One Day Competition - President Cardinals vs Merivale Papanui 1, Edgar McIntosh Park, Presidents, 10th December 2016
Merivale Papanui at home always loom as tough opposition, so when you restrict them to 166 for 6 off the first 40, you’re definitely in with a sniff.
On a decent wicket and the best outfield of the season so far, Dunny got us off to a great start in the first over, dismissing Ferris for a duck with what else but a clean bowl(ed). The second went at 39 when Ski bowled Harrington for 19. Flem followed up the next over dismissing Hastings courtesy of a jammy one-handed catch at cow by Ralphy, with the score at 44. Four overs later Flem got Brown and Rooney in the same over, one bowled, the other a catch to Dunny on the long on boundary. MP went to drinks 62/5 after a very tidy first 20 overs where everyone pounced on, and caught everything.
We maybe let the foot off the throat a little in the second 20, taking only one wicket, at 90, when O’Connor returned one to Ski for a caught and bowled, and Knox (58) and Bellam (33) saw MP through to 166/6.
Flem was the pick of the bowlers with 8-0-14-3, with Dunny 8-3-45-1, Winder 8-1-37-0, Borcoski 8-1-24-2, and Tim Murdoch 8-0-38-0.
Into bat and Spency was not to repeat the glory of last week, run out without facing a ball going for a second run with the score at nine. Laughts (13) put one down Rooney’s throat eight runs later, leaving Ski and Waza Guy to settle things down. Ski was LBW to Dyer for 14 with the score at 37, but Waza was proving the real surprise at the other end, using up several seasons worth of defensive strokes and clubbing the ones that deserved it. He batted more than an hour for a 51 ball 40 runs, his highest score for the Cardinals and proving to everyone, including himself that when he reins himself in, he can bat for long periods.
Ralphy Winder’s habit of naming the side in alphabetical order made it difficult to find a replacement this week but Yousef made up the 11 nicely, proving handy in the field and clearly fizzing after contributing a tidy looking eight runs with the bat. He departed with the score at 62 in the 13th over, but will be back.
We went to drinks 86/5 and fancied our chances. Waza went shortly after drinks, bringing Ralphy and Dunny together for a useful 37 run partnership, though both Ralphy (37) and Dunny (17) went with the score at 132 for us to be eight down, on the level with the run rate and the momentum swinging back to MP.
Enter the Wildman. Wildy and Flem got us close, only for Flem (10) to be bowled by Bellam with eight needed. Phil Barclay needed to survive four balls from Bellam and leave it to Wildy to get us home. Phil kept out the first two, but fell on the second to last ball, handing MP an eight run victory, and leaving Wildy 14 not out.
Man of the Match: Warren Guy
Check out the scorecard from the game.