Story St Michele CC's Season [Battrick]

[Left_Hander]

I heard you had an exciting finish to your FC game. Looking foward to that

 

[freddiw]

good work hoops cant wait for the next FCg ame

 

[Hooper]

28/02/2008 (First Class)

The final day of our equally poised FC match started this morning. We needed to grab 10 wickets in the day for a smallish target our team could then run down late in the day if needed. Having bowled this team for 244 on the first day, our bowlers were quietly confident. With this final day, dustbowl our spinner, Corcoran, was licking his lips...but it was debutant Eakanayake who stole the show -taking 6-51 from 22 overs! It was some of the best medium pace swing bowling St Michele has seen since the departure of star bowler Chis Mccafferty.

Anyways, the day started on a high note with Eakanayake claiming two wickets quick in the day.

15.5 	[B]W	[/B]Eakanayake to Shafqatullah
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]Tried to smash that through the cover area, but Poulter was perfectly positioned and takes the catch at chest height[/COLOR].

17.2 	[B]W	[/B]Eakanayake to Morne
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]That's out! A beautiful outswinger by Eakanayake takes the edge of Morne's bat and the ball is gleefully gloved by Drury.[/COLOR]

Eakanayake was pumped, the little Sri Lankan thrilled to have got the top two batsman out in consecutive overs. Now we had a sniff we were determined not to let this one go..but then LMCC put on a 100 run partnership that lasted a session and the bowlers were tiring and the match was slowly slipping away into a tame draw that the opposition would be thrilled with. But then Bennett threw Eakanayake the ball and told him,

"C'mon mate, make something happen, do what we have chosen you to do...get a wicket".

..And he delivered, he came in 3 balls later with a rip-snorter of a delivery to smash Sterling's castle. His stumps in a mess and another celebration something similar to Brett Lee's best effort.

62.3 	[B]W	[/B]Eakanayake to Sterling
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]Stick a fork in Sterling - he's done! Clean bowled![/COLOR]

The score was now 3/169 with roughly 70 overs left in the day and the belief was back. A few overs later the wickets started tumbling with Eakanayake and Knight snaring 3 in 3 overs!

66.4 	[B]W	[/B]Eakanayake to Dodds
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]That's gone! Dodds chased a wide one, and the umpire raises his finger.
[/COLOR]

67.5 	[B]W	[/B]Knight to Mian
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]Out! Mian had a nibble and Drury takes a comfortable catch at waist height. Classic dismissal.[/COLOR]

68.6 	[B]W	[/B]Eakanayake to Rassie
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]Drury has come right up to the stumps. Eakanayake launches his slower ball and Rassie dances like a fairy down the pitch, misses, falls over and it's an easy stumping for Drury, who appears to have an attack of the giggles.[/COLOR]

After these 3 wickets and with the score at 5/180 the game was well and truly in our hands. 5 wickets were needed and they were shared around by Howard, Knight and Eakanayake as we bowled them out in the 92nd over with only overs to spare! What a victory from nothing...from that 130 run partnership the match looked destined for a draw, but some awesome medium pace bowling from Eakanayake has given St Michele a memorable FC victory.

91.4 	[B]W	[/B]Knight to Seaman
 	 	[COLOR="Red"]Seaman glances a poor, leg side delivery off his hips but he doesn't get enough on it and a stunning one-handed catch from Drury brings his innings to an end.[/COLOR]

[B]And that's the end of the match. St Michele CC won by an innings and 6 runs.[/B]

Man of the match

Doug Bennett
215 (271)
​

_____

I made it to the Semi-Finals of the Shield yes, beating Handsome in the quarters to get there.

29/02/2008 (OD League) - vs Jandowae Jostlers


The less said about this match, the better... We were never in it from the beginning. No bowler of ours went for less then 6 an over, now that tells you something about how we went. On this batsman's pitch the batsman did what was expected of them as they amassed a total of 347.

Our batsman came out to the middle knowing they had no chance so went all guns blazing and failed miserably. We got skittled for a lowly 58 in one of the worst losses in our short history. This is a major disappointment and isn't the ideal lead up to our friendly match against The Southern Sharks.

Coming up: 02/03/2008 (friendly) The Southern Sharks v St Michele CC ​

 

[gamerkid22]

Great victory in the FC match and then due to the late night party on Thrusday and lots of beer you got hammered in the OD match

 

[Griffo]

Cant wait for the report about tomorrows friendly, if Wotton hits 100 the headline has to be Wotton Is God

 

[Hooper]

Great victory in the FC match and then due to the late night party on Thrusday and lots of beer you got hammered in the OD match

Haha, probably. Think we got to carried away with the victory and didn't pull up too well for the next morning.

Ahh well, time to recover for the Sharks match. And Griffo, yes, I will do that. But if Wotton scores less then 5 then the headline will read "Wotton on his stairway to heaven as the Snakes strangle the Sharks".

 

[surendar]

I made it to the Semi-Finals of the Shield yes, beating Handsome in the quarters to get there.

Wow, I never expected a reply for my post there..( in center between two match updates)

And nevermind of OD loss, we can always win in next game. Good luck!

 

[Left_Hander]

Very good FC win, shame you couldn't back it up in the friendly for the Shield. Seems like Eakanayake is quite a bowler, I am sure you were very glad to have bought him.

 

[Highlander999]

That was a great win in the FC match but the OD match That is more my style

Keep up the good work Hoops

 

[Griffo]

Waiting for new post Maybe talking about my RESP TOP ORDER kicking your rear end

 

[Hooper]

Very good FC win, shame you couldn't back it up in the friendly for the Shield. Seems like Eakanayake is quite a bowler, I am sure you were very glad to have bought him.

Eakanayake just got a five-fer against Griffo as well. He is going to be a gun for me.

That was a great win in the FC match but the OD match That is more my style

Keep up the good work Hoops

Haha, cheers Teabag, for the support.

Keep dreaming...

Waiting for new post Maybe talking about my RESP TOP ORDER kicking your rear end

...
...
...

 

[ivanvdm15]

Awesome story , i love the introduction to your story
keep it up

 

[freddiw]

awesome game there and love the story hoops

 

[Hooper]

02/03/2008 (friendly)

Today's match against The Southern Sharks was more then just a "friendly"... because the opponent was managed by good friend Griffo. Us two have played against each other two times in the past, with myself victorious in the first match, then Griffo's team thrashing mine the second time. These contests have always been spiteful encounters with the winner claiming bragging rights until they meet again. Well, lets see how we went today.

This is how the teams looked for today's match:

The Southern Sharks have selected: Buchan, Nicholls, Wotton, Kemp, Mbeki, Gilbert, Dennis, Roberts, Harvey, Dangasela, Islam.

St Michele CC have picked: Gayle, James, Bennett, Boardman, Mattheus, Eakanayake, Drury, Corcoran, Daly, Hooper, Cummings.

The Sharks won the toss and elected to bat (I have a feeling Griffo wanted to bat first just so Wotton could register a hundred against us. The pitch was on the dusty side which will favour my top two bowlers in Daly and Corcoran, but will also favour Griffo's gun bowler Shaun Harvey - a proven destroyer of the Snakes in the past.

The game started well for the Sharks, attacking with both Buchan and Nicholls. But in just the 10th over Bennett brought on Corcoran and he grabbed the dangerous Buchan the following over.

12.3 W Corcoran to Buchan
Marched down the wicket and the bails are whipped off accordingly

Buchan was probably trying a bit to hard early on and Corcoran flighted one up whilst Drury did the rest with the gloves.

The overs ticked by and the Sharks weren't letting up as they cruised at around five an over. Ian "God" Wotton did something he has never done before: registered a hundred against the Sharks. And no better way to bring it up then by smashing a four;

4.5 4 Eakanayake to Wotton
Hammered backward of square by Wotton for four runs. That one went like a tracer bullet.
And that's a century for Wotton! Well played indeed Sir!

But only a few overs later the in-form Eakanayake got back into it and manufactured two wickets in two balls. Firstly bowling a tight one to Wotton, which he blocked, tried scampering through for a single only to be run out. Then the very next ball Eakanayake got Dennis for a first baller, edged behind.

46.3 W Eakanayake to Dennis
Drury resembles a coiled spring as he jumps up with ball in glove. A thin edge from Dennis and Eakanayake is delighted with his keeper.

At this stage The Sharks were 6-248. The Sharks only lasted 2 more overs losing 4 quick wickets. So from being in a state to really launch, The Sharks went from 4-238 to all out for 257. Not a bad bowling effort from us here on this flat surface. We were confident if Bennett could produce the goods, then we could maybe cause a surprise upset here.

So we start our run-chase thinking we have a serious chance to maybe put this one over the big boys. Gayle and James were going for it early on, but the shots weren't coming off and we didn't start all that well, losing both openers by the 20th over. James was filthy with himself after being so close to a 50 against his old side. What made James' dismissal worse was that he was caught by someone who he has shared many partnerships with in the past... Wotton.

Bennett and Boardman were cruising along, as Bennett passed 50, Boardman was playing all the shots in the book as they put on a partnership almost worth 100 runs.

Just as Bennnet was looking good, smashing consecutive 4's from Danga;

32.3 4 Dangasela to Bennett
Pitched up, drives it on the front foot, down the ground for four.
32.4 4 Dangasela to Bennett
Bennett shows his happy feet and dances down the wicket, one bounce and its over the rope

The Destroyer, Harvey did it again, getting Bennett to hit in the air and to a fielder in the deep:

35.4 W Harvey to Bennett
Hit high into the air, Gilbert fumbled but caught the ball at the 2nd attempt.

Other batsman tried to accelerate and build on what Bennett and Boardman laid down for them, coming into the 40th over we needed 8.20 runs an over, which wasn't at all ungettable. But just as the Sharks had done earlier in the day, we had a huge collapse which saw us lose 6-20 in less then four overs.

The game was there for the taking, with our lower order sloggers capable enough - but the pressure was too much and the ever-so accurate Harvey strangled us and took wickets at the same time. Fast bowler, Roberts took the last wicket (although he wasn't out according to the umpire) to crush our hopes and seal the defeat.

46.3 W Roberts to Hooper
Edge surely! The umpire doesn't respond to the appeal but Hooper shoulders his bat and is walking towards the pavilion. Very sporting, although his coach might not be best pleased.

A sour defeat knowing that without Wotton's match-winning hundred, we could of won this match easily. Or if only we didn't crumble under the pressure in the latter overs. Or if only Bennett's skied shot that was fumbled by Gilbert slipped through. Well, too late to think about "ifs", we have to move on now with the Shield coming up at least we know we have what it takes to challenge a top-contender. Next step forward however, is our match against the Jaguars in a FC fixture where we are expected to win. Watch on tomorrow for the daily report.

Man of the Match:

Ian Wotton
107 (101)

​

 

[Highlander999]

Wotton is truly God

Excellent update mate, I'm really getting into Battrick and this story is definetly showing to all those who haven't got it how good it is.