Last weekend saw the first round of the two-day matches for the senior men’s competition and every Tewantin-Noosa Thunder team is in with a chance to win their respective games. The second and crucial day of each match will be played next Saturday.
FIRST GRADE: Saturday had the team at a hot Gympie cricket ground and after winning the toss they decided to bowl first to give themselves the best chance of pushing for an outright. The pitch was hard but offered something all day to the bowlers.
Scott Aufderheide opened up with Talon Reichert with both bowling really well. They took three wickets in the first hour before Ben Laughlin came on and four more wickets fell after drinks. At one stage Gympie was 7-45 and for the second Saturday in a row it looked like Thunder would be chasing a very low total. And then, for the second week in a row the opposition fought out to post three figures and Gympie was eventually all out 108. Ben Laughlin took five wickets with absolute class, but all of the bowlers were excellent. Teenager Talon Reichert had by far his best performance in first grade taking three wickets and threatened all day. Aufderheide had the red ball on a string as usual and Ben Claypole, Joshua Christensen and Dom Taylor were solid for the small numbers of overs they bowled.
The plan was to chase down Gympie’s score quickly and look to have another bowl before stumps. Things started well with Laughlin and Lewis Waugh getting the team off to 40 before Laughlin (23) went. A couple more wickets followed but Waugh and Ben Claypole put on 50 to almost pass their score. Jarred Davis came out and hit the first innings lead runs in his debut game. Waugh remained not out on 55. Thunder then declared 21 runs ahead and had 10 overs to bowl. The 10 overs went to plan with Scott Aufderheide and Ben Laughlin picking up a wicket each to set Thunder up for the outright next weekend.
SECOND GRADE: The team was playing Yandina at Dale Officer Oval and after winning the toss the skipper had no hesitation in batting. Max Cooper and Leon Beatty got the team off to a good start with an opening stand of 76. Max was out first with a well complied 50 and Beatty batting with a broken thumb, managed 35.
Then after losing a couple of wickets to be 4-93, two very experienced cricketers, Daniel Cooke and Jason Toohey took over in the middle. It was not exciting cricket, but they toughed it out with the Yandina spinners bowling tightly. The pair continued and put on a 53-run partnership, until Cooke was out for 34 to a good catch in close. Toohey followed soon after. The bottom order had trouble against the spin and eventually the team was all out for 170.
Yandina had to face five overs before close of play. Tyrone De Kauwe lit up the afternoon, smashing the stumps to pick up a wicket. Yandina finished the day at 1-17.
THIRD GRADE: The match was at Yandina, and they batted first and started strongly, losing just the one wicket for the first 50 runs in quick time. The Thunder bowlers stuck to the task and wickets started to come in succession bundling them out for 148. Wicket takers were Tadgh Crowley 3-26, Luke Anstey 2-19, Richard Lee 2-8 and the L triplets, Longhurst, Lane and Lyons taking one each.
By stumps Thunder were 4-75. The game is evenly poised but the boys are cautiously optimistic that they can take first innings points.
FIFTH GRADE: The team was facing the strong Coolum outfit at Mat Thornhill Oval and fielded first. The visitors batted all afternoon to be 8-276 at stumps. Everyone bowled and fielded well but as always the synthetic pitch and smaller ground offered up great opportunities for the Coolum batters. Best of the bowlers was Ian Brundell with 4-68 with Brian Weychardt, Rory Ramsden, Ben Blackwell and Tony Watson all with a wicket each. There is confidence in the team that they can knock Coolum over first thing next week and chase down what is probably a par score.
SIXTH GRADE: The Sixth-Grade team were given the privilege of playing their game against USC at Read Park in a day/night match last Saturday. Losing the toss, they fielded first in hot conditions. The boys started slowly and did not field well and were unable to take some of the chances offered. As the sun went down they picked up their act and soon had USC all out for 173. Graham Chaplin took five wickets for 28, with Wayne Moore and Justin Talbot snagging two each.
Thunder’s batting was looking very solid until the captain, Ron Lewis injured his hamstring and had to retire hurt on 13. Young Bailey Hosier came in as night watchman with instructions to lock it up for the night. He followed this plan for about an over then started sending balls to the boundaries. At stumps, Thunder was 0-61 and ready to chase down first innings points at the resumption of play next Saturday afternoon.
JUNIOR CRICKET
UNDER 11 STORM: The U11 Tewantin Storm played the Coolum Reef Sharks and having been beaten convincingly in round one by them, it was fantastic to have such a nail biter that came down to the last ball. Storm got up by two runs and it was great to see the team development in such a short time under the coaching of Adam and Dilan. Their fielding has improved immensely, and their teamwork is superb. A great game by all team members especially Hugo having taken four wickets to help the team just get there at the end and take man of the match.
UNDER 15A: It was perfect morning cricket conditions at Cooroy as TNT took on top of the table Cooroy-Eumundi (CE). TNT won the toss elected to bat. After some great middle order batting by Rory Ramsden (68*) and Matt Riddle (25) the boys compiled a competitive score of 169.
TNT took to the field to try and make it hard for the CE team in a tricky 15-minute period before stumps. They finished on 1-21, Farren Cooke snaring one of their openers.
