18th June 2007 vs G-Unit

We weren’t sure about these opponents as we hadn’t faced them previously, and they weren’t in the competition at the beginning. They are on the bottom of the ladder with 4 Drawn games as they didn’t play the first four rounds.

This game saw the return of Bruce Almighty and with the King away getting his portrait taken by the local newspaper; Raddis was given another opportunity to show his form. This game was played on the SCG beginning at 7:30pm.

We batted first this game with Philbert and Bruce taking the crease and making 8 from the first over including 3 wides, a wicket (bowled), a two and Bruce hit a 3 from the only ball he faced. The next over they made an easy ten runs with a couple of 2s and a 3. The third over started with Philbert running out Bruce, but netted minus one. Their last over they made 7 with a 2 and 3 which gives the score at 24, although the scoreboard read 17 after their partnership. Philbert made 11 from 13 legal deliveries, but lost one wicket and faced three wides. Bruce made 13 from 7 legal deliveries, but was runout once, and faced one wide.

Cap’n Bob and Mahstar batted second, and started with a wide, then runout next ball and ended the over with a net 4 runs. The next over Bob hit a seven, which helped gain us 14 for the over. Bob really wanted more of the strike after facing just five balls in the first two overs. Bob hit a four to start the third over, but then Mahstar was runout trying to give back the strike. The rest of the over saw a couple more 2s for a net 6 runs. Their fourth over began with a wide and Bob getting caught, but made up for it with a four, we netted 4 runs in the over for a partnership of 28 runs. Bob made 22 from 9 legal deliveries but lost two wickets and faced 3 wides, Mahstar made 11 from 11 legal deliveries, but lost one wicket and faced 1 wide.

The Don and Raddis were together again and had a poor start with Raddis being bowled on their second ball. They recovered a bit with a four at the end of the over to net 5 runs. Their second over started with a two and three, but then Raddis got the Don runout, before they ended the over with a two and a five which included a stolen single for a net 7 runs. The next over they got 12 runs with a three, a five, a two and noball. Their last over they started and ended with a three. Raddis finally broke his stride and hit a low seven, but also ran out the Don. The partnership was 35 runs, with The Don making 21 from 9 legal deliveries, but was runout twice and faced a noball, Raddis made 25 from 14 legal deliveries, but was bowled once, and faced a wide.

Pax and Thorpe came in with the scoreboard showing 79, which was 8 runs out. They started was a jackpot dot ball, then were given out the next ball, when it should have been called a wide. They recovered a bit with a couple of wides called at the end of the over. They netted 2 from the over with Thorpe only facing 1 ball for a single. The next over they were both runout and both hit a four which netted minus one. Their third over began with Thorpe being bowled and caught, which netted minus five runs. The final over of the innings, they managed to recover the partnership back into positive territory making 15 from the over with several 2s and a three. The partnership was 11 with Pax making 14 from 10 legal deliveries, but lost two wickets and faced three wides. Thorpe made 14 from 11 legal deliveries, but lost three wickets and faced one wide. My scoresheet showed 98 runs, but the scoreboard had 90.
Philbert opened the bowling and had 12 runs taken, mostly in 2s. Thorpe bowled the second over and netted -4 with two wickets and three wides. Bob got the runout, and the Don took a catch diving forward with both hands. Mahstar conceded 17 runs in his over with a five first ball which was hit straight back and deflected off the bowlers feet. Raddis took some stick as well with 16 coming from the fourth over, This gave them 41 runs from the first pair.

The second pair made 34 runs with Bruce (9), Pax (17), Mahstar (4) and Bob (4) taking the ball. Bruce bowled tight with just a wide, a three and a couple of singles coming from the over. Pax coped it a bit with a five, a four and a couple of wides in his over. Mahstar’s first ball was caught by Cap’n Bob, but then conceded a couple of 2s and a three. Bob picked up a wicket first ball with a stumping and kept them to 2s or less for the rest of the over.

They had 75 after the second pair, which made it much harder for us to win the game. The third pair put on 20 runs, with Raddis (11), Thorpe (0), Pax (8), and The Don (1) given the ball. Raddis was hit for a three and a four which ruined a good over. Thorpe’s over included a runout and some 2s. Pax had a good over, but was called for a front foot noball at the end of the over. The Don’s over included a couple of 2s, a runout and a couple of singles.

For all intensive purposes the game was lost before the final pair came out. Bob bowled a superb over to begin the final pair with two catches including the jackpot and a runout. They also hit two 4s in the over to net minus 11. Bruce again bowled a tight over to concede 11 runs with mostly 2s. Philbert’s over started with The Don getting the runout, and ended with three 2s. The Don started the final over of the match with a wicket (bowled), but bowled a couple of wides and was hit for a few 2s. The match ended with a seven from the final ball. They ended up making 108, which meant we lost by 10 runs.

We were third on the ladder, and might still be there with a few more rounds to go, we should still end up in the top four as the gap to fifth was 21 points before this round.

Check back soon for an update on the voting.