Warehouse v Sub Districts
Plunkett Cup 2022-23 - Game 1
Sunday 30 October 2022 at Underwood Park
Green Grass, Blue Sky, about 30 degrees, a light breeze in the afternoon…Fantastic cricket conditions for the first match of the 2022-23 Plunkett Cup. Subbies won the toss and elected to bat. A moment’s silence was observed by the Warehouse squad to recognise the recent passing of Hitesh Rathore’s grandmother in England.
After a first-up maiden, Rhys Bennett struggled with his line in his second over, but did enough to find the edge of the bat with the 8th ball of the over providing Ben Stockdale with a regulation catch behind. While runs off the bat were hard to come by, “wides” continued to score freely and were not overtaken as top score until the 13th over. Elijah Rafter’s introduction brought success in the 15th when a previously patient Steve Helliwell tried to accelerate, but lofted the ball into the hands of Thienu Chandrasekaram at mid-on. The tight bowling continued and it was not until the 21st over that the Sub Districts’ 50 was registered. Fabian Roberts was introduced in the 22nd over and took just three balls to sneak one through the defence of opener Jeff Lituri who had toiled hard for a 69-ball 23. Roberts repeated the dose to Angus Thomson with the first ball of his next and an alert Rafter pushed one past a charging Harley Frisk for a Stockdale stumping 10 balls later; Subbies 5/61 losing 3/9 in 23 balls. Rohit Haldar and Jake Peach added 17 from the next 39 balls before Rohit inched out of his crease to be stumped by Stockdale for Roberts’ third of the day. Tight bowling by Thienu and Roberts enabled them to cash in on batsmen looking for runs. The next three wickets came in the space of 14 balls; Thienu picking up two and Roberts his fourth to reduce Sub-Districts to 9/88. However, Subbies fought back, frustrating Warehouse with a 31-run last wicket stand between Mitch Davis and Brock Balcombe; the highest partnership of the innings! Rhys Bennett eventually trapped big-hitting Davis in front to end the innings on 119 from 46.1 overs.
A scrumptious BBQ lunch was provided by the hosts before play got underway again at 1.16pm.
As was the case for Subbies, the first Warehouse wicket came early when Greg Melton took the edge of Khinjan Shah’s bat and Angus Thomson took a regulation catch behind in the fourth over. An inexplicable run out in the 9th over saw Hayden Marks trudge back to the sheds and when Dhanraj Ramamoorthy was trapped in front by Mitch Davis in the 14th, Warehouse were 3/35. Thienu came to the crease and had an immediate impact. A bizarre 15th over added 18 runs to the score, 10 of these came from the bat of Thienu and six from leg byes which had climbed to an equal top score 12! The 50 came up and there was a collective exhale of relief in the Warehouse camp. Unfortunately, the anxiety returned in the next over when Davis cleaned up Nitish Paul’s stumps to claim his second in a wicket-maiden. Rhys Bennett joined Thienu and the pair settled the innings adding 26 over the next 7 overs. Subbies youngster Brock Balcombe had bowled well for the hosts and was rewarded with the prize scalp of Thienu, caught by Jake Peach at square leg, for a match high 29 from 32 balls. Warehouse were still 41 runs from victory with 5 wickets in hand. Bennett, Luke Ronday and leg byes etched away at the target in a 17 run partnership, but when a mistimed shot from Ronday off Jake Peach was pouched by Steve Helliwell running back from second slip and Rhys Bennett missed one from Rohit Haldar, Warehouse was 7/96. What seemed like one possible result became two! The tension was palpable over the next five overs as Fabian Roberts and Ben Stockdale fought hard to resist against a rampant Haldar who was bowling beautifully and receiving able support from Peach. With figures of 3-1-1-4, Peach was surprisingly replaced by Mitch Davis in the 36th. This turned out to be a stroke of genius by skipper David Gunn. Davis burst through Stockdale’s defence with the last ball of the over and Warehouse were 8/105. Warehouse skipper Steve Rees joined Fabian Roberts and the pair saw off the dangerous Haldar (10-5-1-11). The nail-biting started in the next over when Melton’s short, wide second ball was edged by Rees to Helliwell at slip. Oh My! 9/113! 7 runs to get, just 1 wicket! 😬. Elijah Rafter joined Roberts and calmly (at least outwardly) played out the next four balls for a wicket maiden. Davis to bowl the next. “Ice-man” Roberts on strike. The first was down leg side and roundly cheered when the umpire signalled wide - six to get. A dot and then one on Roberts’ legs; calmly turned to backward square for a well-run two - four to get. A single to Roberts - three to get. Rafter on strike - three balls to face. Dot. Dot. Dot. A HUGE cheer from the Warehouse shed. Melton to bowl. Dot. Dot. Down leg side - a Wide! Two runs to win. Dot. Dot. Full outside off. Lofted. Through the covers. One, Two….. Yoohoo! What a cracker of a match!
Well done to both teams on a very good match. Many thanks to the hosts for their hospitality on the day.
MEDIC!!! Where’s that defibrillator?
