Randall Woodley
Quote of the week- “Cricket is a game that tests your character and teaches you to handle success and failure with grace”. – Kane Williamson (N.Z.. Captain)
All the senior teams played the second of their One-Day matches at the weekend. The Firsts were again the outstanding team keeping themselves on top of the premiership ladder. The other teams all played well but with mixed results, although the Fourths and Under 17s registered their first wins for the season..
FIRST GRADE hosted Gympie Gold at Read Park in a Day/Night game. The ground and pitch were in great condition considering the overnight rain and Gympie chose to bat first in the heat.
Teenager Oliver Wilson bowled the first over in his debut match in First Grade coming off a 5 wicket haul in seconds last week. He started brilliantly taking a wicket on the last ball of his first over. With two left-handers at the crease, Michael Eckard opened at the other end and was exceptional picking up two of Gympie’s best batters.
The bowlers all settled in from there with Dom Taylor taking 3, Wilson and Eckard 2 each and Mike Thomson and Ben Laughlin taking the other wickets.
Gympie were all out for 91 in 29 overs which left Thunder almost 1.5 hours to bat to the dinner break which was crucial with the threat of storms.
Ben Laughlin came out and took 30 off the first 3 overs before rain set in. After a delay of an hour and a half the match continued. Ben (39 from 29) and Michael Echard (36* from 28) made light work of the total seeing Thunder over the line with 37 overs to spare. Next Saturday the team will be at Glasshouse and are confident they will remain the number one team in the competition.
SECOND GRADE: The team that travelled to Glasshouse was a mixture of experience and youth. On a hot and humid afternoon, Thunder decided to bat first. However the scoring was difficult and Max Cooper and Brendan Wright played with caution as the conditions favoured swing. Their openers were disciplined and Thunder were 41 at the first drinks break on a good batting deck.
When these two were out the best partnership of the day commenced, with Luke Sheppard showing great maturity and the captain Tristan Griffin scoring at will. The partnership went past 50 and the run rate lifted significantly. After hitting a six, Shepard was out caught. A couple of supporting acts came afterwards, but the main act was the skipper who finished on 70 off 88 balls. The team finished their 40 0vers with the score on 6 for 167.
With a decent target on the board, the visitors were confident they could win the match. However the Glasshouse team included a couple of big-scoring ex-first graders and unfortunately Jeremy Schultz chose Saturday to show a glimpse of his class. They very calmly advanced to 50 in the first 12 overs in a very contrasting opening session to Thunders’ earlier in the day. Despite the match swinging both ways, eventually the Rangers passed Thunder’s score in the 37th over. Jarrod Davis was the best of the bowlers with 2-27.
THIRD GRADE: The team was at Nambour and chose to bat in hot steamy conditions. Thunder started well with Luke Anstey and Harper Lee getting into the teens before Luke departed. The Cutters bowled either straight or wide (26 sundries for the day) and on a thick outfield- scoring was slow off the bat. The pressure then caused the players to make mistakes; three runouts and only one score over the teen’s characterised the Thunder’s innings. Richard Lee top scored with 20 and the innings finished on 8-139. Some good batting and hitting by Aedan Mayo and Tom Longhurst helped at the end.
The visitors came out to bowl and after a couple of loose overs found their lines and were having a good crack at them. Jason Toohey, Rory Ramsden, Luke Anstey and Steven Hill toiled really well but a few dropped catches let Nambour gain the advantage they needed. Tom Longhurst and Aedan Mayo took wickets and slowed the runs but it was not quite enough with Nambour winning in the 37th over. Best bowling figures-Jason Toohey 2-34 and Tom Longhurst 2-19. Disappointing to lose a game the team knew they should have won but like any loss there are lessons to be learn from it.
FOURTH GRADE: After the rain the match against Caboolture at home began a little late with the Snakes batting first in hot humid conditions. Queensland Over 50 representative, Bob McGhee took the new ball and took full advantage of the conditions, moving it around on a string. Bob tore apart their top order and finished his spell with 4-15 (8 overs). The father and son “Double Dutch” cartel of Jackson, 2-17 (6) and Jeremy Holland, 3-26 (8 overs) did the damage from the other end with both Jeremy and Jackson on hat-tricks at one stage, with Jackson’s hat-trick ball agonisingly bouncing over middle stump. Caboolture were in real trouble at 9-37 but a 10th wicket partnership frustrated the Thunder players until captain Matt Mayo came on and got the last wicket to have them out for 91.
With rain threatening the opening pair of Jeremy Holland and Brian Lee did not waste any time and got busy chasing down the total. When the rain came Thunder were 0-55 in the 7th over. After an hour rain delay they continued with the high strike rate before Jeremy was dismissed on 49. This bought together Tom Middleton(15*) and Brian Lee (21*) who finished the job in the 13th over to secure the first victory of the season for the team.
UNDER 17: The team headed to Coolum to finish their Two-Day match against the Coolum Sharks. The previous Friday night the Thunder had scored 9-164 off 55 overs.
Heading into night two with Coolum at 1-12 and the stormy clouds threatening and only 7 players due to Covid striking down a few, the boys welcomed some Coolum sub fielders to even up the team. The team knew what they had to do and the bowlers went to work. Best bowling figures went to Finn Mayo 4-48 off 10 and Cooper Withers with an impressive 2-2 off 3 with the rest of wickets shared amongst the others. Despite the storm the boys held on to register their first win of a tough season, bowling Coolum all out for 135!
Well done team.
