The forecast was wrong thankfully and it was a largely sunny evening with a few clouds. A late start at 7pm saw Pacific surprisingly inserted to bat. VPJ only had seven
Hardisty played on for 1. Faisal and McDonnell started slowly before opening up. McDonnell continued his good form to make 43 whilst enjoying a running argument with the VPJ fielders before holing out. Faisal was bowled for 28. Roy and Mohammed joined forces in a very useful 4th wicket partnership with Lahrie hitting down the ground (and edging through vacant slips) whilst Roy ended on 47* without having played a shot with a straight bat. A final total of 160/4 looked good as the sun was already setting
Hess and Gleadow bagged two wickets each. Hess's pace troubled the batsmen significantly and kept one end tight. Gleadow suffered at the hands of a driving and very rapid running opener (having had him edge narrowly past a diving keeping Roy second ball). The opener and an aged umpire kept arguing with Faisal and McDonnell - it seemed like every ball. The opener retired having made 50. Allum and Faisal were the change bowlers and Allum made the orange ball swing considerably in the gloom whilst Faisal bowled a super line. The wickets continued to fall and the opener returned. He kept blasting away to make 80odd*, including one over of demolishing Allum, but eventually ran out of partners. A welcome victory in a feisty game with contributions from just about everybody was celebrated in the pub.
pitch 1 Shayne Says 5th – Vic Park
Confirmed – 8/8
Justin Roy – bringing keepers kit
Justin Hess
Lahrie Mohammed – bringing stumps
James McDonnell
Lucius Faisal
James Gleadow
John Hardisty
Rob Allum
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