Round 8 v Colac
By Liam McCullagh
PITCH REPORT: Another absolute belter of a pitch prepared.
A windy, fly-blown day welcomed everyone back to Warrion Recreation Reserve for the Round 8 encounter with Colac CC. It was first versus second in a match that could be a precursor to a big finals clash.
Max Hutchinson and Charlie Morrissy were unavailable, which saw Anthony Young and off-spinner James ‘Chicken’ Palmer come into the side. Captain Paul Liistro was also away on family holidays, with ‘Buckets’ Nabby filling in the role. It always seems to be the way — no matter when the first week of cricket is back, people are naturally away.
Despite the outs, we were still confident with the team we put out, given our core bowling group was intact. The wind was howling across the ground right from the get-go, blowing towards the clubrooms. Winning the toss, Nabby chose to bowl, hoping to capitalise on the wind, which we thought might die down later in the day.
Opening the bowling was Ethan Coverdale and myself. Ethan chose to come from the tree end, meaning I came from the Warrion Hill end — opposite to what we usually bowl. Ethan wanted to bring the ball in, while I usually move it away from right-handers.
Early on, Ethan bowled really tidily, homing in on the pegs. I, however, was very ordinary. I would bowl four or five good balls and then ruin the over by dragging one short — and they weren’t just short, they were wide. Colac opener Tom Permezel took full advantage, cutting nicely behind point a couple of times.
Charlie Seuren was the first Colac batsman to depart after trying to guide Ethan through to third man, only to hit the ball straight to James McNabb at first slip. I was taken off quickly after four overs with figures of 0–24 — not my finest start with the ball. I blame eating too much Christmas ham from Grandma Mary and enjoying the couple of weeks off work and cricket a little too much.
Xavier Prime came on from the tree end, looking to bring the ball back into right-handers from a left-handed angle. Primey snicked off Archie Walker, who was playing a back-foot punch. Gun 18-year-old cricketer Lucas Ruddell, who came back from Division 1 due to Colac having the week off, was dropped by ‘Chicken’ while trying to flick to the onside. He was out the very next ball playing the exact same shot, this time caught very nicely by Anthony Young at mid-wicket.
Left-hander Archie Walker then partnered with Tom Permezel, and the pair batted nicely. It wasn’t totally chanceless — I put Archie down at point off the bowling of ‘Chicken’. It was an absolute soda. I went fingers up, but definitely should have gone fingers down. Sorry, Chicken.
Nabby came on to bowl and was exceptional, finishing with figures of 4–17 from eight overs, including a maiden. He picked up the wicket of Tom Permezel, which brought in Colac’s best bat, Tony Walker, who was batting down at six. At 4–98, the game could have been taken away from us if Tony got going, but we also felt we could break it open if we dismissed him cheaply.
Instead, neither happened — classic cricket. Tony was out for 19 from 21, hitting a drive to Darcy Dwyer at gully off the bowling of Nabby. Colac U17s opening batsman Izaac Tate made a golden duck, but some nice batting at the end of the innings from Hugh Gibson and Ned Holland saw Colac reach 174. It felt like a justified total in the end. We could have restricted them better if we took our chances (again — sorry, Chicken), but they also threatened at stages to make 200-plus.
If we batted our full 40 overs, we felt we were every bit a sniff to win.
Our arvo tea wasn’t quite up to the high standard we had set. Mum made a quiche, which was devoured and received high praise from the Colac lads, many of whom Mum had taught in high school.
HIGH PRAISE: A spotless plate of Mum’s quiche. I had the last slice after the photo was taken.
Nabby was the pick of the bowlers with 4–17, while Ethan Coverdale (3–28 from 7.5 overs) and Xavier Prime (3–33 from 7) were also handy.
Our batting innings didn’t get off to the greatest start, with Deakin Carmichael flicking a leg glance to square leg. Nabby then snicked off for a duck, with the score at 2–21.
Shane Kent and Xavier Prime consolidated for a bit before Kenty hit a cut shot to cover, scoring 32 from 40 balls. To sum up what happened next: we had a disastrous middle-order collapse.
Kenny McDonald: 4 from 6 balls, hitting a glance to square leg.
Youngy: 3 from 6 balls, top-edging a pull shot.
Damo Wettermans, batting down the order due to an ankle issue, smoked one straight to point and took off. Primey turned him back, leaving Damo short of his ground for a duck from two balls.
I was then out to bat. To cap off my already impressive day in the field (sarcasm intended), I made matters worse by snicking off third ball to a nice delivery from Jed Hay. The score went from 3–59 to 7–69 very quickly.
Ethan Coverdale provided some resistance, facing 18 balls for his duck.
All the while this was happening, Primey was making batting look easy. He hit three massive sixes, including one that sailed a good 30 metres over the clubrooms, helped by the breeze. With the way Primey was batting, all he needed was a partner to stick around, and he could have guided us home.
It looked like he found that when Chicken walked out to bat. Together they put on 55, and the finish line was within sight. It would have been a remarkable win — and one probably not deserved. In the end, too much was left to too few, as Chicken was trapped LBW.
Our number 11, Darcy Dwyer, was then run out on his first ball, leaving us all out for 147 in the 33rd over, 28 runs short. You’re never going to win too many games with five ducks and only two scores over 30. It was a disappointing result, with Primey left stranded on 85* from 84 balls.
It was a hard game to sum up, even post-match for Nabby. Some great individual performances, but unfortunately in cricket, when it’s not your day, it’s just not your day. It’s hard to win games against quality opposition when cricket rears its head.
It felt like a wasted opportunity to extend our lead on top of the ladder. Colac has now leapfrogged us on net run rate, and there are four teams all sitting on six wins and two losses.
Our attention now turns to the ‘Housemate Cup’ next weekend, where we take on the Deans Marsh Swamp Rats. To rub insult into my shocking day of cricket, my housemate Harry Carmody made 78 against Irrewarra — something I hope won’t be happening this weekend.
The banter between myself and Carmo has already started, and I fear if this game is lost, I might never hear the end of it.
WIND: Don’t let the sun fool you. The wind and flies made for a difficult day of cricket. Darcy Dwyer watches on ready to bat.
To read more by Liam McCullagh click here.
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You can’t bowl short to Tommy Permezel.