Wind of Change

So the Kiama Cricket Club has reached the finals with three of its four entries intact, and now the attention turns to their performance over the next two weekends. If current form is to be taken into account there is some work to be achieved before Saturday arrives.

Third Grade has achieved our Club's first minor premiership in that Grade, which is a wonderful effort, considering the talent in the teams that have gone before them in Kiama colours. Jeff Lawler has again done a great job as skipper of the team, leading from the front and guiding them to success. After the disappointment of last season's slide from first position at Christmas to almost missing the semi-finals, and then losing that very final, it was important to ensure that it didn't occur again. Despite the capitulation to Lake Illawarra early on, and the surprise defeat to Shellharbour Blue not long ago, the side has managed that. They have made a habit of losing first innings points before winning the match outright, however. It is a habit they will not want to see repeated in a final, as the outright may not come so easily.
The emergence of young players such as Tom Mayes, Matt Cook and Andrew Ross has been exciting for the Club. The return of veterans Russell Park and Joe Murphy, and the regular appearances of Jason Wills, have also proven to be of great value for the side.
With the inability of last season's premiers Oak Flats to make the finals this season, the title is there for Kiama to take. Given the nature and talent of the team, the only thing that can stop them from securing our Club's first ever Third Grade premiership is taking their opposition lightly. No doubt the senior players in the team will ensure that this does not take place.

Second Grade come into the finals on the back of four fairly ordinary games of cricket, and the bye. Having disposed of both Jamberoo and Shellharbour City comfortably in outright decisions, the Shellharbour game thanks to two innings from visiting First Graders, an under strength team went down to Oak Flats on first innings. In their final game, they posted a 300+ total against a Fourth Grade attack, before being unable to bowl The Rail out twice on a featherbed. None of this particularly augers well. The side has had an unsettled line-up since Christmas, and the two week break before the semi-final will not suit the side at all.
Steve Holz has led the team well, though on the surface to the detriment of his batting. With only two scores behind him all season. He will need to cajole the best from both his team and himself in the next two weeks. Mick Norris has been the star of the team, leading with both bat and ball in his first full season in Seconds, while new kids Matt Unicomb, Ben King-Gee and Jason Dowling have improved all season, and now stand as important cogs in the premiership push.
Whatever team is chosen for the weekend, this will not be the pushover some people having been saying it will be. Seconds will have to beat the premiers of the past two seasons to win the competition, and though they may not be as strong as they were on those occasions, they will still be super competitive. Last season's semi-final should stand as a monument to what happens when a team is not switched on and prepared to fight hard for victory. Those lessons will need to be reinforced if success is to come for this team.

I have spent the last two weekends watching a First Grade team that look like shot ducks. Playing against a side that have not looked like posting a victory all season, Kiama were lackluster and far too carefree in their attitude. In their first innings at least four batsmen played unforgivable shots to be dismissed, at a time when they should have been knuckling down and getting some form behind them. There seemed to be little disappointment in the way the first innings progressed. Then on the second day, with Shellharbour's tail needing 55, the warm-up fielding drill was of a standard that defies the level these guys have been chosen at, resulting in Shellharbour getting the runs without a great deal of fuss. What then occurred for the rest of the day was, to me, inexplicable, and is probably best left not brought up.
Any momentum the side picked up leading into the finals after defeating Lake Illawarra has now dissipated. No doubt the talk during the week will be how the side pushed Albion Park in both of their encounters this season. Certainly they did with the ball. The fact remains that they lost both games, essentially through the batting, and have also lost to The Rail and now Shellharbour City.
Two seasons ago I had the dubious honour of playing the final two games in First Grade to fill in for Josh Jones, who had gone to Tasmania to study. That team played two of the worst afternoons of cricket I have been involved in. It appeared that they had naturally assumed they were a shoo-in for finals cricket, and were cruising. The capitulation of the batting on the Sunday of the two day game against Warilla, and the fielding and bowling against Gerringong the following Saturday, was deplorable. It led me to saying on the field that it was a disgrace, and that the team didn't deserve to be playing in the finals if they didn't want to fight for it. In many ways, the past two weekends has reminded me of those two games.
To have won only one of their five games after Christmas means that this side needs to find something within themselves if they want to compete against the reigning premiers. To those that have seen them in recent weeks, they have not shown they are capable of it. It has been an excellent feat in reaching the semi-finals after last season's disappointment. At the start of the season, it would have been accepted as a good result. But if Firsts wish to progress any further, they will need to find something in each and every one of them, and lift their personal performance on an individual level to heights that have been unseen in the last two months. On the evidence of the last two Saturday's, it would be a miraculous effort.

Good luck to everyone playing this weekend. Let's hope that all sides are well supported, and give it everything they have got. Walk off the field on Sunday afternoon knowing you couldn't have done anymore personally than what you did, and the final result will take care of itself.