Lumberjack – Leisure Vs Pudong Game 1.

Lumberjack – Leisure Vs Pudong

March 22, 2014 at Wellington College

A lovely sunny day greeted the leisure players as they left their homes for the Camel to catch the Mini bus to Wellington. After squeezing the gear and players onto the bus a fairly non eventful trip (the esky buried under mounds of gear) we arrived with an hour 15 minutes prior to the arranged start time (note to captains for next time!) we took in our MCG sized field complete with boundary rope and settled into some catching and dropping practice on the dewey grass.

With the Pudong team arriving to the ground early as well a decision to start 15 minutes early was made and Dags led the leisure out to the field less one Cranky who was happy to meander to the field and take his place after 2 overs had been bowled.

Hardon and G’rilla opened proceedings by unsettling the Pudong openers with pace and swing , unfortunately their efforts not matched by those in the field and behind the stumps who grassed 3 chances before finally G’rilla struck with the last 2 balls of his 2^nd over leaving him on a hat-trick. Hard on followed with a maiden keeping the pressure on and G’rilla taking the third wicket with his last ball of the 3^rd.

Both kept things tight and ended up both getting wickets in their final overs bowled straight through , Grilla with 4 for 14 and Hardon 1 for 17 .

Could have been a few more down if not for some Hollywood style diving from Pope and Mouse jumping for a chance but not leaving the ground.

Dags into the attack and finding his radar out , gave up 17 runs in 2 overs and replaced himself with BS .

Cranky on the other hand found his radar first ball and bowled the opposing opener, then we took drinks so he could cool down.

2^nd session and Cranky and BS kept things tight, and very unlucky a flurry of dropped catches did not help the Basher cause. Cranky with 2-20 and BS 0-28

Into the attach comes Bullet and with unnerving accuracy claimed his first wicket for the year , with a second coming in his next as well to end the Pudong innings on 130 runs in the 23^rd over .

Lots of confident chest puffing from the Bashers who may have celebrated a little early but a good effort all round , perhaps a little catching practice may help things next time out.

So Pope and Miyagi stroll out to take on chase but are met with tight line, length and a bit of swing from Chirag and Basher No. 3, with little to show for the first 3 overs other than 3 runs and one down, Pope edging to the keeper.

Nothing much changing as a procession of Chirag aggression saw the Bashers falling like flies, Miyagi cleaned up, and Norm skying a return catch only to mow Chirag down with a shoulder so brutal a any linebacker would be proud of, resulting in Chirag getting smashed in the eye , and Norms castle intact.

After much deliberation and blokiness Chirag wanted to continue bowling while all logic suggested he go to get stitched up.

Coming in yelling “AYE ME HARTIES “ he then got Omega , and Mouse out , with Messi gifting Basher No3 a nick to the keeper.

While the carnage was going on at the other end, Cranky was holding his up, and his boys while running, scoring at a nice clip, 2 sixes included on the massive ground, while he ran out of partners who could score. BS and Bullet both spending time in the middle but not contributing to the score, Bullet had finally had enough and with Cranky on 48, he decided to run him out, leaving Dags and G’rilla to try to make the target.

Dags taking his time began making a dent in the chase, however G’rilla decided a more cautious approach was needed and took 21 balls to get off the mark, then started scoring freely with Dags but all too little too late, as the Pudong team limited the Leisure to 115 – 16 runs short of the target.

All round a good start to the year unfortunately did not get the 4 points but as they say “Cricket was the winner”

Special mention goes to Hardon who had the initiative to bring the esky to the bench, which did however leave it empty for the bus ride back to Camel.

A rowdy fines session followed with Cranky as Fines Master.

Special thanks to those who came to support and help with scoring.

Booh Yaah