Hello readers, and welcome to the second week of Bowled Over. Last week’s edition proved to be a winner, as I received no negative feedback on my views. I received one email only, and welcome everyone’s thoughts on what is the truly beautiful game.
The cricketing world keeps getting more interesting and intriguing. Locally, every game I predicted looks like going the other way. Pottsville, who I thought wouldn’t have any trouble accounting for Byron, struggled again with the bat, scoring a meagre 144. Veteran Aiden Rogers showed he has still got the touch, with a timely 52, but no one else really contributed. Their innings unfortunately saw more ducks than a Chinese restaurant, however the bowlers stepped up and had a good dig in the afternoon. Mikael Grainger took two wickets, and looks to be a bowler to watch when he hits his straps. Byron finished on 4 for 60, and will have their work cut out for them next week.
Terranora, a team I predicted to easily account for Marist Brothers, had a long afternoon in the field, and then with only 17 overs left in the day, find themselves in a right pickle. Marist scored a mammoth 6/301, winning the toss and batting. At 1 for 7, they certainly recovered well, with the remaining batters all scoring over 25, with three batsmen scoring better than 50. Terranora will resume on 4/27, and have a lot of hard work left in front of them if they are to make something of the game. They do have young Andy Ridgewell left to bat who, on his day, can surf as good as anyone, and is handy with the bat too.
Cudgen showed their class on the weekend, with an excellent 5/292 declared against Alstonville. I thought this could be a danger game for them, but fortunately their captain won the toss and made what proved to be a very good decision. Jamie Wilson was again in the runs, scoring 89, and a young bloke C Zeibell scoring 62 not out. There have been many good words said about this kid, and this innings shows he has potential. Douglas Potter scored 47, and Terry Wilson 43, seems his thumb wasn’t so bad after all, one prediction I got right. Alstonville showed there wasn’t any difficulty to batting on Saturday, and are in a good position at 1/46. However, 292 is a lot of runs to score.
The Tweed District representative side continue to progress in the state-wide SCG Country Cup. For those of you who don’t know, it is a knockout competition, consisting of three round games, and then the tournament. If you win your three round games you progress to the tournament, where the best eight sides meet just after Christmas. Lose, you go home and, if you’re the last two sides, you get to play on the hallowed SCG. Tweed have been close before and, even though they have made the tournament stage the last couple of years, have not progressed any further. They easily accounted for Casino in round two (Casino all out 152 – Tweed 3/153), on the back of an excellent bowling performance, especially Michael Anderson, and then some great batting by Pottsville’s Jayden Hoare. Tweed seem to have a great balance this year, and it is great to see the best players available from each club, something that had been missing for a very long time. Tweeds next game is at home, on December 4th, against Coffs Harbour, a game they must win, as Tweed are somehow ranked lower.
I will leave you this week with one of the all-time greatest comments made on a cricket field. Mark Waugh, fielding in the slips, welcomes English batsmen James Ormond to the crease. ‘Bugger me,’ he says, ‘look who it is. Mate you’re not good enough to play for England.’ James Ormond replied, ‘Well at least I’m the best player in my family.’
