Match Report v Eden Roskill 18/12/21

Week three of return to cricket and we faced Eden Roskill at our new home of cricket Becroft Park. After another toss lost by Stu, PK decided to field.

Smithie and Gats walked out to bat and made another fast start until Smithie miss timed a shot to cow corner which was well taken by sneaky Pete waiting on the boundary with his huge hands 46/1 after 6.2 overs.

Stu was next in at No3 to join Gats out in the middle and after another lack of concentration Gats was bowled by Minesh for 25 off 22 balls 59/2 after 9.4 overs. In came Roger at No4 and together with Stu batted well through to drinks 125/2 after 18 overs. An excellent platform for our strong batting line up to post a very challenging total. However In the 19th over Stu tried to up the scoring rate and was bowled by Sudam for a well compiled 47 off 40 balls, 129/3 after 18.5 overs.

Spencer joined Roger and once again looked to bat with positive intent running well between the wickets, until Roger was caught by PK contributing 50 off 43 balls 162/4 22.3 overs. Nigel was next in at No6 to join Spencer and he too was caught by Pete for 23 of 22 balls, 189/5 26.3 overs and after an injury to Roskills keeper Blue struggled to get any real momentum to finish the innings losing wickets regularly and after 35 overs had scored 233/9 a par score considering we were looking at 270.

Dan and Knight Train were given the new ball by the skipper and bowled outstanding together again only conceding two wides in the first 14 overs and really did stick to the Skippers plan by bowling in good areas and building pressure. In the 5th over Dan was rewarded with a wicket bowling their opener and Roskill were 14/1 after 4.1 overs. Shortly after Dan struck again getting the edge which was well pouched by Smithie at gully. Roskill as Richie Benaud would say 22/2 after 6.5 overs and the opposition had batted themselves into a hole, by the time they lost their third wicket at 66/3 after 16.2 overs a fairly straight forward catch to Gats at long on and another catch taken by Knight Train Andy had himself two wickets in the over 66/4 after 16.5 overs. And all though Johan did not take a wicket he also bowled in good areas regularly beating the bat.
Roskill batted until drinks and were 71/4 after 18 overs. Needing 162 off 102 balls we new whilst Sudam was at the crease Roskill had a real sniff at chasing down the target. And bat they did with a good partnership of 74 runs before Sudam was bowled by Mayur for a well compiled 66 off 56 balls, Roskill 140/5 after 27.1 overs.

But Roskills sniff became a snivel as Rhys and Mayur bowled well in tandem ensuring the breaks were firmly applied and Roskill finished their innings 163/7 off 35 overs ensuring a comprehensive 70 run win. Maintaining our unbeaten run with 3 wins from 3 games a good start to the 21/22 season setting the bench mark for the Presidents grade and top of the table for the Christmas break.

Takapuna 233/9 after 35 overs 
Eden Roskill 163/7 after 35 overs

Battiing
Roger 50 off 43 balls
Stu 47 off 40 balls
Gats 25 off 22 balls

Bowling
Dan 7-2-19-2
Andy 5-43-2
Rhys 6-0-31-2
Mayur 5-0-15-1

Fielding
Roger 1 catch and a stumping.
Gats 1 catch
Knight Train 1 catch
Brendan 1 catch

Next year sees us play Grafton a home game venue TBC on 15 January. 

Good luck to the boys representing Auckland at the IPT. Have a great Christmas and New Years and will see you all back in 2022 to defend our title!

Go the mighty ‘Puna Blue!!!!
      
Gats