Upskill Cricket v Wolston Park
Warehouse Winter 2022 Round 10
30 July and 6 August at Marchant Park 10
Day One:
Luke Ronday won a toss and elected to bat on a glorious day for cricket. Not so glorious for Matthew Taviani who departed just five balls in when a mis-timed drive found the hands of Wolston Park Park skipper Aditya Anand. Ben Ronday and Jakob Evelyn were also victims of mis-timed shots on a sticky wicket and found themselves in the shed within the first 10 overs; Upskill 3/15 with all three wickets falling to opener Matthew Holmes. Luke Ronday and Campbell Farrelly came to the rescue in a patient 100 ball partnership which added 62 runs before Campbell ran past one and was stumped in the 25th over. Adriane Morrison blasted 29 from just 22 balls in a 37 run partnership with Ronday, but was trapped in front 15 minutes before the Tea break with the score on 118. Ronday brought up a well compiled 50 from 60 balls shortly after and together with Lance Roudenko, added 19 to advance the score to 133 at Tea.
After Tea, Ronday and Roudenko added 30 in just five overs before a brilliant catch by Oliver Lunt at square leg dismissed Ronday for 67. Lunt was in action again a few overs later taking a scorcher from Amitoj Sidhu off his own bowling to make it 7/185. Brendan Carson was also caught and bowled, this time by Brayden Meegama; 8/193. Brayden Hilton joined Roudenko playing a superb supporting role in a partnership of 37 from 71 balls, allowing Roudenko to bring up 50 from 70 balls. When Hilton finally succumbed to give Matthew Holmes his 4th wicket, Roudenko was not out 70. Just 6 minutes remained to the scheduled end of play, but an atrocious over rate meant that nine overs were still required. Casey Parker’s defence was unshakeable. In a brilliant 10th wicket partnership, Roudenko and Parker partnered for an undefeated 43 from 58 balls. Roudenko brought up a magnificent century from 123 balls and remained not out 108 when play finally ended 32 minutes late with Upskill 9/273.
Day Two:
After an opening stand of 30 in just 8 overs, Wolston Park sank to 6/46 from 20 overs thanks to fine spells by Brayden Hilton and Amitoj Sidhu who claimed three wickets each. Matthew Holmes and Luke Wegner then staged a painstaking fight-back in a 46 run partnership over the next 19 overs. It was Campbell Farrelly who finally broke through trapping Holmes in front with the last ball of the 39th over. Just 10 runs were added over the next 6 overs before Wegner came unstuck edging to Taviani off Casey Parker to make it 8/102. The 9th wicket partnership of 33 between Devansh Pandya and Rajivit Buttar spanned 115 balls including nine consecutive maidens by Luke Ronday. It looked like it might hold out until the end of play, but Ronday finally broke through in the 65th over via an edge which gave Taviani his 5th catch of the innings. The final wicket came 10 minutes before stumps when Ronday grabbed a return catch to dismiss Wolston Park for 156 and claim a first innings win for Upskill.
A semi-final v Mansfield Lions now awaits.
