We've reached the Christmas/New Year break in the season, and all senior teams are travelling quite well. In this mid-season report for Brunswick Cricket Club, catch up on how they are going as we wait for the season to re-start in 2024. Happy New Year to all!
Women's Social T20 – 3 wins – Current ladder position 5th
After an excellent finish to last season, the women's team began the 23/24 season in the top Division - the Geoff Law Shield. They started off the season with a win, but were unable to continue this form, coming up against tough competition. When the Divisions were reshuffled at the end of round 7, Brunswick were put down into Division 1. This coincided with a couple of rainy weekends, where the Women's matches were abandoned, so the team couldn't make up points. However, Brunswick finished the year well with two wins.
The team has improved as the season has continued, particularly in the field. There are a couple of individual achievements worth noting: Rosie Rodger is yet to be dismissed this season and is sitting on 146 runs and Indi Rodger has top scored on 48 no and is on 195 runs for the season.
Firsts – 4 wins, 2 losses & 1 draw – Ladder position 6th
Following a big win over top side Kew in the last round before Christmas we find ourselves sitting just inside the finals race with a cluster of teams from 3rd to 9th. We have been on the losing end of a couple of close ones, which shows that we are thereabouts & expect a good showing after the break in our endeavours to crack a finals spot. A number of excellent performances with both bat & ball with contributions from everyone has been pleasing.
Extremely well led by Simon, with our new players, SoS (Ben Rowles ), Rowdy ( Daniel Rawson ) & Tang (Dan Houghton ) having fitted into the team perfectly, leads us to believe that continued growth & improvement is attainable.
Seconds – 4 wins & 1 draw – 4th
It has been an inconsistent season so far with some brilliant efforts with the bat followed by some not so great days. Batting at times has been exceptional with Cooper and Dougie leading the way, and a couple of excellent hundreds from Pricey & Evan.
Bowling has also at times been exceptional with Marcus Jackman grabbing an 8-for when dismantling Preston, and H and Rahul also doing a job on Kew, skittling them for 63, on the last weekend before the break. It is a solid start with a lot more upside after the break to ensure we give ourselves another opportunity at the business end.
Thirds – 6 Wins & 1 loss – First
Our batting has been led by two of our younger players in Akshay and Vanshjot with great support from Giri & Robert Anderson. The bowling has also been consistent with wickets mostly shared, Declan with 10 & Elliot & Ed Sivak with 9 wickets respectively have been regularly making life difficult for all opposition batters. We have set ourselves up at the halfway mark to be right in at finals time.
Fourths – 6 wins & 1 draw – First
Again a pretty strong performance from the group to get our season underway & defend our title. Our strength has been our consistency & our ability to put the opposition under pressure. We have not relied on a few individuals & we have been able to see someone stand up each week, whether it be with bat or ball. As often happens we have seen 25 individual players come through the fourths in 7 rounds due to availabilities and promotion. The fourths has once again proven to be a great grounding for young players and also shows reward based on performance.
Saturday B – 4 wins & 4 losses – 4th
Chopper has led from the front with both his leadership and bat compiling 225 runs to the break. Zaine Welsh & young spinner Aiden Martin showing great promise with 13 and 9 wickets have led the way with our attack. If not for a couple of close losses, our position could be looking a lot better. Having said that we have continued to develop a number of young players who have shown great promise & poise under pressure. Sitting fourth in what looms to be a tight contest for finals positions presents us with opportunities to further improve as the season progresses and we play more games together.
Saturday D – 3 wins – Equal 4th
We have had 27 players represent the club with several juniors playing regularly & performing at a high standard. Evan Nolte, Manuda (Craig Shield squad member) & Bryce Sarah have been performing well with the ball. In his first game for the club in the final round, Sammin Iqbal a left arm spinner captured 3 wickets.
Again as we find some consistency with the playing group we are sure that we will be able to provide a good account of ourselves in the second half of the season.
Sunday B – 2 wins – 6th
At times slightly inconsistent, however our good has been very good as proven by our ability to beat one of the contenders in the final round before the break. Maninder Singh & Sarpreet Singh have led the way with the bat and Amrit Ghuman with 13 wickets @ 20 has been our best performed bowler to date. The competition is rather even & we are certainly confident that we are going to be better placed in the second half of the season.
Sunday D – 5 wins – 3rd
With a number of young players representing the club, Zach Chamberlain & Oscar Bryant both under 16 players are our 2 leading run getters at the top of the order. Both are also our leading wicket takers with 8 & 7 respectively with averages 11.75 & 13; along with Archie Liddell’s 6 wickets they reflect the health of our young players.
Brendan continues to lead this young group, with the help of some other experienced players in an exceptional way, giving our younger brigade opportunities to learn the game & “get better“.
Again as is the nature of short form cricket, a couple of games could have gone either way, and we are still aiming to climb the ladder after the break.
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