The game of cricket has for years been known as the sport where statistics take pride of place. How many centuries did he score? What was the team’s best score? What was Warnie’s bowling average and so on. Last weekend the Tewantin-Noosa Thunder Cricket Club’s First Grade side achieved a statistic that will be hard to beat in the future. With their convincing win against Maroochydore at Read Park on Saturday they registered their 31st win in a row playing at their home ground. For years, Lang Park became the fortress for the Queensland Origin sides. Will Read Park continue to be this fortress for the Thunder boys? Only time will tell but already this season they have put together six wins (not all at home) and a rain interrupted draw.
Last weekend the club’s senior teams had a mixed weekend with a First-Grade win, two exciting draws and two losses.
FIRST GRADE: On day two of the match at Read Park, the Maroochydore Swans team completed their first innings on 126 runs.
Opening for the home side, Sam Baker and Ben Laughlin came out with their intentions clear. Sam (15) was busy at the crease and Ben (53) brutal in blasting eight 4’s and two 6’s to put together a stand of 60. Captain Michael Eckard came to the crease and played a superb chanceless innings and with Jarrod Officer they passed the Swans score before Officer fell for 27. Andrew Kratzmann and Ben Claypole had partnerships with Michael who was eventually out (LBW) for a heartbreaking 96 and gave everyone a glimpse of what is ahead for him this season.
Jett Taylor (38) and Cooper Lea (51) put Maroochydore to the sword with the home team eventually dismissed for 330 from 80 overs. Thunder bowled six overs before stumps with Zac Murray taking a wicket and Ben Potter bowling three overs of leg spin for just 4 runs. Solid win for the team. Next Saturday the outfit will travel to Caboolture to take on the Snakes in a two-day match.
SECOND GRADE: The team resumed their match against last year’s premiers, Palmwoods who were on 4 for 88 after a very rain effected day the previous Saturday.
Luke Smalley opened the day and bowled with good pace, picking up his first wicket for Seconds in his 4th over. Then Chris Berry kept the momentum going with a wicket in his first over. Palmwoods continued to score slowly against some really good full-length bowling. Joshua Christensen picked up 3 wickets and others were shared around. Overall it was a very good bowling performance on a slow wicket to restrict them to 158 off 87 painful overs.
Thunder needed to do two things- Bat for the full 49 remaining overs and if possible score 159 runs. Billy Lloyd-Green looked confident for a well compiled 16 and Oli Wilson was looking good until an unfortunate run out. However, the boys were still there after 49 overs at 9 for 56…Finn Mayo showed his metal in remaining not out at stumps defending 56 balls while last wicket Josh Christensen defied the bowlers for 18 balls.
When is a draw a Win? The young inexperienced Thunder team held the reigning Premiers to a draw which is a great result! Next Saturday the team is at home against Caboolture.
THIRD GRADE: The team went down in a tight match to Caloundra. One opinion was that Thunder played better cricket over the two days but fell on the wrong side of a coin toss and several umpiring decisions – which is how it goes in cricket. Defending their 177, Thunder bowlers toiled really well and their fielding was on point with no dropped catches and plenty of runs saved. Mike Thomson (2-53 off 16), Luke Anstey (3-46 off 18) Rich Lee (2-55) and Farran Cooke (1-27) bowled to build pressure and the Lighthouses started to implode. At 6-98 it appeared they were on the ropes. Then they built a partnership off the back of their one remaining batter who nicked three times to the wicketkeeper with all appeals turned down. He went on to make 60 and bought them home with some good hitting from their tail.
Captain Nigel commented that he was really proud of the team’s attitude and if they keep building the pressure, the swings and roundabouts will come their way. Next week the team will be playing U.S.C. at Dale Officer Oval.
FOURTH GRADE: Day 2 started with Caloundra on 4-277. Thunder knew that their first job was to restrict the opposition to the lowest score possible. The Lighthouses put on a quick 60 odd, despite the Tewantin-Noosa team fielding well and taking some great catches. They finished their innings on 7-338. Five Thunder bowlers shared the wickets.
Faced with a big total to chase, the mindset was to bat time and openers Ben Blackwell and Jeremy Holland set a solid foundation before Blackwell fell. Later, Aedan Mayo and Holland put together a great partnership, punishing anything loose. Holland eventually retired hurt on 115. Mayo fell soon after for a brilliant 64. Enter Brian Lee and his attacking flair which saw him score a run a ball 60. The team finished the day at 4 for 286 for a well-earned draw.
FIFTH GRADE: The team went down to the University team, 172 runs to a disappointing 102.
UNDER 17S: The team headed into Day 2 with Cooroy Eumundi slowly building on their runs total from last week. Wickets to Cooper, Toby, Bailey and Brandon from some good bowling saw them finish their innings on 272, surpassing Thunder’s 1st innings total of 123. In Thunder’s unfinished second innings, Brandon Henderson scored a quick 21 and Bailey Hozier 20. Next week the team will travel down to Maroochydore to play the Swans.
UNDER 15S: The team (202) had a solid win over Cooroy-Eumundi (50 and 3-105).
UNDER 13S: The team were at home and had a great win against USC. They bowled out the visitors for 82 using ten bowlers. In response the Thunder team compiled 259 for the loss of only two wickets.
UNDER 11 Lightning: The team had their second win in a row defeating the Coolum Sharks 71 runs to 41. It was a great all-round performance from every player.
