Year 8 Boys Cricket

Year 8 Boys Cricket

The Year 8 Boys Cricket Team qualified for the Northern Metropolitan Regional playoffs, which were played on the 10th of October.  

The first game was against Mernda Central.  They lost the toss and Mernda chose to bat first.  The boys were rusty in their bowling and Mernda Central made 0/94 off ten overs.  The run chase started off in a wobbly fashion.  Jasper was tragically run out in the second over and was quickly followed by Max.  Greensborough was 2/2 after two overs.  Heath then came in.  He took one ball as a sighter and got off the mark with a cleanly hit four. Heath then exploded and single handedly took Mernda’s bowling attack apart.  He hit eleven sixes and three fours.  Mernda had no answers to Heath’s batting.  It was some of the cleanest hitting that I had ever seen at any level. A couple of sixes were one bounce and onto the neighbouring road.  

Max was well supported by Cian and after the 10 overs Greensborough were 6/101 with Heath making 80 not out.  After the shaky start, Heath turned it into a comfortable win.

The next game was against Collingwood.  Greensborough lost the toss again and bowled first.  After 9 overs Collingwood made 2/82 with Max taking the wicket and the boys managed to create a run out.  The run chase did not go well.  Greensborough made 5/29 off their 9 overs.  Owen put up some resistance at the end of the innings but none of the top order batters managed to get the start. 

But the loss did not put Greensborough out of contention of winning the tournament.  If they won the last game against Thornbury with a big enough winning margin they would proceed to the next stage.

This time Greensborough won the toss and in a surprised decision they decided to bowl.  And they bowled well even they did not get any wickets they kept Thornbury to 0/44 off their 10 overs.  The cobwebs had been well and truly blown off.  It was a very gettable score and with a bit of luck they could win by a big enough margin to go through, but everything would need to go right.

Things started poorly with Jasper out LBW in the first over, which brought Heath to the crease.  He hit cleanly but struggled to get value for shots as the grass was long but Max and Heath kept up with the run rate. When the score hit 17, disaster struck. Max was run out and then two balls later Heath was spectacularly caught one handed, the fielder diving to his right in the deep.  The momentum had changed.  Cian and Owen did their best in the back half of the innings but in the end Greensborough fell short of the target making 4/26 off their 10 overs.

Overall, the boys were competitive with Heath as the standout player with the bat and ball.  His innings of 80 was the highlight of the day. The boys encouraged each other and tried hard all day and were a credit to themselves.  It was a pleasure to watch them compete. 

Gus McLean,

Coach