ANKLBYTRS match reports

Rd 3 vs Park Orchards

After 2 weeks of stellar weather the heavens finally opened up for our game. After consulting with Park Orchards' junior co-ordinator we decided to play and our captain Hayden managed to break the Elgar Park CC curse and win the toss!
Batting first (which proved a great choice after having to eventually call off the game midway through Park Orchards innings) on an enormous ground, Hayden and Harry got us off to a ripper start scoring a very handy partnership together. After numerous batting order changes we saw Mitchell and Jordan have a swing and do a superb job, likewise for Darcy, Michael, Shyan, Josh, Liam and Dom. To face up to the inconsistent bowling of Park Orchards, not to mention the sopping wet pitch, and manage to maintain concentration for the duration of the innings was great to see.
Shot of the day, which i think everyone will agree on, was Michaels superb cut shot. Absolutely textbook Michael and it deserved to be a 4 all the way.
We managed to complete 5 overs of bowling which was enough to see an enormous improvement in the team in only 3 weeks. Backing up fielders, stopping of well hit deliveries, throwing at the stumps and bowling have all been huge improvements and i really hope these improvements keep going at the rate they are.
Lastly i'd like to thank everyone for making the trip to Warrandyte. With it raining as much as it was and the distance of the ground from us, it was a fantastic commitment and i think worthwhile in the end with everyone getting a great bat.
Also i've printed out a fixture with the ground, melways ref etc. for each week, i'm not sure if everyone got one so if not please let me know and i'll either email it to you or give it to you on wednesday.
This friday see's us playing Vermont at Elgar Park. Fingers crossed it will be nice and sunny.
Cheers, Tim A

Rd 1 vs Blackburn

Friday night saw Elgar Park CC up against a very strong Blackburn CC at Blackburn Primary. Elgar Park bowled first and it must be said everyone bowled and fielded superbly! For most, and i think all of the kids, it was the first game of organised cricket ever played. Not only were they learning new rules of the game, they were learning new tactics such as backing up fielders, and remaining behind the stumps when receiving a throw from the outfield, whilst trying to master bowling, fielding, throwing and catching! A fantastic effort therefore by each player.
Batting ran very smoothly with great contributions from each player. Blackburn CC were bowling absolute lighting and it was great to see none of our players back away from the intense challenge put forward. Every shot played, whether there was bat on ball or not was the correct shot to be played which was great! To come from hitting balls of cones to the real thing and still managing to have correct shot selection was an inspiring effort. Congratulations to Michael who managed to face all 10 deliveries and not go out, with fast paced, and accurate bowling and with the number of direct hits being thrown from the outfield from Blackburn it's a marvelous effort .
A few small things did come out of the game. For starters Blackburn CC were far to good for the anklbytr league. Myself and Jason agreed they should be playing in under 12's, and in fact they would be one of the strongest teams in the under 12 competiton. next week we're versing Vermont and one of our members has a son playing for them. Jason asked him on Saturday about the standard they're playing at, as well as their opposition they played on friday night and it appears they're going to be very similar standard to us, i think Blackburn may be an outlier in the league.
The game on Friday went longer then it would normally. Blackburn were adament on having 120 balls an innings, which ended up being an extra 40 balls for the match, at least an extra 30 minutes of play which meant the last few overs were played in poor light - apologies to Hayden and Josh, especially that last over where i was struggling just to see the ball!. This friday will play 100 balls and have an earlier finishing time, and by the sounds of it should be an even competition.
We will be playing at home against Vermont with a 5.30pm start, and same as last week, if you can be at the ground at 5 to have a quick warm up and organise the batting and bowling order that would be fantastic.