By Randall Woodley
“I keep telling myself, improve. Improve from the last match and improve from the last shot,“ Indian captain Virat Kohli said, giving inspiration to TNT.
MATCHES
The Tewantin-Noosa Thunder Cricket (TNT) First Grade team started the season well last Saturday by winning both their two T20 matches played at the Caloundra club’s grounds.
They were drawn to play Nambour in the morning in a match that turned out to be a sad occassion. The Nambour captain and their best batsman had suffered a family tragedy during the week and he and some other first grade players were unable to play. Thunder was asked to bowl first and utterly demolished the Nambour team. TNT’s opening bowlers, Scott Aufderheide, and Tom Stewart, had the Cutters reeling at 4 for 12 after their allotted eight overs before TNT’s new recruit, ex-international, Ben Laughlin, was brought into the attack. He took another two wickets and then with some great fielding the opposition suffered a couple of run outs and were only able to put 27 runs on the scoreboard.
The Thunder passed this target in the fourth over, losing just one wicket in the process.
The afternoon match would prove to be a little more difficult. Caloundra Lighthouses have recruited well with a number of new players and some older hands re-joining the club. Thunder batted first and the start could not have been worse, losing both openers in the first over, one to a run-out. Then Jarrod Officer and Lewis Waugh set about a consolidation of the innings and by the eighth over had put on 58 runs. After Waugh exited, veteran Andrew Kratzmann came to the crease and helped move the scoring along at a better rate. The team put on over 100 runs in the last 12 overs and this would prove to be the difference between the two teams. Officer scored 63 off 38 balls and hit three sixes, Kratzmann put on 42 and Ben Laughlin hit 18 not out off 7 balls. The team ended at 6 for 164 off their 20 overs which was the highest score registered in of any of the eight T20 matches played at the weekend.
Caloundra started well taking 19 runs off the first two overs before the TNT boys pegged them back to be 0-38 off the first six. Then with a combination of experience and execution from the Thunder bowlers and tight fielding, Caloundra were squeezed out of the chase. All their batsmen found it difficult to keep up the required run rate and although the game was still in the balance at the 10-over point, the next four to five overs of just under six an over made it too difficult for them to reach the target.
Thunder’s bowlers were again all very impressive, with Caloundra falling 32 runs short. Wickets were shared around with Ben Laughlin, Jake Dennien and Dom Taylor taking two each and Tom Stewart bowling their top scorer with a beauty.
Next Saturday, the team will be playing a double-header again, at Read Park. The morning game (9.30am) is against Coolum. In the afternoon at 1.30pm they will take on arch-rivals, Maroochydore Swans, the only other team to win both their first-round matches last weekend.
TRAINING
Training at Read Park each Tuesday and Thursday night is now under way and all registered players are expected to attend at least one of the nights each week. It seems that the club will now be able to field four senior teams in the season’s competition which will start early October. Junior Training also commences this week at 4pm on both Tuesday and Thursdays.
COACHING CLINIC
School holidays are coming up and again the club will be hosting junior clinics with ex-International Nathan Reardon. They involve plenty of quality coaching, lots of fun and motivation for junior players of all ages. And you do not have to be a member of the TNT club to participate. Spread the word and contact Nathan directly via details on the flyer or go to:-
facebook.com/nathanreardoncricketcoaching/
