Round 10: Albion Park Eagles Under 13’s vs Kookas at King Memorial Oval.

The Albion Park Eagles Under 13’s returned to the field after a break of six weeks, looking to shake off the rust and show everything they had improved on over the Xmas break, and in the process came away with a good win over the Kookas at King Memorial Oval.

Skipper Kasey Barton won the toss and batted, and opening pair Josh Peters and Noah Black validated that decision, both playing straight and sensibly, running well between the wickets and putting the loose ball away. Their opening partnership was the best of the season for the Eagles, and both retired when they reached their mandatory 35 deliveries.
Kasey came in at three and was joined by Logan Goodway, who played a good shot first ball he faced, but then tried to smash his second ball, but only managed to hit it straight back to the bowler to be caught and bowled. He was replaced by Josh Schofield, who took the coach’s words about running hard and looking for singles to heart. He and Kasey had a good 23 run partnership before Josh was unfortunate to be run out. He pushed the ball into the covers, called yes immediately and took off. The cover fieldsman had to do everything right to get him, and he did, gathering and hitting direct at the bowlers end to find Josh just short of his ground. Despite that disappointment it was great to see Josh taking on advice and putting it into action. Well done Josh.
Kasey and Aiden Campion then came into action. Kasey played exactly the kind of innings that was needed from him, hitting the gaps and taking ones and twos with ease. It came as something of a surprise when he cracked a cut shot just behind point and was well caught for 23. Once again though he showed the correct attitude to the situation and did his job admirably. Ryan Monaghan continued his good batting form from before the break, once again showing an excellent defence and unflappable nerve. It took a shorter faster ball to get him, surprising him into bunting a catch back to the bowler. Lucas Brown again looked a million dollars, but got a great away swinger that he tried to play to leg instead of straight and lost his off stump into the bargain. TJ Nasome came in showing off his Rashid Khan helicopter technique but was soon undone by a good full delivery to be bowled.
At the other end Aiden was doing what he does best, hitting the ball nicely on both sides of the wicket and keeping the scoreboard ticking over. He again reached his retirement quota with a minimum of fuss and with plenty of runs against his name.

This all brought the return of Josh and Noah to the crease, and with six overs remaining, they both dropped the hammer and moved the scoring along. Josh was putting the loose ball away, while Noah’s power driving was an absolute delight, with one back foot cover drive reaching the boundary within a second of the ball leaving the bat, and the sound it made was like it was off Kohli’s bat. Noah had been on 10 runs off his first 24 deliveries, but aided by nine boundaries he added 44 runs from his next 23 deliveries, and brought up his first half century with that ninth boundary in what was a spectacular innings. Noah has played cricket for less than two seasons, and the speed at which he is improving is fantastic to watch. He was eventually dismissed for 54, and showed that this team is not just a one or two player team.

At the other end, the ball after Noah raised his first ever fifty, Josh hit a boundary to bring up his own debut half century. Having spent a good deal of time during the off season working hard on his batting and wanting to improve to become a true all rounder, this is the reward he deserves. During the break he set himself the challenge of making his first fifty. That he did it in his first innings back is a show of his determination.

Josh had been joined by Aiden, who also pressed hard to get his own milestone, but unfortunately time ran out, and when the thirty overs had been completed he was stranded on 48 not out with seven boundaries and a six. With a better base and still head, Aiden has rediscovered his batting touch in recent innings after a tough start to the season, and it is great to see him piling on the runs in this fashion.
Josh finished on 59 not out which included six boundaries and a six, and the Eagles had set an imposing total of 7/230.

Kookas made a solid start to their innings, seeing off the opening salvo. Lucas Brown bowled two good overs but was picked off for two boundaries, finishing with 0/10. Tristan Denmeade continued with his improving leg spin, showing all of his collected bag of tricks, and was perhaps unfortunate not to snare a wicket, taking 0/5 from his two overs. However, good fielding led to the first wicket, with a running mishap allowing Noah Black to race in from mid-off and fire the ball to Aiden at keeper to complete an easy run out. Further good news came in TJ’s first over, when he enticed a pull shot in the air that was taken with ease by Kasey at mid-wicket. TJ eventually bowled three overs for the day and finished with 1/20, with a variety of run ups that stretched from two steps to about 30 steps. Interesting tactics. The big wicket came from Noah Regan, who recovered after a wayward first over to bowl a much better over with his second, and the full off cutter outside off stump found the inside edge of the bat and was dragged on to be bowled. Noah’s wicket maiden to finish with 1/8 from his two overs was the over that put the Eagles back on top and was the most vital wicket of the innings. Well done Noah.

Kasey bowled two superb overs finished with 0/1, and his only fault was that he was still bowling the perfect representative cricket line, rather than club cricket line which needs to be right at the stumps. A slight adjustment will see more wickets in 2021. Ryan Monaghan admitted he was still shaking off the rust, and though his length was too short his line was excellent. One out of two isn’t bad! He finished with 0/12 from his two overs.
The Josh Attack came on next, with Josh Peters still finding ways to bamboozle batsmen, but the ball keeps bouncing over the stumps. He drew a shot to short square leg when Lucas took a smart catch, and finished with 1/3 from his two overs, and a pretty handy day of cricket. Josh Schofield took three balls to get into his spell, but then bowled a great tight line and made the batsmen play every ball. He kept the pressure on and did a great job, finishing with 0/7 from three overs. Logan Goodway again excelled with the ball, getting the sling in action and the wobble seam, and giving nothing away, making scoring tough. By keeping the ball full he drew a lofted drive from the batter who hit it straight to Kasey at cover for an excellent wicket. Logan now has eight wickets for the season, a terrific achievement for a player who is still able to play Under 13’s again next season, and his figures of 1/6 from 3 overs was terrific.

Still, some days are just meant to be for a single player. Noah Black came on to bowl at this point, and proved to be the Deliverer. A maiden over to start with, his second over was a double wicket maiden, first finding the raised bat hitting the ball in the air, where Kasey took his third catch for the morning, and then bowling the next batsman with a ripping delivery. It looked as though he could do no wrong, but a no ball in his third over shelled that, and he finished with 2/6 from his three overs, completing the faultless game of cricket… until he dropped a sitter at mid-on in the following over. The cricket gods just reminding him that you just can’t have everything…
Aiden came on with his own leg spin, and again proved to be the golden arm, beating the bat on numerous occasions, and learning just how hard it is to take wickets with leg spin if catches keep being dropped. He got his reward when his got the top edge on an attempted cut, and Ryan took an excellent catch at point to complete the Kookas innings at 99.

There were lots of great individual performances today, but once again it is all 11 pieces of the puzzle that must come together in order to see the finished product, and that was still true today. There are still plenty of things to work on and to improve, but the smiles at the end today makes all of it worth it.
Thanks to Lisa for taking on the scorebook this weekend, and to all the parents and families there to watch the kids play. I think you got your money’s worth this weekend.