Kingston Crows Cricket Club

Round 13. 4/2/12

The Kingston Crows weekend commenced last Friday when the Club held it's Annual Golf Day at North West Bay Golf Club. It was as expected another great day with a huge thanks due to Mal Godfrey and his many helpers that ensured the success of the day. Thanks also to John Harris and the North West Bay Golf Club for allowing us use of their facilities and I'm sure both Clubs benefitted financially on the day.

A Grade travelled to Huonville where we invited the Bulls to bat first and our bowlers did the job to perfection. Jamie Knott and Dale Punshon were able to break into their top order and in fact had them 5/56 after 20 overs. Shannon Woolley in his first A Grade game for some time then took 2 wickets in his first over and when Ash Woodhead took a wicket off his first ball the score was 8-58 in the 22nd. We eventually dismissed the opposition for 86 in the 28th over with Woodhead taking 3/2, Punshon 3/29, Woolley 2/18 and Knott 2/26.

In reply Dan Elliott 47no and Trent Rollins 22 added 43 for the first wicket against some fiery bowling from Brad Lovell. We then lost another wicket on 54 before we overtook their total in the 16th over.

B Grade were at home to Huonville where we elected to bat first and then amassed an excellent total of 4/343 from our 50 overs.Levi Treptow 128 and Mal Godfrey 83 put on 133 inside 23 overs for the first wicket and then Garry Smith 54, Richard McInnes 22 and Chris Honner 21 ret hurt cashed in.

The Bulls actually got off to a good start adding 37 before losing both experienced openers on that score. From there wickets fell at pretty regular intervals although a couple of their young batters tried to hang around as they were dismissed for 80 in the 32nd over. Leg spinner Malcolm Scriber continues to impress taking 3/11 off 9 overs with 4 maidens. Jason "Yellow Wiggle" Jones took 2/5 and Jonathan Cashion 2/30.

On Sunday C1 Grade needed to beat Kettering in our home ground clash to have a chance of making the finals. Kettering batted first and despite a number of useful contributions from their batsmen it appeared we may be able to keep them to a defendable total when they were 7/153 and then 8/178. They rallied somewhat but when the 9th wicket fell with 202 on the board our guys would have been relatively happy. An unbroken last wicket partnership of 29 was to eventually really hurt us as the Crickets finished on 9/231. Gareth Percey lead the bowling with 4/37 while Dave Leamey took 2/40.

Damian Pearce 50 and Dave Leamey then got the Crows off to a good start before Leamey fell with then score on 33. Pearce and Chase McConnon took the total to 79 before both fell on that score in successive overs. Gareth Percey 64 then provided the backbone of our innings but his dismissal in the 41st over with the score 169 all but ruined our victory hopes. Dan Woodhead made a quick fire 18 but in the end we lost wickets in the chase for quick runs and ended on 195 after 47.3 overs. With 2 roster matches remaining it is mathematically possible to make the finals but realistically it will be extremely difficult to do so.

The Club is very proud of our 7 Grade 4/5 boys who represented the HCCA in the Country Cricket Challenge last week.

The 25th Anniversary Celebration this Saturday night (11th Feb) promises to be another great function for the club. In advance we would like to congratulate Dan Elliott and his team on their efforts in organizing the event.