By Randall Woodley
Last Saturday the Tewantin-Noosa First Grade cricket team won their two T20 matches to notch up three wins straight. Playing both matches at Caloundra the wins put them in equal top place on the T20 ladder with the Maroochydore club who also have not lost a match in the round-robin early season tournament.
The first match against the competitions premier team, Caboolture Snakes was a thriller, from the first ball which TNT opener Chris Wright smacked for a four to the last ball when the Caboolture captain was run out, giving TNT a one -run win. The match was played on the Caloundra’s No 2 oval which has shorter boundaries than most Sunshine Coast grounds. Winning the toss, the Thunder boys batted first. Chris Wright showed his intention from the opening ball, hitting 12 off the first over and another 11 in the second over to have TNT 0-23 without his batting partner yet to face a ball. Wright continued on with his carnage, belting all the Snake’s bowlers to every part of the boundary. He was eventually out for 73 off 34 balls with the score on 88. He hit eleven 4s and three 6s in his knock which set the game up for his team. His opening partner, Alex Bennett scored 28, Jarrod Officer 21 and other team members contributed some quick-fire runs trying to keep the run rate ticking over. After 20 overs, TNT were 7 for 185, one of the highest scores registered for many years in the shortened version of the game.
Caboolture batted second and their captain, ex-Queensland Bulls batsman, Glen Batticciotto set about chasing the target down. Scott Aufderheide bowled the other opener in his first over but Caboolture were determined to chase the run rate of over 9 runs an over. After another wicket fell to Dom Taylor, who finished with the figures of 1-19 off 4 overs, it was an utter slog-fest. With two overs left Caboolture had to score 30 runs to win and Tom Freshwater took the ball. His experience came to the fore and he was able to limit the Snake’s batsmen to just seven runs, leaving 23 to be scored in the last over. Jarrod Officer was given that task. Batticciotto hit out with two sixes and a four but was run out for 120 on the last ball of the match, falling just one run short of a win. It is interesting to note that the Caboolture captain who was out twice in Saturday’s game off a no-ball seems to have a charmed life when playing TNT and has been out at least five times off no-balls in the last four years.
This was a great win for the Thunder boys with another all round solid performance in all facets of the game.
After lunch the match against a young Caloundra side was played on the main oval. Sent into bat, TNT did not start as well as they had done in the morning with Chris Wright out for13. His batting partner, Alex Bennett stayed at the crease and together with a number of other batsmen built the score gradually. Jarrod Officer 24, Andrew Kratzmann 38 and Dom Taylor 19 not out supported young Bennett who was out just before the final over for a very well compiled 68 off 56 balls with seven 4s and a six. TNT’s score of 5 for 169 looked rather daunting for the inexperience Caloundra team.
And it did not start well for them with Tom Freshwater taking a wicket in his first ball of their innings. Their batsmen showed some fight but were always behind the run rate and after 20 overs had only mustered 6 for 95. Single wicket takers were Freshwater, Dom Taylor and Jason Toohey with teenager Sam Baker taking the last two wickets for 11 runs.
A comprehensive win for the team, leaving them undefeated in the season, so far. Next Thursday Night they play Nambour under lights at Read Park and then Saturday travel to Maroochydore where they will play Glasshouse in the morning and the other top team Maroochydore Swans in the afternoon.
