By Randall Woodley
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:- “Find a way to get back into the game. Find a way to build a partnership. Find a way to get a bowling partnership going. Find a way to catch a ball. Find a way to stop one. Just find a way!” Shane Warne.
MATCHES LAST SATURDAY
First Grade travelled to Gympie and after a short wet-wicket delay were asked to bat first. On a slow field they started cautiously but lost early wickets to be 3-38 off the first 14 overs before Dom Taylor joined opener Chris Wright at the crease. Wright fell for 38 with the score on 4-70 off 23 overs, leaving plenty of work to do by the other batsmen. Blake Steel came out to bat and turned the innings around with a 42-ball 53. He hit six 4s and three sixes in his stay at the wicket. He and Dom Taylor (38) saw the boys to 133 off 35 overs (63-run partnership) before Blake went. Young wicket-keeper, Cody Pyne, in his first bat of the season, then scored a run a ball 24 seeing Thunder to 165 in the 40th over. With five wickets in hand, TNT were looking at 230-plus but unfortunately a late collapse saw the team all out for 191, leaving four overs unused. At the break, Thunder felt comfortable they had posted enough runs to defend and take the points for the match.
Batting second, Gympie Gold openers scored 12 off the first two overs but, unfortunately for them, that was as good as the afternoon had in store for them. The TNT opening bowling trio of Scott Aufderheide, Tom Stewart and Ben Laughlin set about dismantling what is usually a strong batting line up. In the next 14 overs, the trio took 10 wickets for the addition of only 17 runs in a fast-bowling display that had to be seen to be believed. Aufderheide finished with 5 for 9 off six overs, Ben Laughlin 4 for 6 off three and youngster, Tom Stewart, possibly the quickest of the three took 1 for 14.
An interesting footnote is that of the 10 Gympie wickets to fall, seven were either bowled or given out LBW. The Thunder bowlers were on line, bowling a good length and with just a small amount of late swing. The match was over early and the boys returned home knowing that they were able to post a good score even though some of their top batsman did not fire on the day and confirming the team has, by far, the best bowling attack in the competition.
Next Saturday the team will be at home against Glasshouse in a day-night 50 over match starting at 1.30pm.
Unfortunately, none of the other teams were able to start the season with wins.
Second Grade played Palmwoods at Read Park and, after winning the toss, sent the opposition in to bat first. Harrison Lea and Robbie Payton bowled great areas with not a lot of luck to have them 3 for 44 at the 13 over mark. Harrison was beating the edge two-three times an over and, on another day, would have taken a bag full. Palmwoods kept scoring well and were 4 for 120 after 25 and eventually finished all out for 180.
Harrison Lea opened the batting with Sam Baker and, after Harrison hit a few boundaries, he was out and replaced by the new captain Josh Peters. He and Baker built a partnership and got to the team to 3 for 120, needing six an over to post the win.
Palmwoods bowled well, full and straight, and looking back it was obvious that TNT could have been more active with their batting and executed their plan better. The boys fell 20 runs short with batsmen in the shed. Leon Beatty and Sam Baker top scored with 35 each. The team will keep improving and have a real crack at Glasshouse next Saturday.
FOURTH GRADE
The team played their match on a field that resembled a postage stamp at Palmwoods and after winning the toss and bowling on a not completely flat deck, the decision may have backfired. With all the bowlers in their first match of the season looking a little rusty, wickets were hard to come by. A few dropped catches and some lusty hitting by their tail saw Palmwoods finish on 7-196.
Best bowling for TNT:-Kent Officer 3-28 off six, Bob McGhee 2-29 and Mike Thomson 1-19. Naveen Chand, Jack Floyd and Luke Anstey all bowled well and were unlucky not to get wickets. Batting wise, TNT got off to an average start being 3 for 5 and then 4 for 15 after nine overs. It was very hard to recover from a start like that. Some early luck to Kent Officer followed by his usual boundary hitting saw him top score with 42. Jack Saunders hit 16, Ron Lewis was 16 no when the innings finished on 104 runs.
It was a tough start to the season with plenty of good things to look forward to. Next match is against Glasshouse at Dale Officer Oval next Saturday.
SIXTH GRADE
The team played against USC at Dale Officer oval and after batting first could only score 78 runs off 19 overs. This was a very disappointing performance from the team. Only two batsmen reached double figures- Shane Gesell 25 and Andrew Tue 10.
USC was able to pass the target in the 10th over. The team will need to regroup this week and look closely at their batting and bowling if they are to be competitive in the matches ahead. Their next game is down at Landsborough next Saturday commencing at noon.
