Christmas is just around the corner and as we all get ready for the big day the news from the Wanderers camp is that A Grade & possibly Reserve Grade both lead the competition as we head into the new year. The A Grade would only hold a slender lead thanks to the two 400+ scores recently with Reserve Grade clinching two outright victories in their last two outings. I must stress that as there are no official points released we are making educated guesses on the above.
I might mention the Reserve Grade's great victory over Wests last round first up. On the first weekend we batted and scored 9/163 and at the close of play had Wests reeling at 6/51 after 20 overs. It took another 6.5 overs to polish off their tail-enders with Wests finishing all-out for 56. Skipper Craig Hallett who finished with the remarkable bowling figures of 7/31 and had no hesitation in enforcing the follow-on. In their second innings, Wests got away to a flying start, after 8 overs they were 1/43 thanks to some long-handle hitting by Matthew Marshall. However, evergreen Hallett wasn't going to give the ball up and soon began where he left off in the first innings, by taking wickets regularly. Another old-stager in President Scott Breen was keeping the pressure applied at the other end and Wests' wickets began to tumble and after 25 overs were all out for 104, three runs short of making us bat again that gave us a victory of an innings & three runs. Craig Hallett collected another 6 wickets to finish with a match total of 13/59. Scott Breen picked up 4 wickets for 54 to finish with 5 wickets for the match. Not too shabby for a bloke called out of retirement. Credit must be given to the rest of the team as well who really fielded extremely well with 'keeper Chris Bye outstanding. Well-done fellas.
A Grade were playing at Cutheringa Park and defending a modest (by our recent standards) 240 with Wests' resuming at 0/31 with 80 overs to chase down our score. While tight bowling kept the run rate under control it was the introduction of A Grade debutant Ken Golder that made the initial breakthrough and the second wicket to fall, Sean Death then claimed Wayne Seri's wicket and the Golder claimed the dangerous Brett Spackman's wicket in the 64th over with the score then at 4/153. Off-spinner Lance Walsh was then introduced into the attack and he snared the next three wickets as Wests' got the jitters. Scott Connor then took two wickets and Wests' were staring defeat in the face at 9/192. Lance finished off the innings with the assistance of 'keeper Leigh Wiltshire and Wests were all-out for 193 giving us a 47 run victory. We had to bat 6 overs out till stumps and finished at 0/19 with Lance on 9* & Leigh on 5*. Leigh Wiltshire had another good day behind the stumps claiming 5 wickets (4 catches & 1 stumping) and seems to be growing in confidence every outing. Bowling figures; Sean Death 10-3-18-1, Sean Bell 10-3-27-0, Scott Connor 20-8-56-2, Lance Walsh 17-6-23-4, Ken Golder 10-5-40-3, Damien Meek 8-0-23-0.
3rd Grade were chasing Brothers total of 175 but fell 15 runs short despite a valiant 86 not-out by Phil Emery.
Our second 4th grade also were on the receiving end after some very wayward bowling we were chasing a strong Sub Parks' outfit total of 6/211. We were really never in the hunt but youngster Dane West stood up and scored a solid 28 while ever-evergreen Rob Heit was 26 not out.
I haven't heard how our other 4th Grade went which is disappointing as Luke Spillane who is currently in Canada has now joined our mailing list for the Wanderers Weekly WebNews and would have been looking forward to an update. Luke visited our 'Website Guestbook' and left the following message.
" Hope all you 4th grade mugs are going to be capable of taking the side all the way to the finals again this season with out me. I will be thinking of you all while frolicking in the snow with the ski bunnies. So best of luck to you all and would love to get the weekly web news if possible."
Over the Christmas break I hope to have all the senior stats updated & uploaded onto the website (except our 4th Grade No.1 team), so keep checking the stats page on the website www.wandererscricket.com
Don't forget that if you are intending to be part of Wanderers at the Goldfield Ashes in January to get your name, shirt size etc onto the sheet at the clubhouse. With a major sponsorship from the Centenary Hotel, our teams will be called the Centenary Hotel Eagles this coming Goldfield Ashes.
As previously advised, the drawing of the Calcutta has been postponed till January 15th. If you have sold your tickets, please get them back to the clubhouse and if you haven't sold them all, please do so urgently.
Well, its time to wish one & all a very happy and safe Christmas break, please, enjoy yourselves but make sure you're around in a healthy condition in the new year.
The views & opinions expressed in this newsletter & on the Wanderers website are not necessarily those of Wanderers CC, its Executive or members.
