Joint winners after tie...

Friday

we all met at Manuka Oval around 8am for the trip to Gunnedah...one last player was picked up at Lyneham and then we were on our way...

we had an old 20 seater coaster with a Kennards Hire trailer for our gear...the bus probably averaged about 80kph...uphills we were lucky to make 40kph!

we arrived in Gunnedah at about 6:40pm...

oh, we did have to stop at an RBT where we found out the left indicator in the trailer wasn't working - thankfully we were let off with a caution...

Saturday

first up we played Central Coast CA...we managed to make 9/94 off our 30 overs but were unable to defend that as they made the required runs with 7 wickets and 4.5 overs to spare...

had my first experience of being swooped by magpies during a game of cricket...had just dived for a catch (didn't get it) and was picking myself up when "BAM" I was smacked in the head...it was very funny...we got used to it as we ended up with three games at this ground - it was funny seeing how the opposition reacted...we all had "eyes" on the back of our caps...

our second game for the day was against Central North Zone...they batted first and made 5/117...a challenging target which looked out of reach when we were 3/63 needing about a run a ball to win...we got home in the end without losing another wicket with exactly an over to spare...

after the first 2 rounds all teams in our pool had a win a piece with 1 round to go before finals...

Sunday

found out that at the meeting the night before that were were able to compete for points (last year we were just an invitational team)...this gave us even more incentive to perform well...

our third match was against Western Zone, a relatively young side...they made 7/94 and we knocked off the runs for the loss of only 1 wicket with almost 3 overs to spare...

we finished 2nd in our pool on net run rate so had to face the number 1 team - Riverina - from the other pool in the semi...

thankfully we were at a different ground which had a lovely outfield but a diabolical pitch...we batted first and made 4/132 and then amazingly dismissed a side containing 2 Australian players and 1 NSW Breakers squad member for 62 to put us in the final!

we went out for dinner that night to the Gunnedah Services & Bowling Club...managed to catch the last 30mins of the NRL final...

Monday

and so we came to play Newcastle DCA in the final...they put us into bat on a surprisingly soft pitch...we were soon in trouble at 3/26 in the 8th over but rallied to make 5/121...

the pitch was somewhat better for Newcastle (the weather was fantastic as you'd expect) and after we had tied them down initially they looked to have the game in the bag needing only 20 off 5 overs...then it was 6 off the last 2 overs before needing 3 off the last...

thanks to some tight bowling and composed fielding we managed to take the last wicket (a run out) on the final ball with the scores level!!

the presentation was held at the ground before it was back onto the bus for the drive home...we left Gunnedah about 1:45pm, arriving back at Manuka Oval just after midnight...

a thoroughly tiring & testing weekend...I was pretty happy with my game - made runs every time I batted (only dismissed once in 4 innings while making 162 runs, top score 61*), very pleased with how my bowling went (no issues with my heel) - took 4 wickets @ 15.40 with an economy rate of 2.00...picked up 2 catches and, after a couple of stints with the gloves on in the finals, a stumping...

not feeling too bad today (my Skins were my constant companions over the weekend post-match!)...planning to get out for an easy run at some stage...