Randall Woodley
Quote of the week from Ex-Test captain Ian Chappell- “The last positive thing England did for cricket was to invent it!”
Three wins out of four matches for the Thunder senior teams last weekend. The highlights of these games were the five wicket hauls to ex-international bowler Ben Laughlin with 5 for 8 and teenager Finn Mayo’s 5 for 30 playing Sixth grade against Yandina.
FIRSTS Last Saturday the Thunder First Grade team scored their “Lucky 13th” win in a row to start the season. The team were at Caloundra and showed up to a very dry powdery wicket, which was unusual for this ground.
Thunder batted first and it was soon evident that the slowness of the pitch would mean that any score over 150 would be welcome. The early batsmen ground their way with quite a few being caught in front of the wicket trying to drive. Veteran Andrew Kratzmann (26) batted well and later Dom Taylor (34) held the innings together to put the team in a position to be aggressive in the last 15 overs. Cody Pyne came out and played a mature and aggressive innings of 49 not out, quicker than a run a ball to get the final score up to 174 with 70 coming in the last 10 overs.
The opening bowlers started off strongly, holding Caloundra to 2-18 off the first 10 with “Tearaway” Tom Stewart taking both wickets. Caloundra played the slow bowlers well for the next ten overs to see them 3-59 off 20 at the first drinks break.
The seam bowlers took over and Scott Aufderheide made the break-through straight away and the three quicks squeezed the Lighthouse batsmen every ball to hold them to 5-88 off 30, with the match still very much in the balance.
The next 5 overs saw 6 runs scored and the pressure mounted and with a quick single attempted Ben Laughlin threw the stumps down to dismiss their top scorer. From there on it was the Laughlin masterclass taking the last 4 wickets to see Caloundra all out for 102 in the 38th over. He finished the match with the great figures of 5 for 8 off 10 overs.
A really good performance on a pitch that really did not suit the fast-scoring Thunder batsmen. Next week the team are at home to play Caboolture in a 50 overs match, commencing at 10am.
SECONDS The team took on the Caboolture Snakes at Read Park last Saturday. Minus the captain the team came out ready to go hard after Caboolture won the toss and decided to bat first. Ben Giddy and Billy Lloyd-Green opened the bowling followed by Cooper Lea and James Denslow. Some wickets fell with very few runs off the bat. Fielding and catching was top class with Leon Beatty taking a cracker to give Billy his first 2nd grade wicket. After the break, the bowling improved even further with Lachlan Webster bowling straight and taking two. Jason Toohey put the pressure on with Cooper Lea and Giddy picking up at the other end and bowling fast and straight. Thunder was able to bowl out the opposition for 116.
After losing an early wicket it became the Pete Walker and Jason Toohey show. The pair got going with Pete hitting out bravely and the pair passed the target with 15 overs to spare. Pete finished on 82 and Jason 26. This was a good effort for the team who were down three key players.
FOURTHS The team took on Yandina at Dale Officer Oval with the day ending with disappointment after their win the weekend before. Fielding first the TNT bowlers were on top having Yandina at 5 for 19 in the 8th over. However, from that point on it was a rather tough afternoon with Yandina hitting runs almost at will, finishing their 40 overs at 9-259 with newcomer Billy Hewitt and Tom Daly, on senior debut, both picking up a couple of wickets each. Top wicket-taker was Mike Thomson with 4.
Batting second the Thunder batting line-up collapsed to be all out for 69. A very disappointing match for the team.
SIXTHS The team were keen to follow up on their last match win and batted first against Yandina. However, the start was not what was wanted and soon TNT were 3 for24. Brendan Chaplin and Wayne Moore steadied the ship and added 50 before Chaplin was caught out on 25 .David Lyons came into bat to keep the scoreboard ticking over and the pair added another 50 before Lyons was out for 24. The team ended their 40 overs on 9 for 187 with Moore unbeaten on 66
Bowling later, Brendan Chaplin took two Yandina wickets to have them 3 for 82, still with another 100 to score. This is the closest they would get with teenager Finn Mayo putting on a mesmerising display of leg spin after the break with 3 stumping and taking their captain’s scalp for a golden duck that saw young Mayo on a hat-trick chance. The youngster finished with 5 for 30 off 8 overs ensuring that the Thunder boys drove back home with the win under their belt.
