Oct 25 2012 - Barnies. Second Semi Final

Untitled - Thursday Oct 18. Last home and away game.

Match Report

1 Game to go and the double chance needs to be secured - 2 skins will do it. With only 3 of Untitled there at the start of play The Cutters leadership group opted to let them bat first. (Excercise for the morning - who would be the leadership group at The Cutters?) Dowell opening to a left right combination and there intent is to get down the wicket and hit the ball hard to the back. Perry effects a sharp run out off a solid shot to get the first wicket. Vlastuin for the second over and off a perfect length the batsman is beaten all ends up and Rock effects the relatively easy stumping. This is followed by a great bit of fielding by the bowler who then flicks it back on to the stumps and after 8 balls they are just 2 - but they are still striking the ball hard. Perry for the third over and twos and threes come steadily. Hill for the last over to what we suspect may be their best pair and Hill has an over he would rather forget - didn't help that his cousin dropped a catch that went for four. With some good ball striking they recover from the shaky start to post 40.

Vlastuin to the next pair which includes the 6 foot 20 Dravish who struggles to get bat on ball. 2 dot balls are followed by a stumping by the Don - then a caught and bowled and a run out and the birthday boy looks like he is going to have a good one with a 3 for -6. The Don next and after a couple of leg sides gets a run out and a bowled. Vlastuin for the Power Play and they are starting to strike the ball well scoring 3 fours. Similarly of Rock they get more runs but a timely run out pegs them back and they add just 19. Dowell to the final pair and while its tight he can't snare a wicket. Perry next and a sharp chance is taken by the Don on the second bite. The Hill boy next and he is a bit cross about his first over and it shows snaring 1 for 3 with a sharp run out effected by his own fielding. The Don last and a caught and bowled and a last ball 7 have them post a total of 90 to chase. Lets see how we go.

Dowell and the Don first and facing the chucking Sunatha we see him off with out incident. With the Don facing the wayward Hirun he recieves 5 no balls in a row the fifth because of not informing of change in direction which we get an extra run. A half tracker has Dowell's eyes lit up and while not getting the seven a four is scored relatively safely. The next over has three more no balls but has one run out. The final over they make an extraordinary decision to put Hirun on again. He bowls the first three deliveries legally and the score has crept up to 32 - nine to get the skin. Dowell then receives 3 gift no balls which are all rebowled and now the score is 38. Finally a legal delivery and 2 is scored and then another and Dowell sees off the last to finish at 42 and the all important skin - although the win should be secured from here - but lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Hill and Perry and they set about their steady accumulation Hill finding the pace and length to his liking as he pushes some well placed threes - they rotate the strike well and the score is building tidily. Just the one out in the last over sees them post 33 and with 75 on the board the final pair of Rock and Vlastuin need just 16 to get over the line. With birthday boy facing they are run out first ball - oh well got that out of the way I suppose - this is followed by a typical Rock drive for 4. A run out in the second over has the score creeping up on the total. A solid five from Rock in the power play over has us up to 94 with an over to go - one of the chuckers Sunatha to bowl the last. 2 leg sides - a run out and a close stumping chance (that went our way) had them score another 4 for the last and the win is secured.

MVP to the Rock - Mick's birthday present and it is now on to games of significance next Thursday at 9pm - been a while since we have been in finals and I for one am looking forward to the pressure. Go Cutters!