Southern cricket - round two

AFTER their big win last week, New Norfolk II stayed on the winners list in fifth grade by easily accounting for Old Beach by a massive 224 runs in round two of the Southern Cricket Association at the weekend. It was a run feast for the home side with openers Richard Graham 51 and young Mitchell Rice 48 putting on a stand of 77 for the first wicket. Then Richard Munnings added 43 and batting at number 8 captain Josh Walsh batted extremely well making 72. His innings helped his team to the total of 319. In reply Old Beach was no match for the Red Caps who bowled out the visitors for just 95. Richard Munnings bowled extremely well capturing 5 for 16 off seven overs to totally skittle the Old Beach batsmen. Adam Nossiter also did well taking three wickets while old hand Graeme Rowlands picked up one.

In second grade New Norfolk I defeated Mackillop Beltas by five wickets at Cambridge Oval on Saturday. The home side won the toss and had a bat, making 10 for 144. The Beltas' low score was brought about by some good all-round bowling by Jamie Hill who captured 4-32 off 10, Stewart Rice 3 for 26, Josh Dykes 2-43 and Ashley Morgan 1-16. In reply the Red Caps were never troubled with openers Rohan Heron 28 and Stewart Rice 41 hitting the kookaburra to the boundary many a time, putting on an opening stand of 57. Ashley Morgan also did well with the bat to make 41 not out, while Adrian Eiszele made 11. New Norfolk is doing well so far this season and looks every bit as good as last season and will again be amongst the finals action.

Molesworth I continued its great start to the season with another big win, this time at the expense of Bushy Park. Playing at home, Molesworth won the toss and had first hit, making the good score of 10 for 201. Opener Nick Piuselli after a few chances top scored with 54. Piuselli was well supported by his captain Brad Coppleman who made 48. Down the order Josh Bomford made 25 not out and Jye County 16 while Jamie Adams got 10. In reply Bushy was bowled out for 81 in 19.1 overs. Molesworth's Josh Bomford skittled through the Bushy Park batsmen taking a haul of 6 for 22 off 9.1 overs. Nathan Eiszele also got amongst the wickets taking 3 for 25 off five overs. The Bushy Park details were not available at the time of writing.

Gretna I travelled to Richmond where in a great team effort they easily accounted for Richmond/Cambridge by 120 runs. Gretna won the toss and elected to bat, hitting up the very good score of 274. Batting at number three, the in-form Mathew Burns top-scored making 75 with 6 well struck fours and 4 sixes. Burns was well supported by his captain Glenn Blackwell with 36 runs, the pair putting on 95 for the third wicket. Aaron Maddox who played his 50th game for Gretna I batted well at number seven making a handy 42 with 7 fours. Openers Damien Hack 23 and Ben Rainbird 12 looked good before both being caught off the bowling of Webb. Corey Ransley 22 runs, Rhys Browning 14 and Todd Jarvis 10 added handy runs down the order, helping their team to a very defendable total. In reply the home side was never really in the hunt and this was mainly due to the great bowling by Craig Cunningham with his right arm spinners capturing 5 for 26 off his 10 overs. Todd Jarvis chipped in with two wickets while Aaron Maddox, Rhys Browning and Jackson Ackerley got one each. Richmond/Cambridge eventually bowled out for 154.

In fourth grade Gretna II travelled to Old Beach were they too stayed on the winners list, easily accounting for the home side. Gretna won the toss and opted to bat, making the good total of 6 for 181 off their 50 overs. Opener Bruce Emery made up for last week, making 58 as he and fellow opener Nick Wakefield (12) put on 47. Tom Allcock 43no and Daniel Browning 42no put on a great partnership of 85, both showing great concentration with Browning hitting 5 fours in his innings. In reply Old Beach was bundled out for just 83 in the 24th over. Peter Jelkic in his first game for this season bowled extremely well, picking up 4 for 9 off 5.3 overs. Matthew Eyles captured 2 for 23 while Daniel Browning again got amongst the wickets taking 2 for 29 off six overs. It won't be long before he is promoted to Gretna I! Opening bowler Cody Eyles also did well with 1-21 off six overs while captain Joey Eyles also got a wicket. Nick Wakefield did well in the field taking three good catches.

In the other fifth grade match Molesworth II went down to St Adians by six wickets at North Warrane.
The home side won the toss and sent Molesworth into bat, making the small total of 93 from 30.3 overs. After his great knock of 64 last week, young Dakoda Smith batted very well again making 39 (3-4s) of the teams 93 runs, top job cobber. Next best was another youngster in Brayden Chaplin who made 10 with one 4. In reply St Adians was rarely troubled, losing just the four wickets in the run chase. For Molesworth Aaron Triffitt bowled very well 1 for 18 off nine overs while Tyson Gray, Josh Ransley and Larry Menzie got one wicket each.

I heard on the grapevine that former New Norfolk junior now with TCA club Glenorchy, Jordan Banks-Smith, took the valuable wicket of Tasmanian and Australian player Tim Paine! Well done Jordy, lets hope there are many more big wickets ahead.

This Sunday the Tasmanian cricket youth league gets under way, with many juniors crickets from the valley taking part. Good luck to the Molesworth, New Norfolk and Gretna Juniors for the 2013-14 season.

WADE GLEESON