ROUND 1 CLASSICS VS PARRAMATTA @ McCREDIE

OICC 8/230 (N McLeod 71*; B Frawley 51*; S Geyer 36; M Forde 26; N Goradia 26) defeated Parramatta 186 (N Goradia 3/29; P Manoharan 3/45; B Frawley 2/29; N McLeod 1/32; J McCarthy 0/27; N Garling 0/19)

4 Seasons in one day – brilliant sunshine, gale force winds, over-clouded and raining is how we started the season. We won the Toss, and with only 10 thought it better to bat 1 short than field one short, and on a blistering outfield in most parts, this turned out to be the right decision.

Unfortunately we lost Bomber Mackenzie chasing a wide one in the 3rd over to be 1 for 0, which brought Painter McLeod to the wicket, who promptly got into his rhythm of fast scoring and one handed sixes. 1/36 off 10.

Mcleod got into the shed with a faultless 30, bringing Steve Geyer to the crease.

Steve is proving what a great addition he is to our side, and he too got to work and into the bank just after tea with a faultless 30. 1/74 off 20, we were looking OK.

Fordey had provided staunch resistance for the first 20 overs and played an excellent innings, one of his best, and was controversially run out for 26 in the first over after tea (2/77), bringing Frawls to the crease. Steve Geyer got to 30 not soon after, bringing Rav Hybrid Goradia to the crease.

Another faultless innings from Rav, but he feathered one to the keeper, and, in the spirit of cricket, walked for 26. The umpire would not have given him out, telling me he thought he hit the ground.

Garlo entered the fray, and looked to keep the run rate going, skying his second ball, to be well caught & bowled for 0, bringing JMac McCarthy to the crease. Frawls rode his luck and unlike the 2 previous retirees, gave a few chances, however got himself back in the shed for 30, bringing M Fahey to the crease.

JMac then fell for 3, and at the end of 30 overs, looking a little worrisome we were 5/148, with 10 to go, but with 3 in the shed, and on a good outfield, 220+ was considered necessary to win this game.

With JMac gone, our last of 10 batsmen, Paulie Manoharan went out to bat with Fahey. Fahey hit a beautiful boundary and was then given LBW for 4, bringing the first of the retirees McLeod back to the crease. 6/158 with 7.2 overs to go.

Manoharan was then run out for 7 in the 35th – 7/169 – with Steve Geyer returning as the 2nd retiree. Steve put on a further 6 runs before a great caught & bowled, bringing the third retiree, Frawls to the crease at 8/175 with 4.5 overs remaining.

McLeod continued on his merry way, punishing a drive to cover, which took a bad bounce collecting their captain on the shoulder and going 45 degrees to the boundary. Awesome clean hitting with McLeod finishing on 71* and Frawls 51*, putting on 55 in 4.5 overs to finish on a defendable 230.

By the start of the parramatta innings, the gale force winds and clouds had arrived, as did the rain at times, and the light was fading. So, probably fair to say, Parramatta had the toughest of the conditions.

JMac opened the bowling, and was extremely unlucky. He was just too quick for one of their openers, who really couldn’t lay bat on ball unless it was bang on his stumps. Bowled an excellent opening spell of 6 overs – 0/27.

He was well supported by Paulie Manoharan (3/45) at the other end, who bowled 8 straight and got us on the board with our first wicket LBW in the 4th over. We didn’t pick up another wicket in the 1st 10, and Parra were 1/44 after 10.

The next 10 overs saw Paulie finish his spell, replaced by Chairman Garling (0/19) and Hybrid Goradia (3/24). Rav bowled an excellent 8 over spell picking up our 2nd wicket in his 1st over (the 13th), with Paulie getting a wicket in his 7th & 8th overs.

We took tea before the 20th over with Parra requiring a runner.

At the 20 over mark, Parra were looking OK with 112, but they were 4 down.

Garlo bowled 2 overs before tea of varying speed and flight, but was a necessary evil to get our 6 bowlers in and allow Painter McLeod (1/32 from his 8) & JMac (not required) to finish the remaining 10 overs from one end with Rav and Frawls (2/29 from 4.4) to round out the other end.

With 20 to go, Parra needed 6 an over to win.

Rav picked up a wicket straight after tea, a great catch at 1st slip by the Chairman Garlo and McLeod & Rav combined for run out in the 26th over, with Rav another in the 27th to finish an excellent spell of 8 overs, to be replaced by Frawls. These 3 quick wickets stemmed the flow of runs, and at the 30th, Parra were 7/149 with 2 in the shed (we were 148, with 3 in the shed).

Frawls picked up a wicket in the 31st, and McLeod his wicket off the last ball of the 34th over, to then leave us with a situation I have never witnessed before – Parra now had their 2 retirees in, both requiring a runner – they had no idea what was happening and neither did the umpire….anyway.

At the end of 34 overs Parra were 9/167 with 2 retirees in (we were 6/164)

Parra, with both retirees in required 10.5 an over, and although McLeod was keeping it tight, Frawls was giving them a chance, but it was just a bridge too far, with Frawls taking the final wicket to a great catch by McLeod at deep long on.

Parra were always in the game, but we stuck to our guns, fielding pretty well most of the day (a couple of really tough chances put down), and taking wickets at important stages.

A great first up win for Classics, with Painter McLeod just edging Hybrid Goradia for the chocolates as the POM.