In what was our second season in this 20/20 grade it was very disappointing from a playing side. With only five teams in the grade as result of byes and defaults we ended up playing only 13 games. This alone made it very difficult to achieve any continuity and consistency however with a great bunch of blokes we enjoyed our cricket when we did play. With the average age over 35 years it was a pleasure to turn up every Saturday.
On the batting side, Eugene MacFarlane and Ralph Bungard were our stars. as a formidable opening pair often getting us off to a good start. Dave Stanley, who played the first half of the season, batted well despite the fact he continually bludged durries off the skipper. Richie Howard played a number of hard hitting cameo innings. Jonno Lambert hit hard and was a superb wicket keeper taking some great catches as well as stopping a huge number of wayward deliveries.
Nathan Robinson chipped in with the bat as well and was our fielder of the season with 3 or 4 brilliant catches. Opportunities were scarce for the rest of us but others who batted well on occasions were Mike Shrimpton and Kelvin Mallard.
On the bowling side Shrimpo was our real star often going for less than 6 an over as well as taking key wickets all despite bowling at the death to batters who were on song. Others to back him up were Matt Hoole and Nathan Robinson who both bowled reasonably quick with good success. New boy John MacDonald showed real promise but injury affected the latter part of his season.
We finished third in the grade, and could take pride that when we put our usual team on the park we were unbeatable.
Yours in cricketing
Roger Georgieff