Quote from an Indian cricketer-
“If you train hard, winning is easy.
If you train easy, winning is hard.”
It seems that many of the Tewantin-Noosa Thunder players did train hard and as a result the three top grades and the women’s team all came home last weekend after winning their matches. There were some good individual performances, but the outstanding figures of the weekend were registered by the veteran pace bowler, Mike Thomson who took 8 wickets in Third Grade.
FIRST GRADE: After Day 1 Caloundra had scored 176 and Thunder were 5 for 186. The home team declared before the match started believing that this would give them the best chance of an outright win. With Talon Reichert selected for Scorchers the boys welcomed back Scott Aufderheide who took the new ball with Zac Murray. Both bowled good testing opening spells with Scott getting the first breakthrough but Caloundra battled patiently through the first hour.
Michael Eckard came on to pick up 2 wickets in an over with Ben Laughlin taking one the next to see Caloundra go from 1-43 to 4-44. Ben Potter was next into the attack and it was all spin for the rest of the innings, leg spin from Ben and off spin from Mick to bowl them out for 86. Ben Potter took 3-10 and Michael 4-39.
Thunder came out to chase 77 for the outright and played aggressively but not very disciplined. They passed the target after losing six wickets with Andy Batten top scoring with 24 and Cooper Lea finishing the job off. Not their greatest batting of the season but the players sacrificed wickets chasing quick runs which saw the team achieve the outright result.
The win sees Thunder two points off 1st place and taking on top placed Coolum next week at Read Park. The match will be played over two days, Saturday and Sunday, commencing at 11:30am.
SECOND GRADE: Day 2 of their match against the Caloundra Lighthouses, the boys resumed their first innings at 8-217, hoping to get 250. However they were soon all out for 225.
Knowing they had a long day in the field ahead and a decent total on the board, the Thunder players had to stay patient with the ball and catch well at the start. Luke Smalley and Josh Christensen opened the bowling. It was when Ollie Wilson came on to bowl that wickets begun falling and eventually the boys were able to roll the Lighthouses for 135. Top bowling figures went to Luke Smalley 4-33, Tyron de Kauwe 2-19 with Christensen, Ollie Wilson and Josh Davis picking up one wicket each.
With about 90mins in the day the captain asked the players to have a hit and that is what many of them did. At stumps Thunder were 5-184 with top scorers, Jack Caspers 62, Tristan Griffin 29, Luke Smalley 27 and Ollie Wilson 28*
A very good first victory for the team. Next weekend the boys are at Nambour playing a two-day match against the Cutters.
THIRD GRADE: After posting a disappointing 136 run first Innings total last week and having Yandina 4-56 at the end of play, the Heads of Noosa TNT 3rds had a job to do to defend their score and gain first innings points. With tight bowling and great fielding, wickets fell at fairly regular intervals, Yandina were bowled out for 81, a 55-run lead for the Thunder. Wicket takers for Thunder were Luke Anstey 2-32, Richard Lee 1-1 and an astounding effort from the veteran, Mike Thomson picking up 8 for 39 off 22 overs.
Heading back out with around 55 overs left for the day Thunder finished on 7-123 with Richard Lee (43) and Farran Cooke (32) falling late in the day. All in all a good result with a win and a few things to work on for next week.
FOURTH GRADE: Day 2 – Fallon Solutions Div 4 v Coolum @ Dale Officer Oval. Thunder lost Bobby McGhee, during the week with injury and Under 15 player Fenn Peddie stepped up to replace him. Out to pass Thunder’s score of 243, the Coolum top order made an early stand to get to 2-83 before the crucial breakthrough. From there the game ebbed and flowed with Coolum keeping up with the run rate but Thunder kept themselves in the game taking regular wickets. With Coolum at 6-148 the game was in the balance but two of their junior players were nothing short of sensational and put on a 100-run partnership to get Coolum over the line to secure a narrow victory.
A tough, close loss for the team but they will be looking for that first win of the season next week against Maroochydore. Best of the bowlers was Aedan Mayo 3-53 ( off 18 overs.
UNDER 15s: Resumed at Caloundra, 5-49 chasing 101. Unfortunately the run chase did not eventuate and the team were bowled out for 60. With plenty of time left in the day and a lead of only 40 runs on a pitch doing a bit, the boys got fired up. Rory Ramsden (2-10 off 7) had immediate success which saw Caloundra 2-5 in the 3rd over, but they were able to recover and bat out the morning. A tough game for the boys but only their first loss of the season and no doubt they’ll bounce back next week in the first of the One -Day games.
UNDER 13s: Tewantin-Noosa Storm v Maroochydore. The Storm team bowled first and were able to restrict the opposition to a total of 99 runs. Best bowler for Storm was Sam Wells (3-14). In reply, the Storm boys made 7 for 105 to win the match. Top scorer was Henry Kerr, 27. Good win for the team.
WOMENS GRADE: The girls had a good win over the Glasshouse Rangers on Sunday. They were able to restrict the Rangers for 4-106 off their 20 overs and passed the target in 16 overs. Top scores for the Thunder were Petrina McAulay 30* Tracey Diprose 30* and Vicki Stewart 18.
