Randall Woodley
After Day 1 of their two-day matches, four of the Tewantin-Noosa Thunder club’s senior teams are in good positions to win their matches next Saturday.
FIRST GRADE: The team was at home to play the Caloundra Lighthouses and winning the toss elected to bowl first to give them the best chance of an outright win. Caloundra got off to a flyer with a returning Scorcher batsman riding his luck and giving a couple of tough chances. He was eventually out for 91.
Ben Laughlin and Michael Eckard combined to take three wickets early before the aggression continued and Caloundra scoring 140 off the first 30 overs. Jarrod Officer made the breakthrough and then Zac Murray and Laughlin saw blood in the water taking 4-10 to see Caloundra slip to 7-150 at Lunch. Talon Reichert and Murray got the job done after lunch bowling very well to see Caloundra all out for 176 in friendly batting conditions.
Thunder had 37 overs to bat and decided to chase the score during the rest of the afternoon. Ben Laughlin came out and smacked 20 off the first 2 overs to get things underway and an opening partnership of 60 off a dozen overs saw the scoreboard ticking over.
The other opener, Sam Baker was looking good again but it was the Benny Laughlin show, dispatching balls into the bush over cover and mid-off; it was awesome to watch. Ben fell for 85 off 56 balls in a decelerating innings and if you can believe it they had placed 6 fielders on the rope boundary.
Andy Batten (26*) and Andrew Kratzmann (23) ensured that Thunder passed their score to secure points on Day 1, taking a 10 run lead into Day 2. There is a pretty good chance that Thunder will declare and commence bowling at the start next Saturday chasing outright points.
SECOND GRADE: The side travelled to Caloundra to take on the Lighthouses. Showing up to a pitch as hard and flat, the skipper won the toss and decided to bat. Oliver Wilson and Tristan Griffin opened up proceedings and after losing Ollie in the 9th over, Billy Lloyd-Green and Griffin (47) got to work patiently batting together for 29 overs, putting away the loose balls as they came. Griffin was eventually out for 47 after a 59-run partnership with Lloyd-Green. After tea, Billy ramped up his scoring rate, batting with poise and smarts as wickets fell around him. He was treating his team mates to a compelling demo on how to build an innings.
Next to bat was Luke Smalley who took their spinner to the cleaners as he blasted multiple 6s and 4s to increase the score from 6-149 to 7-205 in rapid time to make an important 37 off 23 balls.
Billy continued on his merry way to post a brilliant 83 n.o. Unfortunately Billy is unavailable next week so replacement Tyron De Kauwe will face first ball on Saturday in his stead. Billy and Finn Mayo saw Thunder through to stumps at 8-217 in an encouraging day of batting.
GRADE THREE: The team’s match against Yandina is evenly poised after completion of Day 1. Tewantin-Noosa batted first and made 136 runs, well below what they had hoped for. Top scorers were Luke Anstey 44 and Daniel Cooke 27. At stumps the Pioneers were 4-56 with veteran Mike Thomson taking 3 of the wickets.
GRADE FOUR: Fallon Solutions Div 4 team were at Dale Officer Oval playing the Coolum Sharks. Winning the toss they decided to have a bat. Some solid double figure starts from Jeremy Holland (25), Ben Blackwell (12), Aedan Mayo (13), Mark Brady (29) and Alek Dillewaard (25) saw the team at 6-114. Jackson Holland (67) and Matt Mayo (33) then put together an 83-run partnership and along with a brilliant 10th wicket partnership of 43 between Jackson and Brian Weychardt (22*) saw Thunder all out for 243. An outstanding effort from Jackson when his team needed it most.
With 25 mins at the opposition Bob McGhee picked up one of the Coolum openers to see them to stumps at 1-18. Both of these teams are made up of a few father/son combos (with some proud mums watching on) which made for a competitive and fun day of cricket played in the right spirit.
UNDER 17S: The boys were against Caboolture at home (two-day match) and were pumped and ready to play. Winning the toss and batting first they started somewhat shakily losing wickets before things settled down. The mid to lower order picked up the pace with some good attacking cricket. Thunder’s top two scorers were Bailey Hozier with 54 with some great shots and Morgan Avery 26 not out. Other contributors were Tom Longhurst 21 and Max Joyce 23. It was a really good team effort today that saw the team share the runs around and bat out the whole 55 overs. They finished their innings on 9-203.
UNDER 15As: V Caloundra Day 1. Caloundra elected to bat but with some early excellent bowling Tewantin-Noosa had them 3-13. A couple of middle order partnerships saw Caloundra all out for 101. Rory Ramsden was the best of the bowlers taking 4-5 with Aedan Mayo 2-14. Emile Lewis, Jackson Holland and Eddie Weychardt picked up a wicket each.
Thunder started well to be 0-26 but a collapse saw them finish on 5-49 at stumps. With some good batting depth to come, hopefully the team can get the job done next week.
UNDER 13 Thunder came up against good opponents in Coolum who taught the lads a lesson. Thunder bowled well to restrict them to 121 but they bowled and fielded better restricting TNT boys to 101 off their 30 overs.
WOMENS: The women played a Sunday afternoon game against Maroochydore. They were after small improvements from everyone, and that is what they got. They restricted the strong Swan’s batters to 112 runs with four of the Thunder girls picking up wickets.
In reply they were able to threaten the Swan’s score but fell short at 7 for 102. Top scorers were T. Owens with 26 and Tracey Diprose 19. A big all-round improvement from the girls.
