Randall Woodley
FIRST GRADE: Needing a draw to secure top spot, Thunder batted on last Saturday (Day two) against the Glasshouse Rangers. The last wicket partnership started at 48 with Chris Hopper in to join Zac Murray. Both batted sensibly with the boys adding another 40 runs taking the score to 316 and the partnership to 88, officially breaking the 10th wicket partnership club record for 1st grade of 80 set in 2004.
Murray took the new ball and to say it was slow going would make it sound exciting. Ben Laughlin came on and took the first wicket in the 12th over with the score 20 and then the next on 32. From there Glasshouse crept to 66 off 36 overs before Lauglin took another to have Glasshouse four down. At this point they needed 250 off 45 overs to win so it they were only batting for the draw.
Thunder kept changing the field settings and the bowlers but it was a slog and Glasshouse kept batting patiently. Michael Eckard, Laughlin and Murray toiled well before the new ball saw the game finished with Zac bowling one of his best spells and ending up with 4-42 off 17 overs. Ben Laughlin took 4-71 off his 20 overs.
Second placed Caboolture ended up losing so Thunder will finish 24 points clear on top of the table and play Coolum next Saturday and Sunday in the Semi-Final at Read Park commencing at 11.30am.
SECOND GRADE: The team were at Coolum on Day two of their match needing an outright win to make the finals. With their score at 2-59 overnight needing 55 more to secure first innings, the plan was to pass their score before sending Coolum back hoping to roll them quickly. Thunder eventually declared with a 30-run lead.
With 51 overs to bowl them out and hopefully have enough time to chase runs, Thunder could not have started better with both Oliver Wilson and Tyron De Kauwe picking up wickets in the first overs to have them 2-1. With another wicket from Tyron in the 8th over to have them 3-38, Thunder were then made to wait for the 4th which fell at 70 and another wicket at 5-73 in the 26th over and the game was well and truly still alive.
However they dug in and later with them 8 wickets down, stumps were called and that was season over for the team.
Captain Tristan Griffin commented after the game, “A big thank you to all the boys who played through the season, filled in for us when we needed, those who gave it their all throughout the year and those who helped me through the season in my first year as captain. It’s been a wild up and down year but we all had a lot of fun!”
THIRD GRADE: The team finished their season down at Caboolture last Saturday. The Snakes needed 60 to pass Thunder’s Day One score which they did comfortably and then batted for the rest of the day. The Tewantin-Noosa bowlers eventually dismissed them for 290 with wickets being spread amongst all of our bowlers. Aedan Mayo bowled beautifully for 3 and deserved 6. Brandon Henderson, Luke Anstey, Richard Lee, Ben Blackwell and Justin Latimer all toiled well for wickets. Missed chances cost Thunder the most with 8 going down but not enough runs on Day One was the ultimate issue. End of another season with lots of learnings. Onwards and upwards for next season!
FOURTH GRADE: The Thunder team started off the day against Cooroy-Eumundi with wickets in hand and runs to be scored to increase their 1st innings lead of 60. The Holland father/son batting partnership started off before Jackson Holland fell early followed by his dad (Jeremy Holland) who had scored 39. Eventually the team finished on 193 runs and a lead of 74.
Bowling started off well with Jackson Holland taking one in his second over due to a good catch from Eddie Whydchart. Both the Hollands kept dots rolling until Rory Ramsden came into the attack and took an early wicket. Max Joyce then comes onto bowl and snagged a wicket in his first over. The batsmen dug in for a while after that before Brian Lee broke through. Cooper Withers then joined the party getting one on his first ball. Another wicket fell from a direct hit from him. Cooroy then declared at 8 down for 140.
With 66 runs to get for an outright win , the skipper put gun batsmen Jeremy Holland on with young Rory Ramsden who hit the winning runs, Jeremy (37) and Rory Ramsden (30*). This saw Thunder beat Cooroy-Eumindi outright and that was a great way to finish their season.
The team’s captain, Matt Mayo announced his retirement after the game.
UNDER 13S Grand Final: The team were playing the undefeated Coolum Sharks in last Saturday’s Grand Final. All the Thunder players bowled a disciplined line and length to limit the Sharks to 149. Then the Thunder batters started well with Luke McCready (34), Cooper Maloney (42) and Henry Blackwell (22) all retiring not out. Then the middle order tripped, stumbled and stuttered, but thanks to a gutsy innings by Archie Pentecost (24 off 25 balls) the Thunder boys stayed in the contest bringing Luke McCready then Cooper Maloney back to the crease. Archie Pentecost retired bringing Henry Blackwell back in to help steady the ship and bring home the spoils. Premiers in their Grade. Great team result.
The coach commented later-“Proud of them for their achievement and so looking forward to watching them play the longer forms of the game in the seasons ahead.”.
UNDER 15sA played last Sunday in the Grand Final against Caloundra Lighthouses, the team who finished the regular season on top of the table. TNT were full of confidence after their good win away against Caboolture the week before. TNT won the toss and elected to bat but were 3-8 early after one of Caloundra’s opening bowlers got 3 wickets in his first 3 overs. 10 runs were added before the 4th wicket fell and despite a good partnership from Aedan Mayo and Alek Dillewaard the team were all out for 68 in the 34rd over.
Caloundra started the chase calmly, getting to 37 before the loss of the second wicket, then the nerves started to kick in with 2 crazy run outs (4-47). With the score at 8-59, Caloundra still needed 10 to win. They fell over the line, all out for 94.
While the result didn’t go their way it was a great contest between two good sides. The TNT boys can hold their heads high after their performances throughout the year and to get to a Grand Final in the U15A’s which has a lot of high-quality teams. They showed real fight and fielded unbelievably in the two finals games to give themselves a chance.
Thanks to Matt Mayo and Anthony Blackwell who have coached this side for two seasons straight, working with the boys each week to improve not only their skills but how they go about their cricket out in the middle.
