It was all looking good for Friday Junior Cricket to kick off after it was called off the previous week due to wet fields. That was until around 2:30pm when the rain came down at the Nutrien Ag Solutions Cricket Complex which dashed our hopes for play. It also put in jeopardy our home game against Wanderers in the Under 17 Townsville competition the next morning. The start time for this game was put back to 12 noon in the hope that pitch would dry out enough. Thanks to our groundsmen for their hard work in getting the job done preparing the pitch and mowing the field. The later start meant that we were going to be without one player for half the game and another would have to leave later in the second innings due to both having work commitments.
We won the toss and chose to bowl first, hoping that more players in the field would outweigh the loss of a batter in our lineup. The first ball of the innings was sent down by Leo Olditch which resulted in their opener top edging a catch to Salvatore Cardillo at cover, they were 1 for 0. Their batters then dug in and slowly added runs, only losing five more wickets to end their innings on 177. In the hot and humid conditions our bowlers and fielders performed well with Thomas Cardillo getting two wickets, Leo Olditch, Salvatore Cardillo, Rian Berryman and John Southwell getting one each. Joey Southwell took two catches, Jacob Machin and Salvatore one each, Corey Heidke contributed with a stumping.
The decision at the toss put us out in the field in the hottest part of the day which really sapped the energy of our players, and it showed in our batting. Our opener was also caught on the first ball of the innings but the similarities with Wanderers’ batting ended there. Most of our batters didn’t bat with any patience, not waiting for the bad balls to put away. Two runouts of batters that were looking comfortable and a bottom edge from a short ball onto the stumps didn’t help our situation at all. We were all out in the 14th over with Corey Heidke our top scorer this game.
Time now to regroup and train for our next game which is against Brothers who we beat last time we met.
Contributed by Scott Heidke
Wanderers defeated Home Hill in the first home game of the year on Saturday. Photo supplied