Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Hot News

Hi All,

A Couple of things that you really need to know about!


New Nets

We’re happy to report that the new nets came a step closer this week with the signing of the loan agreement between U-Leisure, Star and the HJCA. There’s been a bit of a delay and it took a lot of wheeling and dealing from Mark Commins to get this done.


So good progress! On the down side we are now effectively $38,000 in debt to U-Leisure, and we need to start earning the money to pay this off! Which brings me to my second point…


Scoreboard Season
The club runs the big old-school scoreboard at Seddon Park for all international matches.


We need you to help out on the boards for a day or two over the next couple of months. The jobs involve:

- Sticking the team names onto the boards.

- Unpacking the boards at the ground and putting them up.

- Keeping track of the scores.

- Updating the bowlers figures at the end of each over and the batsmen when they are out.

- Packing up the boards at the end of the day.

- Sitting around watching top class cricket (and spectators) from maybe the best vantage point on the ground.


It’s all organised for you, and it’s a bloody good day out. So when the text comes please get involved.


The programme for this year is as follows:

3rd February BLACKCAPS vs Bangladesh - International Twenty-20

15th –19th February BLACKCAPS vs Bangladesh - Test Match

9th March BLACKCAPS vs Australia - One-Day International

27th-31st March BLACKCAPS vs Australia – Test


That’s all – hope you’re enjoying the season – any questions? Let us know.


Cheers



Star

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Star All-Stars Vs Eastlink 23/1/10

Duncan was given the task of the toss and came away with the result. He didnt win the toss, but we did get to bat which is what we were after. He then tried to convince the skipper that after scoring an unbeaten ton opening in his previous game, he wasn't the right choice to open again.

Five 6's and five 4's later he departed for 63 well scored runs, making his average for the season something in the vicinity of 168.

John Blair batting at three turned the strike over well allowing Dunc to score freely. GIbbo went in and waited three deliveries before half arsing a cut shot and getting a tiny edge to the keeper.

Dave Gunn and John then had a great partnership and lasted till there was only a couple of overs to go. John being so knackered by this time he walked on an LBW appeal.

Previous Star A's player Simon "Soss" Burton turned out for them and some interesting battles between him and Dave Gunn led to a lot of across the line mishits, a really nice straight six and a top edge to the keeper.

Mark B came out and scored 21 off 9 balls, and Jarod managed a great six off the first ball he faced which was also the last of the innings. A top batting effort by the boys of 253.

Eastlink started strongly and got past 50 scarily easily leaving the skipper a little concerned that 250 might not be enough.

Gibbo made his contribution count bowling a full toss down leg which the batsmen obligingly top edged into his eye, pole-axing himself and leaving blood on the popping crease.

From there some tight bowling by Duncan particularly (11 dot balls till Gibbo misfielded and easy one at cover) set the tone and we started strangling them, as well as taking some regular wickets.

They needed 100 off the last seven so Jared got tossed a ball that had gotten soggy in the last couple of overs with some light showers. The skip offered to not let him bowl with the soggy ball and Jared replied by telling the skip he would have to pry the ball from his cold dead hand, Jared bowled three great overs, turning the ball significantly more than Yapper (who was away camping). I think all would agree Yap will have a hard time getting another over of spin this year.

They ended the game 196/8. Good solid all round effort by the All Stars.

Batting:
Duncan 63
JB 59
Dave G 63
Jared 6 not out

Bowling:
Shabbir 0-16 (4)
Darryl 0-34 (5)
Dave G 2-15 (5)
Mark B 3-41 (7)
Duncan 1-18 (6)
Jared 1-21 (3)
Dicey (0-6)

POD Points
Duncan 3
Dave G 2
John B 1


A's vs F Tech

Our next 2 day game was at Jansen Park against a Fraser Tech team that we should have beaten in the one day game earlier on in the season. We had them 9 down needing another 50odd to win and they managed to snatch victory out of the jaws of the defeat.

I was quietly confident after seeing the team we had on paper, I was in the position for the first time of deciding who to leave out rather than struggling for 11! Unfortunately Mark B and Shabir got the chop and Thariq got the call up after his sensational effort the week before. We also had Aidan who had been the sacrificial lamb from the Prems poor effort the week before.

On arrival at the ground the news was all bad, the pitch was an absolute green top after the rain throughout the week. It might have been good as a putting green but for cricket it wasn't the best which meant whoever won the toss was definitely going to bowl first.

So to the toss, 'heads', was the confident call by myself, and down it came, tails... I could already see the smirk on the opposition captains face as he announced they would bowl.

I'm not going to go over each wicket but we ended up being rolled for 128 with the highest score being Commins with 33. The bowling wasn't that flash, they just let the pitch do the work and they were helped by some impatient and poor batting from us. We had a decent top order contribution but no-one carried on on a pitch that you were never really 'in' on. Too many single figure scores near the bottom also didn't help.

So to the bowling, and with a choice of 8 bowlers, it was always going to be a hard decision as to who to bowl. Dave L and Phil opened up and bowled superbly and were unlucky to only have one wicket before tea. Rowly came on and bowled a tidy line and picked up a superb direct hit run out off his own bowling. At tea they were 50odd for 2 after 25 overs.

From there we picked up steady wickets throughout the day and overall the fielding was very good. There were a few nervous moments as Josh ("He'll drop it") Autridge somehow held on to a skier, and Phil ("I'm just thinking about how shit I am") Hyde dropped a catch from the guy who made 50 for them.

We bowled them out for 156 with Ryan and Rowly picking up 2 each and Aidan picking up 3. You know you've got a good bowling attack when Rohit, the Prem spinner a few weeks ago doesn't get a crack, and Tariq only bowls 1 over.

At the end of the day we had 13 overs to face and were eager to knock off the deficit. Rowly wasn't hanging around and smacked the 5th ball of the innings for 6 but then was out soon after me to leave us two down at the end of the day. Ryan and Aidan will kick us off next week and are looking solid. So with a lead of around 18 we have it all to do next week. Hopefully the rain holds off and we can put a good total on the board for them to chase.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Man of Steel.

It has been a long while since this writer expressed himself on the pages of the Star times, but this past weekend, in a successful cricket game, a feat of shear bravery has left him fumbling for his pencil to share a remarkable story with other cricket lovers.


The biggest game of the season so far started steadily with Star's All Stars getting off to a good start thanks to the skipper and and one of the many Saffers in the team. Runs came at just more than a trickle, but the ball quickly lost its shine for very few wickets. After the top order added their bit, a few quick wickets caused a moment of panic in fear of the dreaded Star collapse! At this point, the man in question got to the pitch and promptly made his presence felt with a lovely four that raced to the boundary. He went on to score another less-than-a-run-a-ball-fifty to help set up the innings, which on its own is nothing new for him seeing as he has done it on around 50% of the occasions the has taken the crease for Star. But considering the multitude of barriers he faced, this fifty was unbelievable - more about this later.

A wonderful cameo from Jared helped the innings back on its legs so the lower order could really have a go. And they did just that. The Geldenhuis brothers added around 60 runs in the last 7 overs to set Suburbs an imposing 215 for the win.

An inspirational slap on the ass from the skipper apparently didn't help the openings bowlers, as Suburbs started in the best possible way by smashing 17 runs of the first over from Eben! It didn't go much better at the other end as one Suburbs opener connected with pretty much everything short of a yorker! The openers finally got their length right as Eben removed the main threat after trapping him plumb, his replacement was sent packing 2 balls later and suddenly the field felt like a happy place again. When JB lobbed in a perfect throw to run out the remaining opener, the game seemed all but won. It wasn't, as the skipper duly reminded everyone. At this point the wickets dried up and it looked like the affair could go all the way to the 35th over, even after some resilient middle order wickets were cleaned up by some very entertaining bowling from Pieter.

Tharik, (aka: the man of steel) grabbed the ball and didn't let go till the game was over several wickets later with a table topping win for Star. What makes his bunch of wickets and his 50 so impressive, is the fact that he had a scar the size of a good handbag's zip on his shoulder that wasn't there 5 weeks earlier!!!!! Tharik played for Star on the 5th of December and scored a fifty, on the 7th he had his collarbone realigned by getting a titanium rod put in his shoulder, and less than a month later he was training in the nets like nothing ever happened! On the 16th of January he scored a fifty and took 4 wickets. Ladies and gentleman, please applaud that man.

And Brett Lee, if you are reading this: If you play for the love of the game, and not the money then you wont need 6 months to recover from an ingrown toenail!

JAMP

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A's v Marist - Day 2

Quick wickets were needed with Marist sporting a 50 run lead with three wickets in hand. Unfortunately this was not the case and a quick 50 runs saw Marist with a 100 run lead early in the day. Highlight was Ryan taking his 6th wicket of the innings, a fantastic effort. We eyed a quick 250 to set a target late in the day, but lost the first three wickets before lunch to be 49/3. Rebuilding was needed and a good partnership of 80 between Commins (83) and Toby (36) saw us dominate the first hour after lunch. Wickets then fell at regular intervals and some extremely negative fields made it difficult to score. However a solid total of 240 left Marist needing 130 off 30 overs and we were definitely in with a chance. Four quick wickets left Marist in trouble, but a vital dropped catch of ex-star player John Single was costly as he pounded a quick 35 and put Marist back in control. Things see-sawed from there and with 9 overs to go needed 30-odd off 9 with 4 wickets in hand, and there was still a sniff. However a confident LBW shout was turned down (hit on full in front of middle-off) and Marists skipper took his chance pounding 16 off the next over and we couldn't recover. An exciting game but not the result we were after, conceding 20 runs too many with the ball early and falling 20 short with the bat.

POD Points
Ryan 3
Commins 2
Toby 1

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A's vs Marist

Our second two-day game of the season was against Marist at Galloway park on a glorious day and what looked like a decent track. We won the toss and decided to bat first.

At drinks we were 45/0 with myself and John Griffin batting well together. I was out for 33 at 59/1, so after a solid start I was confident we could set a good target with the batting lineup we had. Unfortunately we lost cheap wickets and ended up being in the terrible position at lunch of 71/5.

After lunch we hit some decent blows and the tail got us through to 151 which was good considering the position we were in. Mark B scored 25 and there were some handy contributions from Krishna, Jess and J O'Brien.

We knew that if we were to achieve first innings points we would need to bowl and field incredibly well but unfortunately we were miles off doing that. The bowling was fairly solid throughout the day but our fielding was abysmal with at least 6 dropped catches. 2 of the batsmen that were dropped went on to make 50s. The intensity in the field was also lacking and they basically dictated the game to us.

They passed our score at around 3 or 4 down and by then we decided that dropping catches really wasn't a good way to try and win a match. After Ryan caught a sensational return catch off his bowling we produced a good late fightback, picking up 3 or 4 wickets to have them 208/7 at stumps.

A great effort from Ryan to pick up 5 wickets in the day and will be looking to add more to those next Saturday, and also good work at the top of the innings by John Griffin who scored 21.

Lets hope next week we can knock them over early and give them a tricky target to chase to give us a chance of winning outright.