By JOHN HOPE
A GRADE
Cooroy-Eumundi A Grade hosted last year’s premiers Yandina on the first day of the 2014-’15 season. After winning the toss and electing to bat on a benign Cooroy pitch, things started to go wrong from the very first over for the home side. Experienced opener Mark Shepperson received a nasty blow on an already damaged finger and was forced to retire hurt. The day then went from bad to worse as the Cougars capitulated for the meagre total of 44 all out. A combination of poor shot selection and lack of mental application saw Cooroy humbled by a modest yet accurate Yandina bowling attack. In reply at stumps on day one, Yandina had reached 7-166, an overall lead of 122 with three wickets remaining. Best of the home town bowlers were leg spinners captain Mick Carman (3-19) and promising youngster Kaleb Hamilton who bowled a marathon spell to finish with 3-69. A lot of hard work will be required by the Cougars to avoid an embarrassing outright defeat to start the season. The match resumes next Saturday.
B GRADE
New captain Dan Davy lost the toss and was sent in on a green wicket, Cooroy lost early wickets to be in trouble at 4/18. The middle order batted well and recovered to be all out for 153, best batsmen Chris McGuiness 32 and a big congratulations to Nathan McDonald who made his first 50 for the Cougars. Yandina where in trouble early losing wickets, some great bowling from Zac McBurnie 1/6 and Jason Hall 1/18, who were backed up by the fantastic bowling from the young lads in Darcey Harvey and Nathan to have Yandina in trouble at 4/47.
C GRADE
Played at Palmwoods on a very unprepared pitch, Palmwoods batted first and got off to a shaky start with losing a wicket in the first over, that was where it stopped for Cooroy, dropped catches and having no official umpire made the LBW law become non existent for the entire innings.
Palmwoods declared at 7/266, best of the bowlers John Hope 3/45 Lachie Henbury 2/43 Dale Scanlan 1/15 and young off spinner Jarred Davis bowled superbly all day for 1/46, which is not a true reflection of how he bowled.
With only 40 minutes left in the day’s play, Cooroy had to survive a fired-up Palmwoods attack, a minimum of eight overs had to be bowled, true to the Cougar spirit the side survived the eight overs without loss of a wicket to be 0/48. Jarred Davis made 38 not out displaying every shot in the book and despatching the opening bowler to the boundary on eight occasions and his partner Ewan Davidson held up the other end superbly.
5TH DIVISION
Cooroy 5ths have started their two-day clash against Buderim in fine style. First gamer Karl Nightingale had a dream debut ripping the heart out of the Buderim line-up, claiming 7/44 with an amazing display of swing bowling. Karl and Johnno Lowth (2/10) had Buderim reeling at 6/26 before a spirited fight back saw them post 91. Josh Thompson also claimed his first senior wicket. In reply, the Cooroy openers, teen sensation Mitch Martin (22) and Phil “The Wall” Giblett (37) got the innings underway before both Dane Schrader and Josh Thompson played valuable knocks to push the total to 133. The game is set for an exciting conclusion next week.
U16s
The Cooroy U/16s have made the perfect start to the season with an emphatic 127-run victory against an under-manned Buderim. Batting first Cooroy’s openers Mitch Martin (75no) and Odin Cussen (48) compiled a wonderful opening stand of 131 off 21 overs. This combined with some late over hitting from Chris Langfeldt (23) and Johnothon Lowth (18) saw the total reach an imposing 3/186 off 30 overs. In reply, Buderim managed 59 in the face of tight accurate bowling lead by both Andy Parson 2/6 and Josh Baldry 2/14. A very good team effort to start the year.
U14s
The Cooroy U/16s have made the perfect start to the season with an emphatic 127-run victory against an under-manned Buderim. Batting first, Cooroy’s openers Mitch Martin (75no) and Odin Cussen (48) compiled a wonderful opening stand of 131 off 21 overs. This combined with some late over hitting from Chris Langfeldt (23) and Johnothon Lowth (18) saw the total reach an imposing 3/186 off 30 overs. In reply, Buderim managed 59 in the face of tight accurate bowling led by both Andy Parson 2/6 and Josh Baldry 2/14. A very good team effort to start the year.
U12s
It was a beautiful morning as the U/12As headed up to Maleny for the season opener. We won the toss and sent Maleny in to bat on a slightly moist pitch.
Early wickets were hard to come by, but finally Asher made the first breakthrough of the season with a good catch taken by Jack. Congratulations to Marty for a good start to his cricket career with bowling figures of 1/6. A few too many sundries let Maleny get up to a total of 113 and being a couple of batsmen short, the side knew it was going to be a tough chase.
Some good batting from Brayden Forrest (14) and Oscar Long (19) gave the side a chance but in the end it just ran out of batsmen for a total of 82.
Next week should see the side at full strength at home, so lookout Palmwoods. – Cooroy Eumundi U/12A Captain’s report.
