“Taking five wickets in an innings is known as a five-for, fifer or five-fa. In the common tongue, especially in Australia, the five-wicket haul is termed as, Michelle. This is in honour of the famous actress, Michelle Pfeiffer”.
Last weekend the senior Tewantin-Noosa Thunder Cricket teams played the first day of their final two-day matches of the year. Two of the teams have already achieved first-innings points but the highlights of the day’s cricket were two outstanding bowling performances. Playing in second grade Harrison Lea took seven wickets for 17 off his 12 overs, while in first grade, ex-international bowler, Ben Laughlin snared six Coolum wickets for 33 off his marathon 18 overs.
FIRST GRADE
The team was away at Coolum and was asked to bowl first . They soon had the home team in trouble at 2 for 9, but their batsmen dug in and the next wicket did not fall until they were 60. From then on, Ben Laughlin showed his class and with swing and lift from the red ball, he routed the Coolum tail to take 6 for 33. He had finished their innings with three wickets in four balls and five of his wickets were either bowled or LBW.
By stumps, the Thunder batsmen had accumulated 168 runs for the loss of five wickets and had taken the first innings points. Lewis Waugh scored 80, captain Jake Dennien 40 and a quick-fire 20 from Cody Pyne ensured the team finished the day in a strong position to take outright points next Saturday.
SECOND GRADE
Read Park saw the seconds taking on Coolum Sharks where they were asked to field first on their home wicket. The pitch had a bit in it and the Thunder bowlers started well, although they took nearly eight overs to get their length spot on. Harrison Lea then took three wickets in two overs, Ben Giddy bowled with little luck and Jason Toohey took a wicket in his first two overs.
Ben Giddy took a great catch to remove their captain and Harrison came back on for his second spell to finish them off. Coolum stumbled to be all out for 53 (36 off the bat). Harrison finished with the great figures of 7 for 17 off his 12 overs whilst Toohey and Giddy shared the other wickets.
Despite a few injuries to their opening batsmen, Thunder finished the day well ahead at 2 for 74, with their sights focussed on an outright win next weekend.
FOURTH GRADE
The boys were at Dale Officer Oval in a match against Coolum that was crucial to keeping their hope for finals alive. With a pitch that had essentially been a soft muddy mess earlier, the toss was won and they decided to bowl first.
A tight opening spell from Luke Anstey and Mike Thomson did not allow many runs and with half chances to no avail, the Coolum bats plodded along. Anstey finally picked up the first wicket in the 25th over but from there the run rate lifted with the next wicket not falling until the 41st over to a great over the head, running back dive catch by Brendan Wright off Thomson. A couple more wickets, Connor Harrison’s first for the club and another to Thomson, saw Thunder back into the match but 60 runs off the last 12 overs and no wickets taken, left Coolum finishing the day at 5 -246.
It will be mammoth task next weekend for the team if they are to bring home the final match of the year with a win.
BEN LAUGHLIN (Courtesy of Cricket.com.au)
On unassuming local cricket grounds along the Queensland Sunshine Coast, a bowler with a devastating yorker has been quietly plying his trade every Saturday since the start of September. That yorker, which has undone the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson and AB de Villiers, has been no match for the batters turning out each weekend in the Sunshine Coast Cricket Association.
With 36 wickets at an average of 7.14 from 15 games, this right-arm quick has barely conceded above 20 runs this year in any format and looks odds on to take out a league bowling award. It’s a far cry from the glitzy lights of the KFC BBL, but the competition’s highest ever wicket-taker tells cricket.com.au he is enjoying his cricket more than ever since the Covid-19 pandemic upended the world.
“It’s been highly enjoyable, it’s a bit more of an older man team, we’ve got a fair few plus-30s, which makes it a lot more enjoyable,“ Ben Laughlin says. He has already helped his club, Tewantin-Noosa Thunder, win both the association’s T20 and 50-over premierships this season. But what’s more remarkable is it could be the only cricket the star seamer plays this summer.
Despite being keen to play on, the 39-year-old T20 veteran is without contract on the eve of BBL-11, and barring a call up as a replacement player, he looks set to spend this season watching on. During his 10 seasons in the competition, Laughlin claimed 111 wickets in 96 matches for the Adelaide Strikers, Brisbane Heat and Hobart Hurricanes, ahead of Sean Abbott on 106.
Laughlin says he still loves the game and is enjoying playing with some new teammates.
“I still really love the game, it’s just last year with all the Covid stuff was probably by far the most unenjoyable season I’ve ever had with everything going on,“ he said.
Despite seemingly not being able to go out on his own terms, the BBL’s most successful bowler says that doesn’t frustrate him.
“But I think you just get to that point where the hunger dies a little bit and you’re just not as keen as you used to be. In saying that, I still enjoy playing and the rivalry, it’s just the amount of time that has to go into getting ready, I’m not missing all those hours.“
The qualified carpenter says he has been spending his down time doing a few little renovations and landscaping his backyard at his home in Noosa. “I did all my training at Noosa, I snuck down during the day and did my bowling down there, but I never really played for them,“ he tells cricket.com.au from Bunnings.
“I decided this year I would play some games for them. My eldest is now five and a half and just loves cricket, so it’s nice to have him down and running around. He tossed the coin last week and he loved that.“
