Match report round 3  V  Camden 23^rd November  2003  at  Macquarie Fields Park.

All through the week we had a steady dribble of rain and the last thing we wanted was a washout as a drawn match could be the difference between a semi final spot or nothing  it was still wet when we started out to the original ground  at Raby  but this ground was closed so an alternative ground had been found at Macquarie Fields , a synthetic pitch but at least the match was going to be played ,the match reduced to a 50 over game.

 

Every time   Camden play they are  aggressive and try to intimidate the opposition, on many occasions this has worked against us but this time with the dangling carrot of a S.C.G spot on the line we were up to the task.

We won the toss and into bat, at 21 we lost out first wicket Royson caught for 11 then a stand of 43 between Scotty and Brett Russell  took us to 64 before Brett was bowled for a handy 25.

Nathan joined Scotty  and then Scott was  caught for 17 , 3 for 80 next over Nathan went for 14 on the same score,  4 for 80.

Mitch and Elliot  put together a handy 31 before Mitch was bowled for 17 then Andrew, Sagi and Karl all stayed a while with Elliot and took the score to 8 for 148, some big hitting from Elliot ,plenty of 4s and a huge 6 before being caught for a lovely 54 and after 50 overs we were 176 for 9.

 

The opening bowlers once again rose to the occasion and from their opening 12 over Camden were 2 for 12 with out “Jack-in-the-box” wicketkeeper Sagi taking both catches. 3 for 23 and it was looking good .

All the bowlers were keeping the runs down but then with some better batting  Camden stated to pull back the deficit Then the big fella came in and proceeded to take to the spinners 4s and 6s all around the field.

Scoring 48  from 7 overs and Camden were in with a chance.

With 2 overs to go and 20 needed and 1 wicket left anything could happen then Hodgo decided to have his first bowl of the competition and with his first ball the big fella got a thick edge and a lovely catch by Brett Russell and it was all over.

Once again we proved ourselves in the field, 2 catches to Brett Russell a catch and a runout to Peter Carroll  catches to Royston, Scott and a runout to Hodgo.

Good bowling from Glen Franshaw with a magnificent effort of 1 for 19 from 10 overs , towards the end the other spinners came in for a bit of stick but this is to be expected

Andrew 2 for 22 from 10, Karl 1 for 18 from 10, Peter  1 for 20  from 8 and Elliot 2 for 52 all put in a good effort.

It was at this ground when I first heard the Penrith victory song, we were about 50 metres from the dressing rooms when this roar started building up to a huge crescendo echoing from the concrete walls as the players got rid of all the tensions of the day.

3 down 2 to go.

 

   Round 4  V  Blacktown  30^th November 2003 at Cook Park

 

This match was against our local rivals  so a bit more interest in this one, Blacktown won the toss and naturally decided to bat on a nice wicket.

Andrew and Karl  got stuck into the openers straight away and before they had time to admire the ground they were  3 for 12, a  wicket each to Andrew and Karl and a smart runout to Elliot and we were on fire.

A bit of resistance for the 4^th wicket saw Blacktown  struggle to be 3 for 38 after 21 overs then Peter Carroll got into the act and 2 wickets in an over and it was 5 for 38.

A couple of partnerships helped them  then a nice caught and bowled from Dave Curran left them at 7 for 63 a partnership of 33 dragged Blacktown up tp 96 then Karl Sayers was brought back and 2 wickets to him in 2 overs had the reeling at 9 for 96 and it was left for Peter Carroll to get the last wicket in the 45^th over of their best batsman who had made 27, all out 100.

Some very good bowling figures  Andrew  1 for 6 from 6, Karl 3 for 17 from 9, Peter 3 for 14 from 10, Dave 1 for 19 from 7  and a nice catch to Sagi.

 

With high hopes we started our innings but Royston went so we were 1 for 7 Brett Russell joined Scott and were going along nicely with a partnership of 38 until Scott was run out  after scoring 19 , 2 for 45,   Hodgo joined Brett and they  sailed along comfortably until Brett was out for 35, Mitch joined Hodgo and they passed Blacktown’s score 1n the 32^nd over Hodgo remained n/o 40

4 down 1 to go.