Only three Thunder senior teams played over the two days of last weekend, and the club came home with two wins.
The disappointment was the loss of the third-placed First Graders who went down to a Caloundra team bolstered by the inclusion of five Scorchers [Sunshine Coast team in the Brisbane competition] players.
To handicap the Thunder team further, gun opening bowler Scott Aufderheide could not play due to illness and the club’s top run scorer this season, Ben Laughlin was not able to play on the Sunday when Thunder batted.
However, Fifth and Sixth Grade had strong wins which will put them in good positions for the finals. Tony Watson scored a 126 in Sixth Grade and his team-mate, Wayne Moore took 10 wickets in the match.
FIRST GRADE: DAY ONE-The team travelled south to Caloundra and after losing the toss was asked to field first. When Tom Stewart opened the bowling and could only get his fastest balls to hardly go stump high the boys knew they were in for a long day. All the bowlers toiled hard and spent the full 96 overs in the field. Down a couple of bowlers with Covid and unavailability it was a tough slog for the team.
Some bizarre tactics in the last hour where Caloundra shut up shop and their numbers eight and nine batters took 100 balls to score about 25 runs. At stumps the Lighthouses were 8 for 282.
Tom Stewart bowled 18 wicket-less overs for only 24 runs with Dom Taylor and Ben Laughlin bowling 49 overs between them (two wicket each). Jarrod Officer took three wickets in the day. Bowling 24 maidens for the day is a good indication of the pressure that Thunder applied, and the team went home confident the Sunday would favour them a little better.
DAY TWO- The boys took the last two wickets inside three overs with Tom Stewart getting a deserved wicket and Talon Reichert picking up one. Caloundra posted 293.
It was going to be one of the largest chases the Thunder had faced in some years, and Caloundra opened up with spin on a pitch that had some pretty inconsistent bounce and turn. Openers Jake Dennien and Lewis Waugh had their work cut out with Scorchers’ Alecz Day bowling 100kph off-spin with fielders around the bat. The boys did a great job holding out for 15 overs before both going to Day to have Thunder 2-27.
Then Jarrod Officer, and Ben Claypole batted until after lunch before Ben went for 19 with the score 62. Then the team was pleased to see ex-Thunder player, Cody Pyne, having a break from Scorchers join Officer in the middle. These two put on 100 runs before Pyne, who had batted very maturely, was out for 49, the score now 4-161, still a 130 runs short of the target.
Officer was batting so well everyone expected him to register another ton, but he went soon after for 88, bowled by Day. The team still needed 110 with five wickets in hand.
The task proved too much for the batsmen and the innings finished on 223 from 80 overs. The team was disappointed to lose but it was obvious that you cannot chase 300 when only two batsmen pass the 20-run mark.
However, on reflection it was a good effort on a deteriorating pitch against one of the best bowlers in Queensland. Alecz Day finishing with 5-63 and bowling 35 overs out of a total of 80 team overs. Their top scorer, another Scorcher made 127 and these two players were the difference in the match.
Late in the day saw Thunder have Caloundra 6 for 66 at stumps which really showed how far the pitch had deteriorated. This gave the boys some confidence going into next Saturday’s crucial match against the old adversary, Caboolture Snakes.
Day 1 of this match will be played at Read Park next Saturday commencing at 10am.
FIFTH GRADE: The team was placed third on the premiership ladder prior to last Saturday’s match against University at Read Park and they needed to win to keep their final chances alive. Batting first, things did not start all that well, losing both openers and Thunder soon found themselves at 3 -22. Then club stalwart, Kent Officer came into bat and as he has done over some 40 years, held the innings together. Wickets kept falling but Kent kept hitting fours and encouraging the younger players to hold up their ends. A seventh wicket partnership with Rory Ramsden (37) saw the innings climb and a late 51 not out by captain Matt Mayo ensured the team would finish with a competitive score. They finished on 9 for 239 with Kent Officer contributing 84 (12 fours).
USC was keen to match Thunder’s score, but accurate bowling and tight fielding restricted them to be all out for 172. Best of the bowlers for Thunder were Ben Potter 4-30, Rory Ramsden having a great match, 2-19 and R.Johnston 2-19. The Thunder batted out the rest of the day to finish with a well earned first innings win by some 67 runs.
Next Saturday the team take on the Glasshouse Rangers on Day 1 of their two-day match at the Glasshouse Mountains Oval.
SIXTH GRADE: What a win for the Sixes and what a day for Tony Watson and Wayne Moore. Batting first Thunder absolutely annihilated Cooroy-Eumundi bowlers notching up 258 before declaring at three wickets down. Tony batted sensationally, hitting 19 fours in his top score of 126 not out. He was well supported by Naveen Chand (31) and Wayne Moore 72 (10 fours).
When Cooroy-Eumundi batted they were immediately on the back foot and never mastered the Thunder bowling attack. They were all out for 94. Top bowlers were Wayne Moore, 5-26 and Graham Chaplin 3-14.
Sent back in, the opposition again struggled in its second innings and was bowled out for 101. Wayne Moore was again the top bowler with 5-19 and Graham Chaplin took 4-19.
This outright win put a signal out to the other teams in the grade that the Sixers on a roll and improving every match as they head to the finals.
Next Saturday the team take on the Nambour Cutters at the showground.
SECOND GRADE: They resume their season next Saturday against Palmwoods at their home ground.
THIRD GRADE: Next Saturday the team will be playing Palmwoods at Dale Officer Oval.
