By Randall Woodley
Despite all the Tewantin-Noosa Thunder’s four matches being reduced to One-Dayers, the club registered three wins and a draw but for the first time in many months two of the club’s batsmen scored centuries in their matches on the same day.
FIRST GRADE: Taking on Nambour in a rain-induced One Day match the Cutters won the toss and decided to bat first on an absolute belter of a pitch at Read Park. Scott Aufderheide started off with his best ‘first over’ of the season removing their premier batsman, Steve Ledger to get the home side off to a great start.
Tom Freshwater chimed in to take the 2nd wicket in the 8th over to have them 2 for 13 with both openers bowling really good pace and getting some bounce and carry. Their third wicket fell at fell at 59 in the 21st over and although the TNT bowlers did all they could they did not take another wicket until the 40th over. In this 20 over session, TNT only conceded 51 runs which was a credit to the team’s bowlers and fielders. Nambour hit out at the end and finished at 5 for 174 off their 50 overs. TNT bowling figures -Scott Aufderheide 1-15 off 10 overs, Tom Freshwater 2-52 off 10, Tom Stewart 1-15 off 5 and Jake Dennien 1-28. It was felt that Nambour’s score was below par but after a hot three and a half hours in the field the Thunder batsmen would need to get off to a good start after lunch.
Chris Wright pushed back up the batting order up to open with Alex Bennett who looked in great touch until he misjudged a leave to be out for 10 with the score 1-13. Nambour dropped Wright on 0 and they would regret this mistake for the rest of the match. He and captain, Jake Dennien then built a brilliant partnership of 98 off 24 overs before Jake went for 22. The veteran, Chris Wright was obviously scoring quickly at the other end and brought up his century with a 6 over square leg. He finished the day with a top quality 110 not out off 111 balls. He was there to see the team pass Nambour’s score together with Andrew Kratzmann not out on 29.
This win moves the team up to Third place on the ladder, only 8 points below the Number 1 team. Next Saturday the boys start a two-day match against bottom placed Coolum at their ground.
THIRD GRADE: The team played Cooroy-Eumundi at their home ground and were sent into bat first. The TNT team lost wickets but eventually put together a score of 112 runs that they would need to defend. Top scorers were Adam Curry 39, Blake Steel 24 and Leon Beatty 17.
With this low score the Thunder bowlers were still confidant of getting the job done and their confidence and skill were rewarded by bowling out the opposition for 84. This was a great effort after the disappointing batting display earlier in the day. Wicket takers were- Ben Giddy 3-16, Jason Toohey 2-22 Harrison Lea 2-22 and Nick Bennett 1-16.
FIFTH GRADE: The team travelled to Maleny to take on the Redbacks eager to keep their momentum going from the first half of the season. TNT won the toss and elected to bat in the searing heat. TNT openers Brendan Wright and Steven Hill took on the Redbacks young guns and got the team to 78 before losing the first wicket. As the innings progressed the day was all about partnerships with opener Wright leading the way with partnerships of 54 with Steven Gallagher, 70 with Luke Anstey, and a late soul crushing 65 with Blake O’Donnell. After the 40 overs the Thunder had registered a great score of 267.
However, the day belonged to opener Brendan Wright who mastered each partnership and almost carried his bat, being caught behind off the very last ball for a superb knock of 128 – his first ever century! Well done and
Congratulations Brendan.
As the Maleny Redbacks started their impossible run chase the heavens rolled in and opened up turning Maleny Showground into a flood. The game was eventually called off and a draw declared, but with bonus points TNT were able to achieve a win like points result.
SIXTH GRADE: The team were finally back in the winner’s club after notching up a win against Nambour. Winning the toss, the skipper elected to bat. Thunder lost their opener early but Wayne Moore and Brian Lee settled in building the score to 2-60 at the first drinks break.
After the break Carl Burbery found his form with the bat and joined Moore in a 51 run partnership, with Carl knocking out a very handy 28 runs. At the 30 over break TNT were 5-115. Then the team saw the best of Brendan Chaplin scoring a swashbuckling 51 (2 X 6s and 4 x 4s). The team completed their 40 overs on 9 for 189.
Nambour got off to a tentative start, with an early chance put down and at the 30 over mark they were 5 for 145. A quick couple of wickets with a caught behind off Harper Lee and another lbw to Wayne Moore stopped Nambour in their tracks before the umpire unexpectedly called an end to proceedings on account of failing light with less than 10 minutes to go. The TNT boys took the game as they were ahead on run rate at the close.
Bowling – Brendan Chaplin took two wickets whilst the others one each- Wayne Moore, Graham Chaplin, Justin Talbot, Finn Mayo and Harper Lee. Good win for the boys.
