Quote of the week- “ I can’t really say I’m batting badly. I’m not batting long enough to be batting badly !” Famous statement by Greg Chappell, Australian Captain after a run of ducks.
The First Graders continued on their winning run last Saturday and after next week’s match should finish the first half of the season at the top of the table. One of their veteran batsman is away in Melbourne with the Queensland Veteran’s Over 50 side and scoring plenty of runs. Andrew Kratzmann’s scores in the matches he played were- 27, 91 not out, 87 and 128 off 126 balls. In the last match he and his brother Mark put on a partnership of 102. The Queenslanders won the final by 11 runs. Great cricket Andrew and Mark.
FIRST GRADE: The team were down at Glasshouse missing a few key players but were happy to bat first on a track that looked a bit tired. The pitch was definitely up and down and after the first 20 overs the boys were 3-48. This brought the captain Michael Eckard (66) and Andy Batten (42) together at the crease and they put on probably the partnership of the season so far in tricky batting conditions. Their partnership of 100 of 20 overs saw the score at 148 with a dozen overs to go. Everyone chipped in down to order to see Thunder scramble to 196 which could be considered an above par score.
Zac Murray and Eckard started off the bowling with an unbelievable amount of play and misses for the first dozen overs with only a single wicket to show for their efforts. Veteran Mike Thomson came on and the match changed. He had figures at one stage of 2-0 off 3 overs. With all the life going out of the pitch Thunder’s bowlers strangled the Ranger’s batters and with wickets well spread and a couple of run outs Glasshouse were all out for 166 for a solid Thunder victory. Next week the team are at Maroochydore playing a 50 over match against the third placed Swans, starting at 10am.
SECOND GRADE: The team’s match was against second placed Maroochydore in a day-night game at Read Park. The visitors elected to bat first but Thunder were confident with some added firepower to their bowling ranks. Oliver Wilson (4-40) and Joshua Christensen (0-26) were both bowling some excellent line and length and were keeping the runs to a minimum early on. Finn Mayo (1-35) & Ben Potter (1-30) had an impressive leg-spin partnership but without much luck with some chances going down. Jett Taylor (1-44) started loosely but tightened the screws as his spell went on before coming back on at the death. The Swans posted 183 for the loss of 7 wickets.
Chasing 184 for victory the innings started badly with both openers out early at 2-3. From there it was the Blake Steel rescue mission once again, pummelling 73 off 49 balls. He made it look easy with wickets falling around him and only Ben Potter (13) providing him with some assistance in building a partnership.
After Steel fell the team lost two more wickets to be seven down which brought Brendan Wright to the crease. With the run rate not an issue, he was batting with patience, whacking the loose balls and there was still a chance of a win. However when he was out the game was over. A disappointing loss and all team members will need to play with more discipline in future matches.
Their last match for 2023 will a day-nighter at Read Park next Saturday against the ladder leaders, Palmwoods, starting at 3pm.
THIRD GRADE: The Heads of Noosa Brewing Third Grade hosted Coolum. Winning the toss was possibly the high point of the day. Choosing to bat, Thunder scored 25 off first 3 overs. Then the Coolum bowlers took the pace off and the home team struggled, not able to score at more than 2 runs an over. The team were all out for 169 – a below par score. Daniel Cooke and Lachlan Webster top scoring with 33 and 32 respectively. Hats off to juniors who batted well and sacrificed their wickets for the team.
Batting second Coolum really took toll of Thunder’s young and depleted bowling attack . Coolum won the game in the 20th over but Thunder’s captain commented, “It’s been an injury riddled end of the year with our juniors really stepping up and I couldn’t be more proud of their efforts.” Next Saturday the team plays Caloundra Lighthouses at home.
FOURTH GRADE: The Fallon Solutions Div. 4 team travelled to Palmwoods for the round 7 clash and batted first. A strong start to the innings had Thunder on 3-90 at drinks. With a solid foundation to launch from, Jeremy Holland and Tom Middleton upped the run rate and progressed to 130 before Middleton (17) was dismissed. He was later followed by Jeremy Holland for 85. A collapse of the tail ended the innings on 151 in the 32nd over.
Bowling second, Jackson Holland combined with Bob McGhee to see TNCC off to the perfect start, having Palmwoods 3-10 which became 5-52 not long after.
Palmwoods were 7-96 at drinks then 8-119. A tight finish required precise bowling and Jackson Holland delivered with 5-40 to win the match by 5 runs.
UNDER 15s A The Store Local team were at Read Park against Yandina. Batting first the Thunder boys scored 158. Top scorers were Jackson Holland 34, Ben Blackwell 31, Aedan Mayo 22 and Rory Ramsden 13.
Bowling second the nine Thunder bowlers did their parts and restricted the Pioneers to 9-116. Top bowling figures- Ben Blackwell 3-9 Rory Ramsden 2-8 and Aedan Mayo 2-15. The biggest factor in the victory was extras with Tewantin only giving 4 and Yandina with 34 extras.
UNDER 11S Lightning This week our Shaw Struct U11’s team Lightning played an early morning game in Tewantin against Palmwoods Red. Palmwoods won the toss and decided to bat and scored 167. However, despite their best efforts the Lightning could not match the big total and went down in the match. For Lightning, Jonathan scored 17, Zac 15, William 18 and Zavier with 20.
