This Season

INTERESTING FACT: Australia was the first country in the world to introduce the mandatory wearing of seat belts.

Pakenham missed the opportunity to put pressure on the top clubs in the table for the run in to the season, with a very disappointing six run defeat to bottom placed club, Officer, presenting them with only their second win of the season. After piling up 309 in the reverse fixture, Zach's team could only muster 180 with Zach contributing just eight, including a six, as they failed to chase down the home side's 186-6. A stumping chance removed the Officer opener, but that was 'all she wrote' for the rest of the first innings and then Pakenham were all out with an over to spare, after an England style collapse saw the last six batsmen contributing just 11 runs.

The top four all went head to head in Churchill's division and Jordy's side were winners along with Morwell who went top. The Churchill team had to be content with remaining fourth but are well placed to mount a late charge on the top. After bowling out the Tralagon Imperials for just 100, they made short work of knocking off the runs, despite losing the first four with only 37 on the board. After capturing a wicket apiece, Jordy and Ryan donned the pads with Jordy finding himself in the unusual position of opening bat. He was out for 15 on 36-1, but that quickly became 37-4 as the jitters set in. No further wickets fell however as Churchill cemented 4th spot, nine points behind the leaders.

Sam's Northern Suburbs failed to launch their own championship challenge as they went down to a 21 run defeat against table toppers Bowthorne. At 115-7, the home side were in a bit of bother, but a late rally took the score to 175 all out off the final ball of their 40 overs. The 'Burbs produced a positive response and at 116-2 looked favourites with Sam contributing 21 in a 2nd wicket stand of 48. However the tail fell away as they huffed and puffed their way to 154-7 and 4th spot just six points behind the leaders.

Interesting fact: The astronomical size of Australia couldn't have been better exemplified than by what Australians woke up to on Christmas Day. If you lived in Tasmania, you would have experienced the rare sight of a white Christmas as snow fell to compliment temperatures of -1.4 degrees, but 2,500 miles up the road in Perth, they were melting in a world wide high Christmas Day temperature of 42.1 degrees.

Jordy and Zach got back to cricket action with Sam having to wait a week to resume. Pakenham's recent revival continued as they cemented 3rd= place on the ladder with a 39 run win over Upper Beaconsfield which was their fourth successive victory. Batting first, Zach again opened the batting,posting 12 in a partnership of 23 before falling LBW. His teammates went on to make 175 all out off 39.4 overs in this, the latest one day game. The visitors were then restricted to 136 with Zach contributing a catch and a stumping which took his season's total to 12 victims.

Churchill failed to put pressure on the top sides with defeat against table toppers Ex Students. A win would have seen Ryan Ayres' side go top, but, despite an unbeaten 105 from the skipper who came to the crease at 13-4, his team went down to a devastating one wicket defeat after the Students' last pair knocked off the 13 runs required. Batting first in a one day game, Churchill posted a competitive 194-9, but the visitors responded positively as 138 was posted before the 2nd wicket fell. The middle order stuttered their way towards the target as wickets fell at regular intervals and achieved their win with three overs to spare. Jordy was still suffering from Christmas Pud syndrome as he wasn't able to contribute with the ball and scored only six with the bat.

A recent addition has been made to our 'down under' feature with the discovery that Finlay Testa is playing for Riccarton CC in New Zealand. Incredibly, he 'bumped into' a group of our intrepid holidaymakers whilst walking down the street in Christchurch!  His experiences so far have been a bit mixed with with adopted team finding themselves rock bottom with one win all season. Last weekend was no different as, despite scoring 229 in their 50 overs, they went down to a two wicket defeat with two overs to spare. Fin scored five with the bat but didn't pick up any wickets to add to his 32 in all formats so far.

Scorecards:

Zach – Here

Jordy - Here