Having been sent in by their opponents, Tristan Denmeade got the innings off to a smashing start, lofting his first delivery over mid off for two in an unexpected beginning. Unfortunately he then tried the same shot two balls later and was caught for 2.
This brought Noah Regan to the crease, and he and Kasey Barton fashioned an excellent partnership. After a slow start where both batsmen came to terms with some good bowling, they both eventually fell into their groove and started to hit the gaps for plenty of singles and rotation of the strike as has been worked on at training. Noah struck two nice boundaries before he reached his retirement allotment. Kasey reigned in his usual aggressive nature to play the team game and find the many singles that were available. These two showed the real beauty behind this idea, where in two straight overs they got a single off every ball, perfect batting. Kasey also reached his retirement allotment by increasing his output with two lovely boundaries.
These two were replaced by Josh Peters and Ryan Cergovski, who also started dealing the same cards. Seven of Josh’s first nine balls faced were dots as he got himself in, but there were only seven further dots for the remainder of his innings. A couple of early shots in the air were replaced with firmer drives and lovely pull shots. At the other end Ryan worked hard to keep out the good balls and play his shots off the wider ones. His excellent innings came to an end when he parried a ball to short mid off to be caught for 8 runs off 29 deliveries. A great reward for a young man who works hard and wants to succeed.
With Josh retiring Aiden Campion and Logan Goodway looked to take up the scoring. Logan unfortunately was bowled by a pretty good delivery – we all get them. Noah Black came out on the back of last week’s great innings, and promptly found himself bowled as well by the returning opening bowler. A week is a long time in cricket. Ethan Thompson replaced him, played two lovely defensive shots, and then missed the third delivery, which went on to strike him in that most uncomfortable of places. The noise could be heard from the sidelines, so it was no real surprise when Ethan was unable to continue his innings and was forced to retire hurt. Why is it always funny for everyone else?
The mini collapse had brought back the retired batsmen who looked to conclude the innings in a positive fashion. Noah Regan and Aiden played well together, before Aiden ran himself out for 16 going for a suicide single to a ball just past the keeper. Kasey looked to be on track for a big score but was undone by the ball of the day which got through his defences and bowled him for a well made 29. With Ethan unable to return, Noah and Josh maximised their partnership, and at the end of their 30 overs the Young Eagles had finished on 6/149. Noah played his best innings of the season to remain on 26 not out. Great stuff from Noah.
For Josh, he completed his highest score, finishing on 39 not out from 40 deliveries. His pulling, cutting and driving were on song today, having gotten through his first ten deliveries without being dismissed. He still has work to do, and goes too hard at the ball early, but once again he was the mainstay of our middle order and kept the runs ticking over and being the senior batsman. It was very satisfying, despite the couple of close calls he still had.
150 should be enough to win most games, and though wickets didn’t come early the runs were kept in check. Lucas Brown bowled his usual immaculate first spell, with one ball shaving the bails over middle stump. Ryan Monaghan partnered him with the new ball, and bowled his best spell of the season. Standing tall and straight at release, Ryan found the ball just moving away slightly in the air, and by keeping it full and straight he had the batsmen wary. Only two runs were scored off the bat in his spell along with one no ball, and his two overs brought him the figures of 0/3. Fantastic stuff from Ryan and a great reward for a kid who also really wants to succeed. Noah Black built on his excellent spell last week with another two good overs, only going to the boundary when he tried too hard to find a wicket. Logan Goodway came on and once again proved the partnership breaker, enticing an edge second ball that was well taken by Aiden at keeper. This brought the Shellharbour big hitter to the crease and the match changed remarkably. Anything too short or too full was summarily dismissed to or over the boundary, and balls that our kids have often gotten away with in previous weeks were now flashing through the field. As always in such innings there is a slice of luck, but the power of the strokes in this partnership deserved to have some luck. On the other hand, the bowling was under fire.
After Logan had finished his two overs for the figures of 1/18, Kasey and Noah Regan then felt the brunt of the batting, with good balls kept out but short balls dealt with harshly. The retirement of the solid opener brought some relief, and Noah’s full ball saw the new batsman smash the ball low to cover, where Josh dived to take a brilliant catch just above the surface. It is moments like this that can change the course of the match. Noah finished with 1/13 from his two overs.
The spin twins in Tristan and Josh came on to try and quell the maelstrom, and did a reasonable job. Both beat the bat on several occasions while Tristan was unfortunate not to have a stumping. Tristan’s developing leg spin had 0/12 from his two overs but he bowled better than those figures suggest.
At 2/89 at drinks it was going to take a great team effort to steal victory. Step forward Aiden Campion. Coming out from behind the stumps to save his team, he was aided by the retirement of the clean striking young Shellharbour batsman, and he took every advantage, first drawing the leading edge that was excellently taken again by Josh rushing in from cover, and then plucking out the off stump of the new batsman next ball. The hat-trick was avoided, but in his following over Aiden bowled the set batsman to have the amazing figures of 3/0 from two overs. His partner Ryan Cergovski kept that pressure on, keeping the ball full and straight and not giving away any easy runs. He finished with 0/8 from two overs to finish a good day for him.
Now it was a dog fight, and time for the leaders to continue to step up. Kasey was next, coming back for a redemptive over that ended by him bowling the tail end batsman and doing the job he needed to do. Lucas and Noah Black then returned for extra overs and continued to tie up the run rate. Lucas finished with 0/7 from his three overs today, while Noah finished with 0/9.
Josh came in, the ball spitting off the surface, and bowled a perfect hard spinning leg break that found the gloves and was brilliantly caught by Aiden low down at his ankles at first slip to dismiss the returning opening batsman.
One wicket left, the hard hitter back at the crease, but the other end open to try and claim the match. Aiden came back for a third over, and two chances for run outs were missed by lax fielding. However, a third was not, as the suicide call when hitting the ball to mid-wicket fell to Kasey who screamed in, took aim, and threw down the stumps direct – again – to complete the innings with the captain’s trademark.
From 2/94, Shellharbour Blue were bowled out for 120, and the work after drinks was what good teams do. They reset themselves, they started again, and they got the results.
For Shellharbour Blue, shout outs to Cruz Wraight who took 2/17 from four overs and looked very handy with the ball, and Harry O’Shea whose 63 not out was not only his first half-century but belligerent and exciting to watch. Also to Will Thompson, an excellent young man who played in the Under 13 rep team this season, who not only kept beautifully, he came on and bowled lovely off spin to take 3/28 and then batted excellently to make 18 runs off 42 deliveries. One to keep an eye on.
A win by 29 runs then, and despite the tough periods and the hard questions asked by their opposition during those times, the kids were able to find a way to come out on top. One game to go until the Xmas/New Year break. Let’s hope the kids can put in for one more week before they allow us all a well earned break.
