Geel v Melb Uni 335 (Murphy 122 N Hutton 57 Simpson 56no Dixon 35 Muller 5-105)

Third XI

The 3rds arrived down in Geelong and were greeted by some nice sunshine and outstanding cricket conditions. With the oval like carpet, small square boundaries and the pitch hard and flat, both team would have been looking for their captains to win the toss and have a bat. Unfortunately for MUCC this was not us and we were asked to field first. Andy Thomas took the new rock with Zimbabwean born Michael Robinson, but they found it tough going as the Cats moved to 50 without loss with little trouble. A few others tried their hand with no luck and it wasn't until club legend Chris Grant (16-2-38), recently returned from playing cricket in England, took the ball did things start to change. Bowling in partnership with Mark Bhattacharyya (22-2-63), they turned the screws on the batsmen and made scoring very tough for them. The break through finally came when the pressure built up and some great fielding from Robo resulted in a run out. In the space of three ball Granty had two more, one caught in gully and one caught behind, this left Geelong 3-80 at Lunch. The middle session belonged to Uni as Andy Thomas (15.3-3-42) bowled through the session with swing and zip. Tom Nice (8-1-33) took his first wicket for the club clean bowling the batsmen and Uni had won the session with 1-37 off the 20 overs. Concentration slipped a bit in the final 20 overs though and some good batting saw Geelong push to 6-225 and threaten to get away and post a huge total to chase down. But as this side has shown a few times this year we fought back hard to claim they day taking the last 4 wickets for just 30 runs and bowling them out for 255 in the last over of the day.

With an experienced bats at the top and a young exciting middle order it will be a good test for us next week. If we bat out our overs and put some partnerships together I expect us to chase down the runs. 
 

Fourth XI
Geelong won the toss at the Crawford and decided to bat on what turned out to be a fairly even (albeit green) deck. None of the MUCC lads seemed phased with this decision, in particular the greatest seam attack since the London sewing riots of '76… namely Wetherall, Carlisle, Crarer, Bryce and Preston.

Carlisle returning from injury, steamed in with good line, speed and length but it was Tim Wetherall that struck early on (1 for 4 off 7 - 5 maidens) with a "dream team score" boosting catch to Nick Crarer. Next to strike was Simon “suburb” Preston ( 2 for 15 off 10 – inc 4 maidens) with a successful lbw decision leaving the tourists 2 for 10.

Nick Crarer did a great job of tying the University end down (5 over’s, 2 maidens none for 13) whilst the remainder of the team lambasted the Geelong batsmen with sharp witticisms and clever dross (notably Daniel “Drossrahan” Hanrahan) forcing several rethinks of what should have been easy singles.

Ditchburn replaced work horse Preston at the opposite end and delivered a sturdy captain’s spell (9 over’s, 0 for 15 - 3 maidens), whilst at the other end replacing Crarer, Sean “Carcass” Bryce unleashed what can only be described as the “gates of hell bound in leather” on the unsuspecting lambs to the slaughter. Bryce sent keeper Keough flying on multiple occasions, of which he took in his stride…. despite not voting on his birthday the night before.

Crisp contributed with a sharp spell post lunch (5 over’s, 1 for 16 ) but Bryce having eaten 3 subways, 15 biscuits and probably some leather strapping, came on to finish the Geelong boys off for a paltry 105. Bryce’s line and length steam bolts (including a hat trick attempt) combined with an unprecedented 4 slips, 2 gullies and point off side field, left the visitors reeling and gifting Uni an additional 22 over’s to play with. MUCC openers Matt Kiely and Will Tonkin set up next weekend, giving the uni boys a 37 run head on our 106 run target for what should be an entertaining finish next week.

Sean Bryce, the pick of the bolwers, with his best figures for the club (6 wickets, 4 maidens, 13 runs off his 9.3 over’s) - Outstanding
 

VWCA XI (Round 5: Twenty/20)

Edinburgh 5/118 (cc) L Brady 2/25 def Melbourne Uni 7/80 (cc) K Derham 30