Story FTP: I've never been one for titles

[hedger_14]

Plans to Upgrade Stadium​

One of the main questions surrounding the club over the past few seasons has been whether Hedger's Team Cricket Ground has been big enough. 8 of the last 10 home One Day games have resulted in the full capacity of 10,000 people being filled, the only match this season to have not been filled, the first home match of the season, where 9,358 supporters showed up. The T20 arena has seen full capacity crowds in every game this season and all but 2 matches last season, which really makes it seem like Hedger's Team is losing out on some massive revenue due to their small stadium.

Today, manager, Brendon Hedger has announced that he has received the quote to go ahead with a 6,000 seat expansion, to begin immediately, with the stadium expansion to be completed by around next Sunday, meaning the T20 match against Globo Gym Purple Cobras will be the first game that supporters can see the new looking stadium. In an interview with Hedger, he stated, "The last few seasons have seen the club come a long way. Our youth prospects have come through to the senior side and the supporters want to these these players in action. Deciding how much we should have expanded the stadium by was a big issue, as maintenance can be hefty, but we do not want to be losing out on gate receipts, so 6000 was the number finally agreed on. Finances are currently looking very good, following the sales of a few young players, and this $130,000 quote to upgrade the stadium is nothing, compared to the finances we currently have and the finances that we'll likely be bringing in over the next few seasons."

----------

And Chewie, how's Lindeman coming along?

 

[Sulaiman7]

Talking about capacity crowd , they've been 9,999 if I would've not shown up .

And MR Hedger , why don't you buy another good batting all rounder so your team is ballanced properly ?

 

[hedger_14]

lol, batting all-rounders are hard to come by.

Pretty much on FTP, the best team, is 5 batsman, a keeper-batsman and then either a pure all-rounder and 4 bowlers or a bowling all-rounder (or 2) and then have a #8 and #9 that have a little bit of batting.

 

[hedger_14]

Hedger's Team Bowlers Too Good for Iridium XI​

It was the Hedger's Team bowlers that made the most of a favourable pitch for bowling, as Frank Bollinger's 6/26 helped Hedger's Team to a comfortable 72 run win, upsetting New Zealand based team, Iridium XI who went into the match as favourites.

Hedger's Team were sent into bat by Iridium XI captain, Khozo. It was a solid start by the home side on a tricky looking pitch, with a solid 50 run partnership, before keeper, van der Hoeven was beaten by a stunning Hamilton delivery, sneaking in between bat and pad and knocking over the middle stump, van der Hoeven out for 22 in the 15th over. Omara built a partnership with O'Keeffe as they battled through to drinks, to be 109/1 after 25 overs.

Omara and O'Keeffe brought up their 50 run partnership just after drinks. Omara then battled on to make 50, as O'Keeffe struggled for runs at the other end and had even more pressure put on him when Omara failed to beat the infield, chipping the ball up for Khozo at cover, off the bowling of van Zandt. O'Leary started off well, going at around a run a ball, while O'Keeffe brought up his fifty eventually. O'Leary seemed set for a half century, until he hammered the ball straight back to Ruxin who held on to a tough chance and the Irish batsman was out for 26. O'Keeffe followed a couple of overs later, when he was caught by Amin off van Dalen for 64 before youth batsman, Quentin Lindhoud followed him for a golden duck, playing all around a straight ball. Yousif couldn't do much with the bat either, as he got a leading edge to mid on off Ruxin for 4. Whiteman then got out for a golden duck and Hedger's Team had slipped to 225/7. Frank Bollinger joined Mol at the crease and some blazing cricket in the last 3 overs pushed the total up to 256/7, Mol finishing 31* off 27, with Bollinger finishing 17* off 12.

Iridium XI were in for a tough chase and needed to get off to a strong start, but had the exact opposite when Evert Goedhart put in the perfect yorker, Lindsay unable to get his bat down on it in time. Bollinger made it 2 down when Amin hit a short ball straight down the throat of Tindall at deep square leg and Iridium XI were 32/2 after 10 overs. Goedhart was taken off after a spell of 1/17 off 5 overs. Bollinger continued into his 6th over and trapped Khan in front of the wickets for 3 and Iridium XI were now in deep trouble, Bollinger taken off with figures of 2/15 off 6 overs.

Whiteman was brought into the attack and started off with a maiden before taking the wicket of Burgess in his second, as he came down the wicket but missed the ball, and van der Hoeven did the rest. Iridium XI failed to get the spinners away, and the RRR was already up to 6.33 by 20 overs. Whiteman kept things tight and finished with figures of 1/23 from 10 overs. Just as it looked like Khozo and Colgan had started to rebuild the innings, Yousif got the breakthrough as Colgan was trapped in front for 27. Khozo was unable to help the run rate much and Iridium XI seemed all but out of it. Goedhart finished his 10 overs with 1/37 while Yousif finished with 1/51. Khozo seemed set for a century before Bollinger was brought back into the attack and trapped him in front during his first over back. Hamilton had got started but was unable to play a superb ball from Tindall, as he was struck in front for 20. Bollinger then made it 4 when van Dalen played all around a straight delivery. He then took his five wicket haul with his next ball as Pfaff had a wild swing at a wide ball and only managed a thin edge through to van der Hoeven who took a straight forward catch. Bollinger then finished Iridium XI off 3 balls later, hitting Ruxin on the toe and the umpire had no hesitation in raising the finger, Bollinger finishing with 6/26 off 7.5 overs as Iridium XI was bowled out for 184. In the end, Iridium XI were not able to take full advantage of the sticky pitch, and paid the price, as they were defeated by 72 runs, Bollinger taking the MOTM award.


Toss: Iridium XI (elected to bowl)
Result: Hedger's Team 256/7 (O'Keeffe 64, Omara 56, van Dalen 3/38, Ruxin 2/68) def. Iridium XI 184 a.o. (Khozo 89, Colgan 27, Bollinger 6/27, Whiteman 1/23) by 72 runs
MOTM: Frank Bollinger (6/27 off 7.5 overs and 17* off 12)

 

[Champagnepapi]

impressive bowling there by Bollinger seems like Iridium XI got a lot to do.

 

[Sulaiman7]

Lol , like you've written the stary , itls like a comic in which Iridium XI is villain and Hedger'sXI is hero . I am really enjoying this story , Young was on off ?

 

[hedger_14]

uh, yeah, sure, let's go with that

And lol, I forgot to mention that it was a friendly xD

 

[Ahmad94]

That was a really good read mate, KIU

 

[Sulaiman7]

Khoza performed well and was highlighted well as a villain in the write-up too .lol. Trindall with a lot of experience and a successful last season , still could'nt bowl good and even Yousif too , anyways whats the full name of A.Khan in the Hedger's team ? lol .

 

[hedger_14]

Anil Khan

 

[hedger_14]

Hedger's Team May Make Move for Canadian Batsman​

Former U19 Canadian national top order batsman and captain, Brayden Delaney has been linked with a move to Hedger's Team. Delaney and Omara played together at the top of the order during the U19 World Cup around 3 years ago. With the transfer listing of Delaney by current club Ivybridge 1st XI, Hedger announced that he may make a move to strengthen his batting lineup.

The batsman won't come at a cheap price though and they may have to pay somewhere between $1.5m to $2m for Delaney's services, way more than the previous record transfer of $750,000 paid for Victor Omara 5 years ago. Hedger stated in an interview, "We will assess the situation on Tuesday morning and decide whether we will go ahead and make a bid for Brayden. He would be a big boost for our batting lineup but we have to be weary about the extra wage costs from bringing in a player of his calibre and I'm not wanting to freely offload a player in order to ease some of those costs". There is rumour that Craig Crane could be heading out of his club should the deal with Delaney go through. Disregarding his score of 166 earlier this season, he is averaging a meagre 28.6 with the bat, with only two fifties. Nothing has been confirmed though.


Transfer Records:

Highest Fee Paid:

1. Victor Omara - $750,000 from Hellions CC
2. Frank Bollinger - $631,025 from Hammertown Warriors
3. Aladdin Yousif - $525,000 from Smiddie's All Stars
4. LeBron James - $500,000 from Asif's Superstars
5. Norval Watkin - $400,000 from redball slappers

Highest Fee Received:

1. Malcolm Elgin - $363,803 to Betty's Hope
2. Barry Healy - $330,750 to Springbok Quokkas
3. Michael Dysart - $311,832 to Gonvilius Daredevils
4. Norval Watkin - $256,546 to Bangla Desh
5. James Fiebig - $249,463 to The Papas XI

 

[Champagnepapi]

i feel this part of the forum have come alive because of your astonishing come back.

 

[hedger_14]

lol, still seems pretty quiet to me

 

[Champagnepapi]

still louder then it use to be.

ps : when will i make a debut.

 

[Chewie]

I don't actually play Lindeman that much cos I'm trying to get everyone else's experience up lol