Wanderers v John Paul College
02/12/2020
Cec Munns Sports Centre No. 1 Oval
In conditions that can only be described as “oppressive”, with no breeze to speak of, it was not a day for the feint-hearted at Daisy Hill for the second match of Wanderers’ “cricket week”.
The hosts started well when Matt Moran held onto one at slip off Will Aspeling in the 3rd over, but the next 15 overs were torturous as Zanden Jeh and Flynn Thomasson added 104 for the second wicket. Thomasson was eventually out for 64, throwing the bat - literally - and somehow getting an edge to Liam Argue off Caden Careswell.
Old boy, Matthew Taviani, joined Zeh and saw him through to a 50 and retirement at the end of the 25th over, bringing MJ Toolis to the crease. The introduction of Ryan Merrett with 10 overs to go had immediate success; Taviani getting an edge to substitute Luke Moran standing in as wicketkeeper. Luke Moran took another a few overs later, to dismiss Toolis and give Will Aspeling his second wicket of the day. 36 more runs were added in the final 6 overs as Matt Williamson, Steven Page and skipper, Frederick Lee Watts steered Wanderers to 239 in the final over. JPC coach James Morgan, subbing in, claimed two wickets in the last three balls with the assistance of good catches by Ryan Merrett and Dylan Henderson.
The JPC chase faltered early with a wicket to Jack Gardiner in the 4th over. Skipper, Mark Moran and Riley Henderson steadied the ship with a 42 run, second wicket partnership, before Mark stepped out a bit too far and was stumped by Taviani off Zanden Jeh. A few overs later, Riley was trapped in front by Lee Watts who repeated the dose to Liam Argue in his next over.
With Dylan Henderson hitting out and Ryan Merrett cleverly rotating the strike, the 5th wicket added 50 before Henderson was well caught by Steven Page at mid-on off one of Byron Gale’s legal deliveries (😁 sorry Byron).
Caden Careswell joined Merrett, the pair adding 22 before a quick single to Flynn Thomasson resulted in the run-out of Careswell with the score on 123. A few balls later, Merrett edged one to Lee Watts at slip off Steven Page and then Thomasson was in the action again with a catch off Mann Chaudhari, to dismiss Matt Moran. All of a sudden, 5/123 had become 8/128.
With a few JPC lads having to retire due to illness, prior batsmen were invited to bat again. Liam Argue and Will Aspeling made a better fist of their second dig taking the score to 149 before Gardiner and Thomasson returned to claim the final two wickets in the 38th and 39th over.
Scorer, Gian Taviani thanked the JPC players, coaches and helpers for their hospitality and also Umpire, John Rossiter for his resilience in searing conditions.
Well done to all.
