Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Fantastic game! - Wrong result :(

The sun finally came out, and witnessed what can only be described as an epic nail biter! Star A took on Te Rapa A in the 20/20 final at Steele Park. Star started well by winning the toss and electing to bat, but soon there was disbelief in the Star camp as runs dried up and wickets started tumbling. The Te Rapa openings bowlers spearheaded by a certain Mr Council made a mess of the Star top order! At 37 for 7 after 11 overs the Star boys were getting ready for an early shower, but a solid 9th wicket partnership orchestrated by the man of the match Dan Hennebry (31 no) saw Star to a defendable total of 97. At this point even the Star premier captain had given up all hope, and started looking for the magic ball in a bottle!

But in typical body-on-the-line Star fashion, the afternoon became very exciting as a superb fielding effort took Te Rapa all the way to the second last ball of the game for the win. Three run outs emphasised the great Star fielding effort. Almost every run taken by the Te Rapa batsmen was turned into a half chance by the Star fielders! In the end pushing the fielding to its limits caused a bad overthrow in the last over, and sealed the win for Te Rapa with only 2 wickets in hand. The wickets were spread amongst the Star bowlers, with Dan Hennebry ending up on top again with 2 for 9 of his 4 overs.

The Star lads left the field with their heads held high to a much appreciated applause from the very supportive Star crowd. As everyone settled down for a well deserved beer, the day's events were summarised by a tired Star player: "A very good day's worth of cricket, just a pity about the result!"

Monday, October 20, 2008

One Day (110 Over) Rules

Hamilton Cricket Association One Day Rules.

All competition matches shall be played subject to and in accordance with the laws of cricket as established and interpreted by the Marylebone Cricket Club, as adopted by New Zealand cricket and subject to any amendments and modifications which may be determined.

In the event of the first day of a two day game being cancelled/rained off, day two becomes a one day game.

Two day playing conditions will apply except that:

The Hours of play and Interval:
Play commences: 10.30 am
Break between innings 30 minutes
Scheduled finish time 5.30 pm

Overs:
Maximum of 110 overs.

The team batting first shall occupy no more than 60 overs, but may declare after the completion of 55 overs.

The team batting second shall occupy the balance of the overs not occupied by the team batting first. ie if the team batting first is bowled out in 30 overs the team batting second has 80 overs to achieve the target.

In a delayed start or a rain affected match, the team batting second must be able to face a minimum of 30 overs before it can be deemed a match.

Example 1. Team batting first bats for 60 overs and rain occurs before the second innings. A minimum of 1 hour and 45 minutes must be available for a result to occur (30 overs x 3.5 minutes).

Example 2. If rain delays the start of the game the minimum amount of time available for the match to commence would be 4 hours and 10 minutes (35 overs maximum for the first innings and 30 overs for the second innings).

Half an hour must be lost before there is any reduction in innings.

10 minutes can be deducted from the break to assist in the completion of the match; however this is to be by the agreement of both captains.

The revised target/s due to weather interference is the total runs scored by the team batting first divided by the overs faced and multiplied by the number of overs available to the team batting second.

Points system:

Win: if the winning team declares at 55 overs and the team batting second does not achieve the target. 6 points
Win: if the team bats more than 55 overs and bowls out the opposition. 6 Points.
Win: if the team batting second achieves the target. 6 points
Loss: if the team batting first declares at 55 overs and loses.1 point
Loss: if the team batting first declares at 60 overs and loses.0 points

No result: if the team batting first bats more than 55 overs but does not bowl out the opposition. 3 each

No Balls:
One run penalty in addition to any additional runs scored.
Bowlers are allowed one short pitched delivery per over.
Any delivery which passes the batsman on the full above waist height but only while standing upright shall be called a no ball.

Wides:
If the batsman is unable to play a proper shot while in his normal batting stance the delivery shall be deemed a wide.

Bowling restrictions:
There are no bowling restrictions excepting that no bowler may bowl consecutive overs.

Fielding restrictions:
There must be a minimum of 4 fielders plus the wicket keeper inside an imaginary 30 metre circle for the duration of the innings.

Time restrictions:
It is expected that over rates per hour be kept consistently above 17. Failure to do so could result in loss of points or penalties. This will be monitored by umpires.

Monday, October 13, 2008

From B to A and into the final!

On a terrible day for cricket, Star's senior A side played their way into their first ever 20/20 final. The two games involved everything from great batting, superb bowling, tremendous fielding and the replacement of an umpire, but in the end a combination of regular A's and some top performing B's was enough to see the Star boys home.

Huntly struggled with the wet ball which aided Star to 158 after 20 overs. The notable scorers were Reg Prasad (39), Francois Botha (29) and Tharik Alam who once again showed his potential by hitting 33 of a lot fewer balls. On the bowling front the Star openers Charles Johnston (4-0-21) and Eben Geldenhuis(4-0-11) restricted Hunly to less than 35 of the first 8 overs. Tharik Alam took 4 for 11 of his 4 overs in what continues to be a superb season for him. In the end the run rate was just too steep and Huntly fell 44 runs short when the overs ran out.

Melville was tipped to be the team to beat after they put St Paul's away by 50 odd runs earlier in the day. Star batted first again, and a magnificent run a ball 80 odd run partnership by the B's opening duo of Sean Mulcahy (43) and Jeremy Prasad(42) saw star to another good total of 155. The openings bowlers again did the choking job well by giving away less than 35 runs of the first 8 overs. Charles Johnston(4-1-13), Alex Henebry(4-3-19) and Francois Botha(4-2-25) were all in the wickets, with 3 run outs coming from pressure in the field.

So with 4 from 4, Star A will be playing in the final on the 18th at Steele park, hoping to bring home a well overdue bit of silverware!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

News

The 08/09 season is officially under-way with the first round of 20/20 for the Prems and As being played last weekend.

The Prems won one and lost one, while the As had two good wins.

A feature of the Prem side was the number of new (and young) faces, with Ollie Kay, Brenton Thompson and Garry Campbell  all from St Pauls all making their official debuts.  (Welcome guys)

With other youngsters like Zeb Walden in the side, and balanced with an experienced core of senior players, there is a good look to the Prems side this year.

Bear in mind that prodgical son Mike Wiltshire is returning to the club this year after two seasons playing in the Waikato Valley comp,  and Guy Schwikkard (also from St Pauls) is yet to become available.

Look in the As side and you'll see that of the 13 guys that played on the weekend, no less that 10 of them have played and performed at Premier level.

All this means a strong club, competition for places and hopefully a group of guys focusing on getting three teams into the finals this year (ours).

The other Big News this week is the demise of the Te Rapa premier side.  They will be replaced in prems by HBHS, with a couple of handy alumni pitching in. (Devicich and McLeod.)  The Te Rapa prem teams fun loving approach, embodiment of the spirit of cricket, and charming on field demenour will be sadly missed.  (Tui anyone?)

That's all that's news this week - check in to the blog for more action!


Weekends Results.

Premier
20/20 Round 1.
Melville 190/6  (Keir Bentley 83, Michael Dodunski 50) bt Star Varsity 150

20/20 Round 2. 
Fraser-Tech 127/8 (Matt Hay 48no), lost to Star Varsity 128/1 (Damien Morrow 73)


Senior A
20/20 Round 1
Te Rapa 121 for 5 after 20 overs     
Star Varsity 122 for 4 after 19.1 overs 
  
20/20 Round 2 
Star Varsity 136 for 9 after 20 overs 
Fraser Tech 79 all out after 19.2 overs