It was the final round of the regular season for the senior teams - the final chance for votes for the Sahlberg-Swanson Medal. It came down to the wire, with two votes to Matt Doric in this round securing the individual honour. Let's look at the Brunswick Cricket Club match reports to see how the final round panned out.
Firsts 140 V Ivanhoe 98
On losing the toss we were invited to bat on a very challenging wicket after a short sharp shower left the deck a little wet on the surface. However, we got away to a solid start with Lewis (23) & SoS 36 putting on 55 for the first wicket. From there it was a bit of a procession: Mitch (1), Rowdy (5), B Moss (0), Dav Bon (2) Tang (2) all fell to have us 7/83. Lou (18no) joined Doz (34) & was able to put a partnership together which saw us eventually post a score that kept us in the game. J Moss (7) & Rahul (0).
It was slow start to Ivanhoe’s innings until Tang got the initial breakthrough. A partnership ensued until Rahul was introduced & got a breakthrough - 2/40. From there it was a procession as the wicket started turning with J Moss & Rahul working their magic & decimating the middle order. Doz eventually killed off any hope Ivanhoe had, grabbing the last 2 in quick succession.
Doz 2/15, Tang 1/8, Lou 0/12, Rahul 2/24 Dav Bon 1/13 & J Moss 4/20 all provided great contributions.
Seconds 8/208 V Ivanhoe 7/167
P Walters 50, E Smith 40, O Price 44
A Halls 3/18, J Martyr 2/30, P Walters 1/5
Thirds 4/135 V Coburg 6/134
E Pritchard 56
Z Welsh 3/12
Fourths 3/109 v Coburg 9/106
S Dhamala 45, J Taylor 37
R Magar 4/10
Saturday B 5/230 V MPSM 9/227
S Kumar 43, M Singh 45, J Anderson 35, D Booth 46no
J Nolte 4/44, L Tansley – Beckerman 2/39
Saturday D 9/228 V Youlden Parkville 4/234
A Brennan 55, K Long 63, T Martin 30
Sunday B 9/82 V Power House 81
E Nolte 5/21, B Allan 3/16
Sunday D 6/312 v TTS 97
R Powell 100n0, Z Chamberlain 44, D Anderson 43, M Varley 36, B Powell 32
A Saunders 3/22, Z Chamberlain 3/5, R Raham 2/25
Wow, round 20, the final round of the home and away season and we were up against the Thornbury Turf Strokers, at home at the G (A G Gillon Oval, Brunswick).
The Strokers lost the toss and we chose to bat and bat we certainly did, amassing a substantial total of 312 runs from our 45 overs. And what better time to bring it all together than the last game before our semi-final match, next weekend. Ruben Powell took the batting honours with a fabulous maiden (senior cricket) century off 59 balls with 5 sixes and 7 fours (congratulations Ruben, really well done). Our other key contributors with the bat were Zach Chamberlain 44 (84), Dean Anderson 43 (20) and Max Varley 36 (27), with most of our other batters getting to double figures as well.
We took to the field, after the half time break, a touch weary from our massive batting effort, but ready to take the Strokers apart and that's exactly what we did, sending them on their way, all out for 97 in their 31st over. Bowling honours went to Zach Chamberlain 3/5 (3.3), Al Saunders 3/22 (6), Romi Rahman 2/25 (7), Ben Pickering 1/16 (6), Lachlan Anderson 1/14 (3) and very tight bowling from Max Varley 0/14 (5), unlucky not to get a wicket or two. Very tidy catching from Ruben Powell with 2 (mid on), and Zach Chamberlain (point) and Brendan Powell (mid off) each taking 1, rounding off a great team effort in the field.
Well done all, a crushing defeat handed out to the Strokers - delivered through brilliant work with the bat, terrific bowling (again) and taking most of our chances in the field - great stuff.
Semi-final time, this coming weekend, against the Reds, most likely at McDonald Reserve, Coburg - let's keep working hard, prepare well and be ready to send the Reds on their way as well.
C’arn the Wicks!