Wildcats
129/6 of 20 overs
King 79*,
Matt 11*, Justin 11*
Easts 130/6
of 16.5 overs
Sass 2-22
(3), King 2-25 (3), Justin 1-17 (4)
The
Wildcats have again suffered defeat at the hands of the impressive Easts side,
following a 4 wicket defeat at
Easts
effectively won the match before it started, by donning an impressive
uniform complete with nick names on the back (convenient for scorers).
Any team with a uniform must be good.
After
winning the toss and electing to bat the Wildcats struggled early. Justin
Eggleton set the tone, batting out the first Wildcat maiden of the season,
complete with an appropriate amount of heckling from his team mates.
He made up for it with a towering 6 in the second over, losing the
first of 4 balls to be lost on the small
After a
solid 20 run opening partnership the wildcats lost successive wickets,
when Vaughn was out first ball, following the dismissal of J Eggleton
who was attempting to lose a second ball, but got cleaned bowled.
Darney, facing the hatrick ball, with the impressive blue uniforms
closing in, proceeded to smash it to the boundary for 4, in vintage
Darney style.
Wickets
continued to tumble, the Wildcats collapsing to 43-6, with King still in on
20. Debutant Matthew Maguire joined King, providing valuable support to
finish on 11*. After taking some time to get going Matt got off the
mark with a slashing drive through point, and by the end of the innings'
was scoring singles every ball, feeding the strike to King, who was hotter
than
However,
the story of the innings was Kings marvellous knock, of 79*. King
carried the Wildcats, at one stage having scored 51 out of 81Wildcat
runs. And in an effort to save time, King nobly decided to hit his 6s
straight to the longest boundary, rather than risk losing balls on the
square boundaries in the forest or onto the road. One 6 in particular
stands out, a huge straight drive, that would have been 6 anywhere in
the world. The innings was nearly chanceless, King just being
dropped when on 66. King gave the Wildcats a defendable total, pushing the
Cats up to 129/6, when at one stage it looked like we would be all out
for 50.
Early
wickets were needed, but the Easts decided to open the batting with Don
Bradman, who completely dominated all of the bowlers bar Justin Eggs,
posting a quick fire 47. Bradman even was able to hit the normally miserly
Vaughn, who would be in the top 3 bowlers in the grade.
Surprise
first change Jermaine Sassman bowled well, picking up 2 wickets,
and giving the Wildcats a glimmer of hope. Sass displayed his usual mix
of unplayable balls, half trackers and beamers, and was rewarded
with a bowled and a sharp caught behind.
Darney
took a bit of grief, going at ten, but did take his second LBW of the season.
Other notable moments included Justin dropping a catch on the
boundary after misjudging it in the wind, knocking it for 4 in the process.
Matt also put down a sharp one handed diving catch at point that would
have been a screamer. Also of note is the return spells of Vaughn and Justin,
Vaughn for bowling successive beamers, and Justin for his new "bowl just
out side leg" philosophy.
In
the end the Wildcats were 20 runs short of a more defendable total, keeping in
mind the small boundaries and quality of the opposition.
Assuming
Easts are the benchmark, we want to beat them next time, to give us a
chance of winning the grade.
Next week
marks the return of the leader of men Simon King, all rounder Adam Eggleton
and leading wicket taker Jacob Parry, back at the Karori fortress. Hopefully
the Cats can continue their unbeaten record there.
Special
mention to WAG Christina, fielding for the Cats, and running fine leg to fine
leg without complaint. Heroic.