Old Carey 5/168cc def Old Geelong all out 23 (10.5 overs)
Our last game of the season saw us make the long road trip down to Geelong Grammar to play next to the picturesque, but very windy, Corio Bay. With the addition of four club legends – Tim “Bag” Chandler, Chris “Gus” Angus, Tad “Xmas” Merry and Jordan “Slug” Ciuro – we were hoping to break our duck for the season, and notch up our first win.
Finally we won a toss and had no hesitation in having a bat on what looked like a nice hard pitch. However, that proved to be far from the case once we got out there to bat. Colby and the skipper opened up, and Colby may have been a little bit stiff to cop an early LBW, especially after the skipper survived a close one the over earlier. However, that just brought Xmas to the crease, and he knuckled down and batted exactly as instructed. Batting was particularly difficult, with the pitch either keeping low or producing trampoline bounce depending on where the ball pitched. The top order worked hard to keep the run rate at an acceptable level, with the skipper’s par target being 160. Gus joined Xmas, and with some very trademark Gus shots, upped the tempo so that our target looked very achievable. Not a bad effort after his big night out at the $1,000 draw! Slug joined Tad with 7 overs to go, and together they were able to push the final score up to 5 for 166, with Tad once again setting a perfect example for what all our younger batsmen should be aiming to do – get yourself set and then assess the situation. His knock of 59 not out really set up our innings.
When it was our turn to bowl, Dizzy (aka Liam Halverson) enticed their young opener into a big shot in his first over, and Gus made good ground to hold the catch in the swirling breeze. A couple of overs later Dizzy once again enticed their batsmen into a false shot, but unfortunately the umpire had spotted a no-ball, and I thought that our luck might have started to run out. However, that was just a prelude to one of the more remarkable bowling efforts that I have ever seen in an Old Carey game. Kurt (“KT” / “Poochie”) Zadnik, who was pushing into a very strong breeze, picked up 5 wickets for 2 runs in the space of two extraordinary overs, with 4 bowled and one extremely nimble caught and bowled off Geelong’s most destructive batsman. Dizzy then chimed in again, providing Slug with a nice little snare behind the stumps, and we had them on the ropes at 7 for 21. The Dominator replaced KT into the breeze and picked up 2 wickets in his one and only over, leaving PG to pick up the last wicket for the season.
All in all it was an excellent win, and a great way to finish off a challenging season. It was a good reward for some solid perseverance, and just goes to show that Piggy’s mantra of train, train, train does pay off! I would like to thank not only all the guys who filled in during the season, but also all the guys who played in most of the games for us this year. Although it has been hard losing most weeks, it has been great to watch some of the younger guys develop as the season progressed, as well as seeing some of our more experienced players lead from the front on occasions. Hopefully, the 3’s now have a base upon which they can build bigger and better things next season.
Peter “Dino” Weymouth – 3rd XI Captain
