Welcome to a belated edition of Wanderers WebNews and apologies for the delays in getting these out of late. Obviously the wet weather has caused us many a headache, but yours truly has been out of town, in the scrub, working lately and have not been able to access the Internet. However, I’m back this week so I’ll attempt to get things up to date and include a few junior match reports from the previous weeks. But firstly, here’s a bit of advice regarding cricket and wet weather.
If you are in doubt about whether fixtures will be possible on a Saturday, the best option is to tune your radio to the ABC – 630 on the AM band from about 6:00 am. If there are any cancellations, they will broadcast them throughout the morning up to 7:45am when they go national for the news & current affairs. At 8:30am, Northern Grandstand (Sports) commences and once again they will advise any cancellations. If you wait until approximately 8:50am, they will discuss cricket & the likelihood of fixtures in the afternoon and Sunday. If it has been constant rain throughout the week, quite often the matches will be called off the previous day and the local TV stations and the Bulletin are advised and accordingly advise the public. Your last point of call is to call the clubhouse and ask.
Tickets are now on sale at the Canteen for the 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner. All junior parents will receive a flyer on this function this weekend. It is imperative that tickets are purchased prior to the Easter weekend, as organisers do not want to be handling ticket money over Easter.
SKIPS CHALLENGE
Each player will be given a Wanderers Cricket Supporters sticker this week. Although it is great to see the kids with the supporter’s sticker on their bats, bags and helmets, here’s a chance to earn $50 cash from Skip.
The challenge is to place your Wanderers Supporter sticker somewhere interesting, take a photo of it and send it to the club. We will judge who has gone to the most trouble to get the best shot, or who has placed the sticker in the most interesting place. Once you have sent your photo into the club, you will be given another sticker.
NOTE:
Please don’t attempt anything that is dangerous or illegal, these wont be included.
The best entries will be judged by Skip and Mrs Skip and the cash will be presented on presentation night. Good luck!
Heard on the grapevine that young Joshua Evans (son of Chris) was recently selected in the Townsville Primary Schoolboys team. Well done Josh, a great achievement from a kid that is currently playing in the Blue competition. There may have been other Wanderers that have been selected in Townsville or Thuringowa teams but I haven’t heard, if there is, please let us know at info@wandererscricket.com
Photos, we really want Mums & Dads & supporters out and about taking photos of the kids while they are playing so that we can compile a video style presentation at the junior break-up. If you have any or can shoot some in the near future, please burn them to a CD & drop into the clubhouse.
SKIPS MATCH REPORT
02/02/08 U14 WANDERERS GOLD (WHITE) V WESTS
It would take a major flood to stop us from playing this match after a long break. But fortunately we managed (only just) to complete our match at Endeavour Park #3.
JB won the toss and we decided to bat 1st. Adam & The Colonel opened that batting and unfortunately we were down one opener in the 2nd over when Adam popped up a simple catch. Zach came to the crease and a steady partnership grew with scoring boundaries very difficult in the damp outfield. Zach even pushed The Colonel to 2 runs on a number of occasions. Just when the run rate started to increase, we lost the Colonel to a run out which of coarse was adjudicated by his Father. Please to report that he got it right. Peace in the Kern household tonight. This brought JB to the middle and the runs started to pile on until Zach was caught doing his thing, bringing an eager Jesse to join him in a single fest. Just when they looked like setting a huge target, Jesse was well caught at point, but this brought Slammin Sam to the crease. Slammin's not big on running singles and started carting the ball from the onset. Unfortunately he was caught on a possible no ball (bloody dodgy umpires) and JB was run out by a direct hit backing up too far. Stannis looked in fine touch after his week in camp for the Emerging Talent Squad, scoring at will. Mitch and Dools finished the innings with good running and huge heave hoed a boundary on the last ball of the innings to finish us at 7/140
Stannis and Sam opened the bowling and the fielders looked sharp as ever. Stannis was unplayable with 3 maidens and Slammin had the opening batsmen bowled in his opening spell. Zach & The Colonel took over and the game started to move away from West’s. Then it started raining. Good umpiring kept the boys playing until it started to pelt down and we were forced to get the covers on the pitch as quick as we cold, thanks for helping us West’s, Not. After the rain stopped and the other games recommenced the West’s parents were sure that the pitch was unplayable, even though they stated that they did not know that much about the rules. The best rule I have found is to do what ever you can to complete the match. We left the pitch for 20minutes, bowled a few balls to see if it still had some life, and we were back in business again soon after. Cricket is a gentleman’s game, so to be fair we kept Zach and The Colonel bowling for the next 10 over’s which yielded very few runs for the opposition. West’s 2 better batsmen started to make inroads but Dave Damage helped the batsman spoon a ball into the safe hands of Huge, and JB got the edge which was caught by Adam behind the wicket. JB went on to take another 2 wickets getting plenty of lift on the ball on what was apparently a soggy wicket. As 6.00 approached he opposition again attempted to abandon the game, but there was plenty of light and there were 22 eager cricket players as well. Common sense prevailed and we kept playing. Dools and Milky swung the ball well and we dropped a few tough chances behind the wicket. We ran out the last 2 batsmen with West’s finishing the day at 84. A convincing win to our boys under trying circumstances.
Many thanks to Michel Kern and Mark Bonner for umpiring while I sat in the shade (and dry) chit chatting with the West scorer.
Zach 37, JB 33, The Colonel 19 & Slammin 13
JB 3/12, Slammin 2/5, Damage 1/17, The Colonel 1/18 & Stannis 0/1
Under 12 Brown – report by David Eaton
In our first game after the Christmas breakU/12 Brown played Redbacks on Gill Park No. 2. Our captain was Victoria Lawn. We lost the toss and were sent into bat. There was a good opening partnership between Bryce Way and Kris Grant highlighted by some very good running between the wickets. Bryce also hit a very good 4 from a pull shot through mid-wicket. The ground was very heavy and scoring conditions were difficult. Kris lost his leg stump and that brought Ryan Eaton to the crease. He and Bryce continued the good running between wickets picking up singles and 2's where possible. Bryce was eventually out caught trying to hit the ball over the infield. After the retirement of Ryan, Brendan Lund and Tori Lawn looked very solid, especially in defence. Harry Broome also batted extremely well and looked very solid. The score at the end of the first 15 overs was 2-50.
In reply the Redbacks batsmen also got off to a good start and also struggled with the heavy field. However we let them off the hook a bit by bowling far too many wides. Our first wicket was brought about by a good run out from Ryan Eaton, who dived to his right to stop a ball in the slips region and then picked it up and threw the stumps down as the batsmen attempted a run. There was one other exceptional effort during that period. Bryce Way made very good ground at backward square leg in an attempt to catch a skied ball. He got his hands to it but just couldn't hang on. At the end of the first 15 overs Redbacks were 1-62.
Our second stint at batting produced more of the same with all batsmen having time at the crease except for Stuart Reaston. Again despite the heavy field we seemed to forget that scoring was the point of the game and batsmen seemed content to simply block out the balls rather than look for runs. Nicholas Brehmer was one who adopted the attitude of "hit out or get out" and he did hit one good 4 through mid-wicket before eventually getting run out. Everyone should remember the rules of calling when running between wickets and no doubt this is something we will be practicing in the next week.
The Coach's highlight of the innings though was Stuart Reaston who was run out without facing a ball. It is every cricketer's nightmare and, to Stuart's credit, he walked off with his head held high with a smile on his face. Well done Stuart. At the end of the innings Riley Heaver, Joshua Parkinson & Jesse Grunske pushed our score along with Riley hitting a very fine 4 off the last ball of the innings. At the end of our 30 overs we were 6-101 with our top scorers being Riley on 17, Bryce Way 10, Harry Broome 9 and Nicholas Brehmer 8.
In the second session of bowling our bowlers started to make some inroads with tight bowling from Ryan Eaton and Riley Heaver. That tight bowling led to wickets to Andrew Squires and Harry Broome. Ryan Eaton took a screamer of a catch at short mid-wicket diving full length to his right. Also Brendan Lund put in another great effort in the field running a fair distance to get himself under a high ball but unluckily for him was not able to hold onto it. Good effort Brendan in getting there. Stuart Reaston made up for his batting disappointment to take a fine keeper's catch down the leg side for his first ever catch in his first ever attempt at wicket keeping. Well done. Joshua Parkinson came back on for a second spell at bowling late in the innings with immediate success with 2 wickets in one over. One was caught out by Jesse Grunske with the other being clean bowled. The final wicket of the innings was a good run out effected by Riley Heaver collecting a ball at wide mid on and throwing back to Jesse Grunske at the bowler's end. He did well to get back behind the stumps and take the bails off. However Redbacks had surpassed our score and reached 6-115. Our best bowlers were Joshua Parkinson 2-6, Harry Broome 1-16, Andrew Squires 1-6, Riley Heaver 0-1 and Bryce Way 0-4.
Another Under 12 Brown – report by David Eaton
On the 9th February Under 12 Brown matched up against Wests Black. Our captain was Bryce Way, won the toss and elected to field. The outfield was wet again after rain which affected the quality of the bowling. We bowled 23 wides in the first 12 overs and these runs given to the Wests team comprised about 90% of the runs Wests scored up to that point. Therefore when we did hit the pitch the batsmen weren’t able to score freely. We certainly need to tighten up our bowling and not simply blame the wet ball as the reason for the wides. Only two 4’s were struck to the boundary in the first 15 overs by the Wests batsmen and otherwise the majority of the runs came from our wides. Our fielding was excellent and there were no real missed opportunities in the first 15 overs. Notwithstanding that for the first time this season we didn’t take a wicket in our first 15 overs. Wests ended up 0-57 at the end of those overs.
We then took to the crease and WOW. This was our hottest start to an innings yet. Riley Heaver and Jesse Grunske went bang and ran hard from the start. Riley also displayed some excellent hitting ability in the wet conditions with a couple of strong boundaries through mid wicket and over square leg. The running between wickets was exceptionally aggressive with loud calling from both openers. This set the tone for the rest of the innings after both Jesse and then Riley retired. Bryce Way and Kris Grant kept the runs ticking over with excellent running and particularly picking up byes when the keeper made a mistake. Bryce was our first batsman dismissed hitting one too many balls in the air. That wicket fell in the 12th over with the score at 72. Brendan Lund then came to the crease and exploded from the blocks and knocked up a quick fire 23 from 23 balls. Brendan hit a couple of boundary’s showing that despite the wet conditions good timing can get the ball to the boundary rather than brute strength. Well done Brendan, his top score for the season. At the end of our first 15 overs we were 1-94. Also our best start to an innings and made up for our lacklustre bowling performance.
In the second session of bowling we were much tighter in line and the bowlers were backed up by excellent fielding. This combination kept Wests batsmen’s scoring in check and again it was really only when we bowled wides that they were able to keep the score ticking over. Jesse Grunske took the first wicket in the 23rd over after a good catch by Bryce Way following a near mix-up between Bryce and Jesse. Remember, when taking catches a nice loud call is essential to avoid possible accidents. Riley Heaver took the second wicket in the 24th over with the assistance of Joshua Parkinson taking a good catch to a high ball at mid wicket. Nicholas Brehmer took to the last wicket with a good yorker, shattering the stumps in the last over. Our wicket keepers in both sessions, Victoria Lawn and Brendan Lund, did an excellent job and kept the byes down to a minimum. At the end of 30 overs Wests were 3-83. That put us in an envious position of already having won the game before we commenced our second session of 15 overs.
With the game already won it was easy for everyone to turn off but that didn’t happen. Nicholas Brehmer and Ryan Eaton kept the runs flowing with great running between wickets and some big hitting from Nicholas. Both batsmen rotated the strike well with at one stage Ryan getting singles off 8 consecutive balls. That is very good rotation of the strike and helps to break up the bowler’s line and rhythm. Both Ryan and Nicholas retired and that bought Harry Broome and Victoria Lawn to the crease. They both kept the momentum going with Victoria hitting a strong pull shot to the boundary, which certainly delighted Victoria and her team-mates. With strong running always comes a bit of risk and ultimately Harry paid the price for aggressive running being run out. Stuart Reaston came to the crease and he and Victoria again took some excellent singles before both retired. Josh Parkinson had a quick partnership with Andrew Squires before being bowled. This bought Stuart Reaston back to the crease and he also scored another run before being dismissed. Andrew Squires then partnered with Jesse Grunske for a cameo innings at the end with Andrew getting a quick fire 10. At the end of our 30 overs we had pushed our score onto 3-179 for a comprehensive victory. Top scorers were Riley Heaver 23 not out, Brendan Lund 23 not out, Nicholas Brehmer 15 not out, Ryan Eaton & Victoria Lawn 13 not out and Andrew Squires 10 not out. Our player of the day was Jesse Grunske for his all round fine effort with the bat and the ball.
