Round:5 - Nick's Team Ends Blackout's Winning Streak

Nick's Team's 155 - 129 win over Blackout may have entertained the crowd however the final result was not a true indication of the closeness of tonight's blockbuster.

Nick's Team overcame Blackout's early firepower to post scores of 15, 34, 58, 48. Their resurgence came by controlling the final 11 overs without losing a wicket (despite some tough/lucky chances).

Blackout's response became a concern of their opposition with scores of 29, 28, 45 & 27 placing Blackout closer than their rivals preferred. A couple of wickets proved to be the difference with momentum swinging in favour of the Nick's tonight.

Best for Blackout...
Batting Peter Kite 27, Richo 18, Brett 14
Bowling - Brett 1/9, Keith 1/11, Rob S 1/12

Tonight's Stars... Brett 3, Richo 2, Mark 1

Crowd Figure: 1

Hooters Lose The Grand Final

This is a very quick entry to let everyone know that we walked into the centre just as Hooters finished their Grand Final appearance. When we spotted the opposition getting a team photo taken we realised quickly that not talking to the Hooters and company was probably a wise thin to do! Although when Rob Donovan walked past we did try to get a word out of him but was only brushed off as he was still shaking his head and was not happy. Still the fact they got their at all was impressive as they were lurking on the bottom of the ladder and should hold their heads up for getting such a respectable result in the end! Next season guys!

Spartan's Defiant in Defeat

Well if I was to say that Spartans were a new side then I'd be lying. But they hadn't played indoor in just over a decade. I overheard a couple of their guys mention that this was the first game for them in 11 years! With Rob off for a birthday party or something (sheesh!) I ended up playing the role as captain (with the help of the guys!) but we had to really scrape the barrel to get a full team together. After sending out SMS's, emails, Facebook messages and finally ACTUAL phone conversations... we got our eight.

So I elected to bat first and put Keith in to bat first with Bruce. I wanted to start off with a strong message to the new team with our two biggest hitters. It worked. With these two guys the scores did fluctuate quite a bit with a couple wickets falling. But their tally of 42 runs was a great place to start. Then I sent the two brothers in, Greg and Tim. I kind of hoped the whole sibling bond thing would translate into runs. Again, I was right! But I wasn't to expect the new guy, Tim, to be so confident despite only being explained the rules just moments before taking to the court! He personally racked up 27 runs becoming the highest total for the night for Blackout. The two brothers clocked up a thunderous 58 runs to really cement Blackout into a commanding position.

The last two pairs held their own but didn't really trouble the umpires mathematics too much with 28 and 10 runs being the remaining totals. This did hold the team back somewhat and put the game back into a gettable total for Spartans.

In fielding we were to wait till the third over before Langy's magic produced the single handed most bizarre wicket I've seen this year and the ONLY case of this I have ever witnessed. If you look at the scoresheet you'll see the letters DH on his second bowl. Langy zipped up a few extra km/h to send one through to the players box coming off the bat on the way through. It bounced off after having hit his never region and landed just in front of the batsman. He then hit the ball away with his bat as I was running in to try and swoop on it as a run out was looming with the runner was running half way down the pitch but the batsman remained glued to the crease. I didn't even really appeal as much I was displaying my dismay to the umpire in a "oh come on" gesture. But Langy did appeal and got a Double Hit registered! This is the rarest method of dismissal I can now think of besides being ejected from the game altogether (I can only recall one such occasion WAY back in approx 1997).

Many wickets flowed on but we did let the third pair get away with murder with their score of 49 to take out that skin. As a result the last pair could really nail it and take out not just the skin but the game as a whole. They walked on to the court with 98 runs chasing down 138. I opened up with an over I am still paying for now as I type this. I send the ball down and it was quickly sent right back at me slightly to my right. I was still following off down the left after my delivery and saw the ball was catchable to my right and without thinking just dived to try and effect a caught and bowled. I caught it... but when I hit the deck, arm stretched out and horizontal, I had the air knocked right out of me and then the ball was dislodged out of my hand! With a thud and a large yell I came crashing to the ground! A quick check after almost blacking out for a moment and I realised that nothing was broken and that all I had was a headache, bruising to my hip and I was totally winded... oh and I had two more runs scored against me.

A tight over from Tim kept us in the game but the real cincher was Keith getting two run outs on the 15th over. Richo's minus 5 over to finish off still wasn't enough to win the skin as I lost it by 1 run.

The umpire gave Tim, Greg and Keith points for the best and fairest and Blackouts three stars went to Keith (3), Tim (2) and Langy (1).

Click the score sheet to enlarge.

Line Up for Round 1

The line up for tonight's match up is:

1. Brian
2. Bruce
3. Dave L
4. Dave R
5. Greg R
6. Greg R's brother
7. Keith
8. TBA

With Brett pulling out at the last minute that leaves us still short by one. Hopefully we can snare a player at the centre on the night. Just have to see what happens.