A fantastic weekend for City United against one of the dominant clubs of recent times, Norths. Three wins from four grades and even fourth grade a long way from disgrace by taking five wickets causing their opponents some serious worry. Importantly, Norths were ahead of City on the Club Championship table, so 2nd place should again be ours.
Looks like those good old boys from the North will have the blues after going down in three out of four grades to the Mighty City United. Always mindful of our fellow man and in an effort to lighten the load that such terrible defeat must weigh on the men from North Tamworth, here's something that might cheer them up from Eleven Hundred Springs. Should be just about their pace ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-b0Dxn2z14
1st Grade - City United 203 (Aaron Flaherty 87, Cameron Pyne 36) defeated Norths 186 (Ben Semmler 3-29, Tom Wilson 3-44, Brendon Reynolds 2-27, Dan Mitchell 2-27)
A fabulous team effort with contributors coming from all directions. Ben Semmler, up from a sensational start to the year in 2nds, took out three of the top six in a much vaunted batting line up and fielded like a demon. Tom Wilson had another devastating second spell and the Skipper was finally in the wickets after generously giving others a go this season. It was particularly fitting he claimed the last. All this after a solid batting display built around Aaron Flaherty's run a ball innings and Cameron Pyne's mid innings acceleration. Great win lads.
2nd Grade - City United 187 (Paul Fisher 93, Hamish Batley 35) defeated Norths 133 (Ben Cleghorn 3-18, Jay Sippel 3-23, Tim Skewes 3-42)
This match had everything but mostly it was about guts. Facing the dominant competition leaders after an embarrassing flogging the week before, their best bowler up in 1st Grade, a player short in the batting and then a fieldsman taken to hospital, this shaped as a disaster for Skipper Fisher in his last game before a long time on the boundary. Despite all of these things, this group lifted several times throughout the afternoon and secured a morale boosting win. Fisher led the way with a fine innings deserving of a ton. It was stirring stuff. The 2nd grade rookie, Batley, gave support in the middle order as part of a crucial 64 run partnership. With a reasonable score which should not have been enough, the bowlers all did their jobs well and never once dropped their heads. This sort of stuff can win premierships.
3rd Grade - City United 215 (Pat Dwyer 39, Glenn Ryan 37, John Kennedy 32, Simon Bellamy 29) defeated Norths 34 (Jack Mitchell 5-23, Dan Lawrence 3-8)
Well excuse me for saying so but wasn't this a pasting! Plenty of runs and then the opposition all out inside 14 overs and the luxury of dropping 4 catches and all! Dwyer stood up at the head of the order and scored good runs, especially in a 70 run opening stand with Bellamy which set the tone of the innings. Ryan was the rock amidships upon which Kennedy was able to launch his 4x4's and a six, guided missile attack at the Norths bowlers. Some late hitting from Dan Lawrence put icing on the 200 cake. What followed could only be described as a massacre. Mitchell and Lawrence ran amok and by the time Doug Cederblad got the ball, his workload was only five balls long. This was a very sharp win guys. Well played.
4th Grade - City United 101 (Dave Smith 38, George Harradine 22, Phil Cook 17) lost to Norths 5-102 (Josh Worpel 2-24, Grant Scarborough1-16, Dylan Jackson 1-22)
Okay, a loss but only five wickets from a win and a good effort given the small total that was being defended. Welcome back to Dave Smith, who led the way with a well compiled innings after opening and being 7th out. George Harradine smote the ball well for a while, including one big six. Unfortunately the innings fell away after Harradine and the run machine Cook were out, leaving Smith with all the run scoring work whilst wickets clattered about him. It would have been easy to just lay down but the bowlers took it to Norths for a while and at one stage five wickets were in the bag with Norths only halfway there. Keep up that level of commitment in your batting boys and a win is not far away.
