2017/18 Macgregor Mongrels
Round 1 v Albany Creek
16 and 23 September 2017 at Marchant Park 9
DAY ONE:
A hard day at the office for the Mongrels. We might as well have been playing on Murphy Road as the pitch on Marchant Park 9.
Sarge lost the toss and the Mongrels were in the field.
With lots of new faces, the first match was always going to be a learning curve and the Hawks openers Col and Andrew were happy to act as teachers. A 120-run opening partnership by the experienced pair finally broken in a classy over by Minul Tennakoon which had the third edge into the slips cordon taken by Malcolm Lochrie. The Hawks marched on to 180 before a rank full toss from Abhijeet Mahoorkar bowled the number three. Another 60 odd run partnership came undone when no call produced a run out at the hands of Gayan, Abhi and Shiny.
Minul finally trapped the centurion opener LBW shortly afterward, then Gary Buddha Sargent enticed a batsman out of his crease for a stumping by Shiny.
Minul picked up another on the stroke of drinks and the declaration came.
289 was the target. Rodney Searle was unluckily out when one came off the edge onto the stumps. Newbie Nash Avramov came to the crease and was on fire from the outset, 53 came from 28 balls including three huge sixes, before a big swing only got an edge to the keeper. A couple of quick wickets after that have left the Mongrels 4 for the unmentionable at the close of play. Sabahat Mahmood remaining not out 23 in a solid display with the bat.
DAY TWO:
An outstanding day two from the Mongrels v Albany Creek Hawks.
Play resumed with Adam Matthews subbing in for Sabahat Mahmood. A wicket early had the Mongrels 5/87 (F#%^ 87 ). Adam and Malcolm Lochrie then dug in for a 47 run partnership before Shiny got one that popped and was caught in close.
Veteran, Paul Jonas, joined Adam for the partnership of the match. The pair batted for 24 overs and 125 runs. Adam brought up a fine century on debut for the Mongrels; PJ deflecting singles and displaying a solid defence in support of Adam. Adam's innings came to a close on 121 from 112 balls and he didn't even have his own bat!
With 31 runs to get, it was tense. Unfortunately the Mongrels fell seven runs short (thanks to a couple of dubious LBWs) with PJ the last man out for a courageous 21 from 90 balls.
The Mongrels then took it to the over-confident Hawks. 1/34 became 6/35 with 5 consecutive ducks as Minul Tennakoon and Adam Matthews dominated the batsmen. For a time an unlikely outright loomed, but finally the Hawks woke up and finished the day with a declaration on 8/69 with 10minutes to go.
Well done Mongrels....
Round 2 v Nundah United
30 September and 7 October 2017 at Kianawah Park 11
A tale of two matches...
In A1, Michael Turner lost the toss and the Matrix were condemned to the sapping heat at Marchant Park 10.
In B1, Gary Buddha Sargent won the toss and the Mongrels sat in the shade of the hut sipping Mai-Tais... well not really, but, you know what I mean.
The Matrix recovered well after Pine Rivers were 3/183, to have them 5/201 at tea and then all out for 273, with about an hour to go.
On the other hand, Nundah never recovered from the 99 run partnership between Sabahat Mahmood and Rodney Searle and a blistering 70 from Adam Matthews. Sabahat going on to register 108 and the Mongrels declaring at 6/278 with about an hour to go.
After the early loss of Usman Rajput, Mick and Matthew Taviani added 49 before Mick was unluckily caught at slip off the second last ball of the final over.
The Mongrels sunk the boot in at KP11 reducing Nundah to 7/49 with Minul Tennakoon the destroyer taking 4/17.
Good luck to both teams next week.
Scorecard from the Matrix match below...
Round 4 v Gold Crest
28 October and 4 November 2017 at Marchant Park 5
DAY ONE:
Meanwhile at MP5, the Mongrels were in trouble early at 5/49, before Jason Matthews and Nabeel Khan settled the ship with a 37 run 6th wicket partnership.
However, things looked grim again when 5/86 deteriorated to 8/107 from 38 overs.
Enter Daniel Mitchell and Abhijeet Mahoorkar. The pair added 79 runs for the 9th wicket in a 24 overs, both registering top scores for the club, to advance the Mongrels to an eventual 194 total against the top-of-table Gold Crest outfit.
Still a bit to do next week, but with the bowling ranks boosted anything can happen.
Great work lads....
DAY TWO:
A similarly frustrating day for the Mongrels at MP 5.
Cricket can be a real son of a motherless goat sometimes.
Congratulations to Lightning Rodney Searle who picked up his first wicket fer the Mongrels.
According to Gary Buddha Sargent, the learning from the day was bowl full tosses. Five out of six wickets came from them!!!
Chin up lads. One-dayers next
Round 9 v Nundah United
16 December 2017 at Marchant Park 8
Gary Buddha Sargent won the toss and batted at Marchant Park 8 v Nundah.
The one-day wunderlust continued for the Mongrels with the top order batsmen failing to get set before going big and losing their wickets.
Jason Matthews, Rae Nol Raynold and Daniel Mitchell shored up the innings with each facing more balls than the top 5 combined.
The eventual score of 91 proved too small, but there were some wobbles in the fragile Nundah line-up. Razor and Daniel bowled tidily, troubling the batsmen. Sarge picked up a couple. The fielding by the Mongrels was enthusiastic with Jason and Daniel taking catches and Malcolm Lochrie a superb stumping.
It cost Nundah 5 wickets before the score was reached. Oh for 30or 40 more runs!