The Kingston Crows A Grade team got themselves back into the top four last Saturday with a very hard fought victory against Margate on their home ground.  

Winning the toss and batting we got off to a slow but solid start with Margate’s Tim Wass being as frugal as ever. The loss of both openers in consecutive overs saw the run rate slow even further with the new batsmen at the crease. Further drama followed as we slumped to 4/51 in the 23^rd over. Marc Owen joined Brett Stevenson at the crease and they consolidate the innings somewhat. Thanks to Owens innings of 65 we were then reasonably placed with score 5/159 after 40 overs. That soon changed as 3 wickets fell quickly leaving us 8/169 in the 45^th over. That is when Dale Punshon joined Robert Chapman at the crease. At that stage Robert hadn’t faced a ball. This pair then proceeded to add 62 unbeaten runs off 35 balls to get us up to a competitive 231. Dale finished on 12no and Robert scored a scintillating 49no.  

Margate’s openers got their side off to an aggressive start adding 51 before the advent of Nick Townsend saw him dismiss both openers. Shortly after we were right on top as Margate were 3/70. They consolidated and the game was delicately poised with the score 4/131 after 26 overs. Marc Owen was introduced to the attack to bowl his leg spinners and he gained the vital breakthroughs and we were able to dismiss them for 199 after 41 overs. Marc completed a great match taking 4/25 off 8 overs, Nick ended with 2/39 and Robert Chapman took 2/42. 

B1 took on Longley at home and got off to an excellent start when they ran out their best batter in the first over before he faced a ball. Longley could never kick start their innings and finished their 50 overs on 9/102. In fairness to them they never looked as though they could have batted out their overs when they were 5/28 in the 14^th over and 8/61 in the 35^th. Sam Peacock was again our most successful bowler with 3/28 while acting captain Jason Jones took 2/10 off 10 overs. Scott Sward, Shannon Woolley and Jason Cripps all took a wicket. 

We lost a wicket in the 2^nd over and then lost two more with the score on 37 to give us a bit of a scare but Mal Godfrey joined Levi Treptow at the crease and they took us to within 5 runs of victory before Godfrey was dismissed for 52. Treptow then struck a 4 and a 6 to win us the game as he remained 39no after opening the innings. 

Even more significant than his innings and the marvellous slip’s catch he took in Longley’s innings was that this game marked Levi’s 250^th game for the Club. In doing so he became the first Crow to reach this milestone. A wonderful effort and thoroughly deserved by a guy who has served a considerable time on the committee and is already a Life Member of the Club. 

B2 went down to Huonville and after fielding first it appears they had grease on their hands as they dropped a great number of catches. Huonville batted out their 50 overs finishing 8/196. Malcolm Scriber did a great job taking 4/33. 

The Crows made a good fist of the run chase with Michael Langford making 45 and Scott Chapman 31. We pressed closer to the target but when the 9^th wicket fell we still needed 12 runs for victory. Fortunately for the Crows Andrew Denton was still at the crease and Dean Heywood was able to stay with him as Andrew scored the winning runs in a real cliffhanger. He remained 34no. 

C2 took on Kettering down there on Sunday and were forced to chase leather as two of Kettering’s batsmen scored centuries as they amassed the huge total of 8/388. Alistair Triffitt 2/36 and Manning Parkinson 2/47 were the most successful of the bowlers. 

We then made a great fist of chasing down that total with Daniel Woodhead scoring a fine century and ending 100no as we made 5/298 in reply. Other batsmen to get among the runs were Matthew Creek 40, Richard McInnes 38, Shane Hall 28 and Alistair Triffitt 24. 

On Sunday a group of players, partners and children boarded a bus to Oatlands to take on the ODCA in the first round of the Statewide Twenty20 competition.  

We batted first and struggled somewhat against a good bowling attack and a slow outfield. Marc Owen opened the innings and scored the bulk of the early runs making 40. At 6/81 after 12 overs we looked in a great deal of trouble but Robert Chapman continued his fine form from the previous day making 46 as we ended on 8/157. 

ODCA were soon in trouble losing wickets in the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th overs. They were never able to recover and we dismissed in the 16^th over for 83. Andrew Henley took 3/7, Trent Pearce 3/18, Jamie Knott 2/14 and Dale Punshon 2/25. Interestingly eight of their batsmen were dismissed “bowled”. 

As mentioned Levi Treptow reached a significant milestone on Saturday and a presentation was made to him on Saturday night. A presentation was also made to James Murray who played his 100^th game on Sunday 3^rd January.