season a few men down, with regular players away on representative duties.

Numbers were bolstered by two competent U12 players (Luke Twomey and Nick Rainer) and one plucky young female (Kaela Trewick), who stepped straight out of backyard cricket with her brothers and onto a turf pitch U14 match, having never played a proper game of cricket before.

The opposition won the toss, playing on their home turf (Tolga Boyz from Atherton CC) and chose to bat first.

Muddies were able to take 5 wickets from Atherton in the 32 overs, leaving 6 more to take in the second day of play this coming weekend. Wicket takers were Levi Trewick (3/9 off 4),  Twomey (1/16 off 4) and Keel Sorensen (1/20 off 4).

Opening bowlers Brayden Wall and Tex McDowall assisted with catches and the whole team gave their best with fielding, managing to keep Atherton to 167 despite strong batting work from the Tablelanders.

Sundries were kept to a minimum (18) which shows that the work being done at training is paying off.

The pressure was on the Muddies with 167 to chase but also knowing they had to stay the distance in the new format 64 over game. The wicket was behaving unpredictably for the batsmen and five Muddies succumbed to either the pace of Atherton’s opener (Troncone 2/7) or to the stock ball of their spinner (Lamperd 3/6).

Sorensen opened with Ryan Doble and stood his ground for 25 overs before being lured out of his crease by Lamperd and stumped by the wickie, Nick Watson. Stand out batsman of the day was Trewick making 63 runs, not out, off 75 balls. He and other not out batsman, Rainer, will return to the crease this Saturday to see what else they can put on the board.

Muddies finished their 32 overs on 119, grateful for the contribution of 34 sundries from the Atherton boys, and are looking to push the run rate in the second day of play and see if they can catch the Tolga Boyz score.