APJCC Under 13’s: Round 15 vs Oak Flats at Des King Oval

The Albion Park Eagles Under 13’s team confirmed their place in this season’s finals, and also wrapped up the minor premiership, after a pulsating and exciting match against Oak Flats yesterday, a game that came down to the final over for the result to be decided.

Oak Flats won the toss and batted first, and a combination of solid batting and some poor execution in the field, with the Eagles dropping four catches that should all have been taken, saw Oak Flats reach the 17th over before losing their first wicket, with both openers retiring. Despite this, there was some excellent tight bowling from the Eagles boys which kept the scoring in check. Ryan Monaghan was given the role of opening bowler, and bowled just as well as last week, staying tall and giving nothing loose. His two overs for 0/7 were excellent. Noah Black also thrived on the pressure of being thrown the ball early, bowling a maiden first up and only two coming from his next. He bowled an over late as well, and finished with 0/7 from three overs, a terrific effort. Logan Goodway has been wonderful all season, and he too soaked in the pressure to deliver two solid overs, finishing with 0/8. Josh Peters and Ryan Cergovski then bowled in tandem, also showing great poise in keeping the pressure on the batters. Josh finished with 0/4 and Ryan 0/11. With the openers retiring they were replaced by another pair of representative players meaning the pressure was still on the Eagles bowlers. Kasey Barton bowled a fierce spell of fast bowling, and was only let down by some slipshod fielding. His third over late in the innings wasn’t quite so special, but his figures of 0/14 from three overs don’t equate to how well he bowled. Josh Schofield once again proved to be one of the few who found a way to swing the wet ball, but it was his length that cost him today, as well as some great strokeplay. 0/16 from two overs is no indication as to his effort.

Aiden Campion came out from behind the stumps, replaced by Josh Peters, and the move paid dividends both ways. Aiden found the first breakthrough where the bowlers before him could not, delivering a full straight ball that found middle stump. In the next over Tristan Denmeade came on with his impressive seamers, and he found the edge that was brilliantly taken by Josh standing up to the stumps for the second wicket. Tristan finished with 1/9 from his two overs and was unlucky not to get any more. Ethan Thompson would have been disappointed with his first over considering how well he has been recently, and having 17 taken off it was not ideal. But he didn’t drop his head, and his second over beat the bat four times and only conceded two runs, a much better indication of his form.
Aiden continued on to complete five overs today, and once again proved that bowling stump to stump is a proven method of picking up wickets.He found the stumps once again to pick up his second wicket, and drew the false shot late from the returning opening batsman to have him caught by Noah Black. Aiden finished with 3/19 to again show how important his bowling is to this team in the important part of matches.

Top of the pile again though goes to Lucas Brown. Lucas opened the bowling with two overs for just one run. He then returned to the teeth of the batting at the end and bowled immaculately. His ability to tie up scoring shots drew a drive in the air for Kasey to take a good catch at mid wicket, and then the perfect away swinger caught the edge to be wonderfully taken again by Josh at keeper. Lucas bowled his five overs to finish with 2/6 to again prove – in my humble opinion – that he is the premier bowler in this competition.

Oak Flats reached 6/135 from their allotted 30 overs, a chaseable target, but everything would have to go well to chase it down.

The best way to start would be to not get run out in the first over, however the Eagles did exactly this, with a mix up between Kasey and Tristan ending with Tristan short of his ground. Oh well, back to the drawing board. Noah Black came out after his golden duck last week, and showed his form hadn’t suffered from that, punching the ball hard and forcefully through the field. Kasey composed himself and also continued, playing strokes either side of the wicket. Both players reached their retirement quota and returned to the sideline to cool their heels.
Lucas and Josh Peters replaced them, before Josh played a loose lazy pull that got a top edge to be caught. It was only the second time this season he has been dismissed, so it probably had to come eventually. Lucas and Josh Schofield battled on, with Lucas playing especially well, before he smashed a full toss straight back to the bowler to be caught and bowled for 11. Now joined by Aiden, Josh Schofield played his best innings of the season, with some excellent drives and cuts along the ground into gaps mixed with some lofted straight drives that weren’t as warmly received by the coach. Still, he fully deserved to reach his retirement mark, and finished not out on 13, and a great innings looking towards the next few weeks. Aiden now worked well with Logan and Ryan Cergovski. The run rate steadied but the boys did their job. Though both Logan and Ryan were dismissed, they played the team game, looking to get off strike, and then to up the ante for the good of the team, which is something that is most pleasing about these kids.

Noah returned to the crease, and “The X Factor” pulled his party trick again, striking hard and moving the scoring along. His partner Aiden fought hard, often through his strokes too early, and eventually holed out for 20, an innings that he will learn from for the coming matches. This brought Kasey back out, and he and Noah kept ticking off the marks required. It came down to requiring six runs off the final over for victory, and as ever it was Kasey who calmly took the helm using all his experience gleaned from representative cricket to strike the first two deliveries of the over into the gap at cover for two before stealing a single next ball to level the scores. Noah sealed the victory with a boundary, and in a close, tight, tense match, Albion Park had triumphed by two wickets with two balls remaining. Noah’s scene stealing innings finished on 37 not out, and Kasey on 31 not out.

For Oak Flats, Kody Lawler and Cadence Waters batted sensibly and excellently at the top of the order, while Archie O’Hara again played some scintillating strokes in his innings. With the ball, Mason Grant was terrific, conceding only 8 runs in his five overs, and young Lucas Dell'Orefice again bowled a great spell of spin bowling. These teams are both evenly matched, and while cricket is indeed a funny game it would be surprising if these two teams were not playing against each other again in three weeks time.

No matter what happens in the next three weeks, these 13 kids fully deserve the mantle of minor premiers. They have not always been at their best, and they have not always had everything their way. Each of them at some stage during the season has stood up and offered a match-changing situation, through either an innings, a spell or a piece of fielding. They showed today they have the same frailties as all other teams. They dropped four simple catches, they made fielding errors that cost runs, they showed ill-discipline in running between the wickets. But what they didn’t do at any stage was drop their heads or ever give up. They play for each other like a true team does, and that is the most satisfying part of this season. I believe they deserve to be premiers, but it won’t be handed to them, they will have to fight just as hard as they have all season to get it. No matter what though, they have excelled themselves this season, and I am so very proud of each and every one of them.

Thanks to Peter and Dave for scoring this weekend, and for the great support from both teams. One round to go, and then these kids will get to experience playing a cricket semi-final. They don’t come around as often as you think, and it will be a great experience for them.