The minor semi final was delicately poised at the end of week one, with the Gladdies putting in a very solid bowling and fielding effort yesterday, but with plenty still to do next week.

Gus and Simon started very nicely, and Gus’ two breakthroughs had them 2/28 after 9. They then fought back, with a few solid shots, til Lach nabbed both batsmen in the same over with the catching playing its part. They went to the break at 5/98, and the Gladdies feeling pretty good.

Wickets kept falling periodically, but they had real talent batting at 9, and the Gladdies had to really lift as the humidity started to take its toll. But we stood up when needed, as Jimbo and Jamie closed out the innings with two a piece, the last wicket falling with 1 ball to spare in the 50th. 188 is not a massive score on MP6… but we still have to get them. Let’s hope the rain holds off and gives us a chance.

[Narrator voice] : It didn’t.

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Not a bad performance week one, but victory is by no means certain. MP6 is not a big ground, but early and late rain made the outfield pretty slow. The top and middle order all got starts, but it was really only Kunal (30) and one D.Burchsixtyfive that really put sustained pressure on the Parramates attack. Still, 192 is eminently defendable, and we have a solid bowling attack too, so victory, and a remote chance of making the major semi final, is still on the cards.

The Gladdies couldn’t quite get it done week two, with Parramates scraping over the line 9 wickets down and with only a handful of overs to spare. Things could have been quite different, not least if poor Simon hadn’t been sconed early on by a ball flying off the rubber run up, or the boundaries were actually close to where they were when we batted, or the outfield as slow. Certainly the Gladdies put in a solid bowling performance… or at least one person did. Parramates were looking very, very comfortable at 0/81 off 17 overs, despite Gus bowling beautifully at one end. Jamie vocalised what we were all thinking – that after 360 odd games it was time for Jimbo to prove himself. Which he then very promptly did, nabbing his first Gladdies hat trick. He backed that up with a further 4 wickets in a very solid 12 over spell, leaving the game delicately poised with Parramates needing 37 off 12 with only 2 wickets in hand. But they ground it out, and took away the bikkies. Still,
a good effort, and very hearty congratulations to Jimothy for his 7 for.

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The Gladdies cemented their spot in the third grade finals with a solid win over Scott Muller. We elected to bat on a sodden MP4, and runs were not easy to come by, with a very slow outfield and sultry conditions. The Gladdies did their best, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, wickets were fairly regular and mostly caught, given the inability to score along the ground. There were solid contributions up and down the order, particularly Jimmy D’s 27 and Rookie and Kunal’s pair of 23s. 9/140 felt like a good score, but not a certainty at the break.

Scott Muller found the going tough from the outset, with Flossy and Rookie making life difficult for the openers. Rookie got one, before Simon and Jamie put in some sustained pressure, with Simon grabbing another two. A double wicket maiden in Lach’s first over effectively killed the contest, and the Gladdies were in control from there, cruising to a 30 run win. Special mention to Johnny B, playing his first fixture in 6 years, who popped his shoulder half way through his second over, but said f.ck it and bowled picking up a wicket for his troubles.

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One of the more ridiculous finishes to a game the secretary has ever participated in. And we remind you, he’s played a lot of park cricket.

Gladdies won the toss and batted, and despite some annoying rain, wet outfields, and a painfully slow over rate (as if that would come back to bite anyone), posted a reasonably competitive 124. Despite quite a lot of airswings, Brendan and Marky put on 67 for the 5th wicket, which certainly helped. Most importantly, the top 8 batsmen all registered a batting stat, putting us closer to getting a very decent squad qualified for the finals.

Edgemasters made a terrible start, with Rookie claiming wickets from the first two balls of the innings. But they then put on some solid partnerships of their own, with Soli and Brendan picking up key wickets just when it looked like they’d run away with it. When Jimbo took their 7th for 108 with 3 overs to go, the match was well in the balance, with us maybe just ever so slightly in front. Unfortunately, that happened at 12:30, so the umpire just decided to stop the game then, because, you know, it was time.

F.F.S.

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Pretty good effort week one. Plan B started pretty well, scoring freely on MP4, but that stopped abruptly when Hirak pulled off a sensational run out, before Simon followed up with a bowled. Only one other batsman troubled us, as we methodically knocked them over with a total of 155. 0/11 at stumps and all is set for week two.

A bit of day out was had week two, with the boys racking up some serious runs (particularly courtesy of 60s to Jimmy D and Centejas… new career bests for both!) and then having a bit of fun chasing an improbable outright, but getting darn close. The win keeps us on track for a berth in the finals for 3rds. Watch out NBA.

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Jimmy congratulated for getting 69 *hehe hehe*

Another very solid showing week one has our season very happily rolling along. Stand in tosser (the regular tosser running late) Jimmy did a rock solid job and allowed Marty to finish his short stint up here with another hit out with the ball. Fat lot of good that was though, with both Marty and Flossy finishing wicketless after 7 overs a piece (it was pretty darn good bowling though). Jamie and Winnos took over the attack, and after a couple more quiet overs, things started falling our way. From 0/78 in the 21st over, things happened quickly, with the Gladdies netting a team hat-trick and breaking the back of the Malabar resistance. Winnos kept it tight at one end while the wickets kept falling at the other, and with some very solid catching all round they were 7 down and Jamie had his first 5 fa. Jimbo and Brendan made short work of the tail, and all out for 142 was the damage. 7 overs were left to face at the end of the day, and Centellas and Lupton faced them off without chance, ending at 0/16.

Week two saw us turn in a mildly disappointing performance to finish the year. I think we all turned up expecting that a win wouldn’t be too hard to come by, but it just didn’t turn out that way. There were a few poor shots, but mostly it was just really tight bowling and solid catching that got Malabar home… kind of like us last week. We started down due to Tim’s secateured hand, and despite some solid middle order partnerships where everything looked in hand, the wickets just kept falling slightly too often. Brendan played a solid hand scoring 38, but when he holed out at long on, we finished up 24 short. Bummer.

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A pretty good result on a f.cking hot day at Centennial Park week one. Fine Legs turned up to the wrong ground and, quicker than you can say “we don’t want to be d.cks, but seriously, you guys have no players here at 9, and, in this heat, can we claim the toss?” they won the toss and elected to bat. Fug it.

So we bowled in a hairdryer for a while, with Flossy generating some serious heat of his own and Hirak moving it sharply. The Fine Legs best were at the top of the order though, and they dug in to get to 0/73 off 22 as Winnos and Brendan chimed in with more tight spells. But eventually, one team had to crack, and thank f.k it was them. Soli got the first breakthrough, and a few more to finish with 4/13 off 6. The wheels really came off and Brendan, Jumpin and Simon all picked up sticks to have them all out for 103 off 38 overs, albeit 2 men down.

Sadly for them, that meant there were plenty of overs in the day left, and despite them being desperate for us not to play on, we, finally, were d.cks, and said, no, we’ll take the extra overs, thanks. Jimmy and Centejas capitalised, and we are already 1/51 with a further 50 overs to play and the distinct possibility that Fine Legs will turn up short again. Solid.

An excellent result was achieved week two, without being a complete drubbing of Fine Legs. We made pretty short work of the remaining 50 odd to get first innings points, and then Flossy and Winnos unleashed to propel us very rapidly to a comfortable 100 run lead by drinks, with Flossy registering a brutal ton, and Winnos finishing just 3 short of a 50.

With 10 men, including some additions from last week, 22 overs was always going to be touch and go as enough to knock them over, and they proved significantly more resilient in any case. Marty showed months of lock-down hadn’t slowed him much, and was unlucky to only finish with 2 for. We grabbed a couple more here and there, but there Kiwi import made the loose balls fly, and finished on 58 not out with Fine Legs only 4 down. The catching wasn’t quite up to scratch for us – not looking at anyone in particular, mainly because I’m acutely aware of all the eyes on me. Still, at beers after the game it was agreed that Fine Legs are too nice a bunch of guys to really deserve to lose outright so probably the best result at the end of the day.

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Tough day in the week one sun for the Gladdies. Certainly a toss we would rather have won, as we started without a regular keeper, and a man down because Parramates are the most disorganised group since… well, us, a lot of the time. So we bowled. Gus was FAST and Dan, Jimbo and Lach all bowled well early to keep the runs down for the first 34 overs. But unfortunately we grassed a few chances and they really, really made us pay, with one guy getting a ton and another a 50. Simon did a great job standing in behind the stumps and the effort was great around the field, but a lot of shots just trickled over the boundary and a lot of skied shots fell right between players. They used their wickets in hand well, and despite some great death bowling by Brendan, the final score of 238 was a pretty disappointing outcome given the efforts we made. Anyway, plenty of runs out there week two.

Amazing scenes at Jellicoe week two as the Gladdies got the Spartans hoodoo off our back by scoring more than 160 odd against them for the first time in 12 months. The fact that we fell a solid 60 runs short of victory is neither here nor there. Gus took out the trash early, hitting the only 6 of the day, before Jimmy and Dan had a solid 60 run stand to have us right in the game. As usual, Dan ruined it for everyone, top scoring for the innings with 42 but sparking the collapse that put us out of touch. Classic Dan. A few others got starts, but 238 was a lot to chase at Jellicoe, and 180 was the final score. Solid effort, but a loss we had to have.

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Mixed bag Saturday. I think most people were assuming cricket would be impossible having driven through reasonably heavy rain on the way to he ground, but other than some fairly minor surface water, things looked pretty much ok. Broomsman Dan fixed the puddles pretty quickly, and, at 9:30, we got underway, having chosen to bat in a fixture reduced to 45 overs a side.

Being only able to use one end made the overs actually go pretty quickly, and the Parramates bowlers were fresh, if not express. With plenty of humidity in the air, nicking off was fairly common, and despite some early boundaries from Lach, it was left to Flossy and Dan to rebuild from 3/54. Which they absolutely did, playing sensibly to take us steadily to 128 in the 25th over, taking advantage of some pretty cod ordinary fielding. Sadly, the one time they fielded well, they caught Dan short, and, even more sadly, the Gladdies middle order then, well, did its usual thing. Before we knew it, we were 9/153. Ouch. But the indefatigable Jamie came out and made the most of his ‘promotion’ to 9, and slapped an excellent 25 to take us to a quite respectable 188.

Hirak served up an absolute jaffa second ball of week two to leave Parramates at 1/0. Jamie also took an early wicket, before Parramates put up a bit of resistance to get to about 60 before the introduction of Rob, and then Jimbo started a steady decline. We, for the most part, held our catches, and eventually the sheer weight of runs on a large and slowish outfield built the pressure, and Jimbo and Rob each nabbed 4 fors (including an outrageous catch down the legside for Kunal off Jimbo), as the Parramates collapsed to be all out for 119. Tidy day’s work, and still top of the table.

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Honours were pretty even after day 1 v Summer Hill. It looked grim early, when they invited us to bowl and proceeded to struggle not in the slightest against our best bowling attack for some time. They posted 64 for no wicket in the first 12 overs, and looked well, in the wrong grade, but then Gus got the breakthrough, and the Gladdies got to work. Despite plenty more boundaries on the small MP4, we stuck at it, and the introduction of Flossy brought an immediate result, with Rookie taking an outstanding catch on the fence to remove their Bradman for 46. A couple more before drinks had us right back in the game. They were looking pretty solid at 4/144 in the 29th, but all hell broke loose after that, with the Gladdies taking 6/42 off the next 7 overs. Rookie got two, Jamie one as the Summer Hill innings fell apart, with Rob showing off to the family to finish with 3/2 off 1.1 overs. Tidy.

We looked very good early doors starting the chase, and at the end of our 10 overs had 50 on the board already. But with Flossy, Dave and Gus all back in the pavilion (well, park benches), it’s an intriguing day two coming up.

The Gladdies have started season 2020-21 like a house on fire, racing to a first innings victory in week two before the threat of rain halted proceedings and any chase for outright. We looked good early, with Rob picking up where he left off last week, but a couple of quick wickets had us slightly more nervous. Enter Grimm, who batted like we were heading for a washout, and creamed 43 off 13 scoring shots, including 3 hefty sixes. Along with some errant Summer Hill bowling, by the time Simon went, we were pretty much there, and Dan and Jnr saw us home. A four wicket win then, and (probably) maintaining our spot at the top of the table.

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