Scorecard

Fine session

Greenies Toos took on Aims Consultants on Saturday 13th March searching for our first win of the season after 3 losses on the trot.  With Watto running out for his last game in the green dreams, everyone was fired and ready to send him off in style with a big win.  With the pitch resembling a freshly laid highway, I won the first toss of the season and had no hesitation in batting.  Watto and I opened the innings and Aims started off with 3 gentle legside wides.  Watto, not content to let the 4th ball be a legside wide as well, got his foot in the way and kicked it onto his off stump, which had him trudging off with a golden duck and a very strong COTD nomination in his final appearance.  Steve then came in and after cutting a 4 second ball tried it again shortly after and was caught behind for 5.  Greenies 2 for 10 after 2 overs.  Abali then came in and we set about getting the innings back on track.  With the pitch giving the bowlers no assistance, we had a partnership of 58 off ten overs before Abali departed with 18.  Porter then kept the runs going making 20 including a beautiful 6 over cover before being bowled.  I was then caught behind for 59 with the score on 5 for 116 after 22.2 overs.

Wary that we had already lost 5 wickets with a lot of overs left to play, Dogga and Dickie kept the scoring ticking over, helped by 11 extras in their partnership of 39.  With Dickie being bamboozled by Nerie's slow straight ones, he was put out of his misery by the umpire gunning him on 18 for a pretty average LBW.  With Dogga struggling to get bat on ball, he threw caution to the wind and started giving the fielders some catching practice, much needed apparently as they put him down 4 times as he started unleashing 4s and a 6 over long on in the dying stages to finish the innings on 57* off 54 balls.  Contributions from Dreadsy, Baker and Scarffy helped us get to a total of 9 for 234 off 40 overs, the highest score I have seen the Toos make on SRO/JPO.

After tucking into the chicken and veggies with rice & beans chaser, we entered the field, confident, but wary of a strong Aims top order and gleaming Smith Rd pitch.  Dogga and Scarffy opened the bowling and were basically spanked all over the park by Hudson, who was dominating the strike and score.  After 5 overs with the score at 0 for 41, I brought Watto on to stop the flow of runs.  That he did, with Steve taking a sharp catch first ball to send Hudson back for 35 off 24 balls.  I then caught one off Dogga and both openers were back in the pavilion.  When McGrath dismissed Linton they were 3 for 90 off 14.1 overs, clearly ahead of the run rate but losing wickets.  After McGrath and Watto both got another wicket each, Aims were 5 for 115 and struggling.  When Steve ran out Sammy for 23 it was all but over, as Aims struggled to get the ball away and Greenies proceeded to drop another 6 catches after the 4 they had already dropped previously!  With the sun going down and the beers looking delicious on the sidelines we finally dismissed Aims all out for 196 off 38.4 overs.  A big win, but still some improvement needed to be competitive against the top teams!  The fine session was huge, with Jerry providing both a good and evil fine bottle and Barnaby supplying copious Heinekens to send Watto off in style.

The awards, from my pretty hazy memory:

MOTM - Watto 2 for 25 off 8 overs, Myself 59 off 60 balls
POTD - Dogga's 6 over long on
COTD - Abali, dropped 3 catches
J Michael - Tommy/Jeffers in the cutoff jeans combo, just pipping Hoggy/Sellars in the tartan stripes.

BIG thanks to everyone for coming down to support Watto, especially Chef Ron who did a magnificent barbie and Barnaby for supplying some Heineken to keep everyone merry!