Season 2008/09

Rnd 5 3rd XI v Hawthorn Monash Uni at Monash #2 25/10/08

Greg lost the toss and the Hawks decided to bat on a hard flat wicket. It was going to be a hot day reaching 30 degrees with a gusty northerly wind. We started well with what everyone around the ground thought was a good nick through to the keeper off Tommy's second ball - everyone except the umpire. Things then got harder with the Hawks putting on 60 odd in quick time, then Sam managed wickets on consecutive balls to bring us back into the game. Another good partnership was kept reasonably well contained by Sharpie, Spoon, Stevie in his debut match and some very good fielding until Spoon struck with 2 wickets in an over. With the score not progressing quickly, they tried to push things along but lost a run out and Tommy picked up a late wicket. They had eased along to 6 for 161 from their 45 overs.

Greg and Ash started steadily and reached 40 before Ash (12) was hit in line. Nat (1) struggled to overcome jetlag and was out soon after and Huss and Greg put on a 96 run partnership with some intelligent running and patience until Huss was out for 39 with score 3/139. Sam was busy keeping it ticking along but smashed the ball back to the bowler to be out for 7 (4/156) and Jacques (5 no) continued to provide support for the skipper who hit the winning runs with 2 overs to spare. Greg finished with 76 no.

This was the 3rds first win for the season and showed that with some application in the batting we can hold our own in against the opposition.

Rnd 4 3rd XI v Camberwell Magpies at Schramms #2 18/10/08 

Things didn't start very well when it was discovered that the sprinklers had been on overnight and the pitch was "soft". The opposition seemed to think that this was going to be dangerous/unsuitable and convinced the umpires to postpone the start. Ater 2 inspections, the game was reduced to a 25 over a side psuedo Twenty 20. The pitch was still soft. Greg Munro assumed the captaincy for the game and we were sent in.

Greg and Ash opened, but the ball popped and Greg was caught in the gully (1/16). The same fate befell Michael (2/21), before Huss joined Ash for an 80 run partnership. Ash was out for a weli made 48 showing some agression (3/111). A bit of scrambling and the loss of Sam saw us post 4/129 from the 25 overs with Huss scoring 53 no. The pitch had played a little awkwardly, but was certainly fine to play on compared to other pitches in the comp.

The Magpies started with a rush, but Daniel sent their skipper out early (1/16), but they were running along at 6-7 runs an over. Tommy struck (2/41) after getting some early stick (1 for 22 from 3 overs), then Sharpie got a wicket with his first ball for the 3rd time this season (3/41) and Huss joined in (4/45). They steadied and the bowling was tight keeping them to 3-4 runs an over. Sharpie picked up his second (5/70) and we looked in good shape. Nick bowled tightly and was rewarded (6/98), but their batsman were ramping up the rate and we couldn't contain some of their big hitting. They passed our score on the last ball of the 24th over.

Rnd 3 3rd XI v Footscray Edgewater at Tony Dodemaide Oval 12/10/08

Chris made it 3 in a row when he won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that looked like it play pretty low. The out field was pretty ordinary with a lot of sandy areas. The wind was a very strong NW making it difficult for the into the wind bowlers.

Sam S was out in the first over and Ash followed after 23. Greg and Houssam (24) out on 46, but then we lost Sam C and Jacques in quick succession. Greg was out after a well compiled 47 with score on 92, then James C (21) and Nick (36) put on 62 for the 7th wicket. When James C fell, the rest collapsed to be all out 156 in the 44th over.

The bowling was pretty good in the condictions with great spell from Nick (1/8 from 7 overs) and contributions from Tom, Daniel and Houssam. A direct hit from Sam C and run out from Sharpie helped to put pressure on the opposition, but steady batting from their skipper guided them to victory in the 43rd over. With a little bit more thought the total could have been defended, but the boys must bat out their overs. 

Rnd 2 3rd XI v Richmond at Schramms #2 11/10/08

We won the toss and batted on what looked to be a pretty flat wicket. Unfortunately, we didn't get off to a good start losing Sam S early and then Greg and Michael to be 3/27. Eric and Ash put on 45 before Eric was out on 30. Sam C, Ash (13) and Nick all went soon after (7/80), before Jacques (28) and Daniel (18) put on 45 helping the Lions to 131 in the 39th over. The pitch had proved tough for batsmen to play shots and their spinners had performed well.

The bowling was tight but the first wicket fell at 21 when Sharpie come on first change. Nick came on and got the next batsman at 65 and then Tom got 2 quick wickets on 94. Unfortunately, the boys weren't able break through and the Tigers cruised to victory in the 36th over.

Again the story was the dismal batting.

Rnd 1 3rd XI v Essendon at Cross Keys 4/10/08

New captain, Chris, won the toss and elected to bowl first on what looked to be a pitch that would support the bowlers and then with the breeze and sunshine flatten out later in the day. Opening with Tom and debutant Daniel, wickets started to fall with Daniel snaring the first 2 while Tom was steady at the other end. Sharpie came on and immediately broke through to have their skipper out cheaply. Dan got another wicket to finish with 3/10 from 7 overs and Sharpie 3 more to end up with 4/17 from 8 overs. The other debutant, Nick picked up a wicket to finish with 1/25 from 9. There was some controversy with Chris bowling a delivery resulting in the stumps and bails failing back towards to the keeper, but on appeal, the batsman (on 21) was given not out. He then proceeded to top score for Essendon with 45. James finished off the innings with an uncompleted hat-trick (2/11). Michael took an absolute blinder in first slip and Greg snaffled a gem in gully emphasising a great effort by the boys in the field. Essendon were all out for 107 from 37.3 overs.

Things didn't start well with Greg out for a duck, and Michael, Nick and Sam S all following in quick succession (4/10). Their opening bowlers were banging it in and gaining good movement. Sam C was unlucky given out caught behind after hitting his pad with the bat (5/21), Brad got a brute of a delivery (6/27), Chris tried to push it along, Dan ran himself out, Sharpie also was unluckly and James was bowled by a beauty. FDCC all out 34 from 15.3 overs.

So, a very good fielding and bowling effort was negated by a very ordinary batting display in conditions conducive to the seamers.

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Season 2007/08 

Rnd 10 3rd XI v Nth Melbourne at Schramms #2 5/1/08

Good to win our third game in a row.

Rnd 9 3rd XI v Casey Sth Melbourne at Casey Fields 15/12/07 and 16/12/07

A long way to go to Cranbourne to be washed out the first day!

The game was then scheduled as a one dayer in the two day draw the next day.

Lachie Curtis (42) and Peter Cashen (41 no) helped the score along to 6/171. Peter Dickson tore a muscle in his side and so Lachie then went and subbed the rest of the day for the firsts.

The bowlers did well with Ben O'Dowd getting the early wickets (3/28), Tom McQuinn (2/24) and Andrew McCormack picking up 4/23. Casey were rolled for 132 in the 42 over. A good win to end the year.

Rnd 8 3rd XI v Dandenong at Schramms #2 1/12/07 and 8/12/07

Chris Reidy took over the reigns of captaining the 3rds for this game. He won the toss and opted to bat. Ashley Jayasinghe and Nat Vardi made their debuts coming up from the 4ths after good scores. Kenan Alev and Ashley openned steadily, but when Ashley was out James Sharp followed soon after. 3/46 was not looking too flash when Kenan was out for 26. Fletcher Stewart (57) and Nat Vardi (22) kept the runs coming to bring us to 5/118. We finally posted a competitive score of 236 after 72 overs with Cris Reidy 46, Sam Sheehan 24, and Ash Mohandas 19 all contributing. We had 8 overs at them and they ended up 1 for 28 at the close of play - Tom McQuinn got the wicket.

With a rich array of bowlers available, Sam and Ryan Allen openned and unluckily for Sam a thick edge was missed. Sam ended up having a dirty day, but Ryan (3/47), Tom (3/36) and Ben O'Dowd (3/24) with the help of Ash and James kept the pressure on and wickets fell steadily to have Dandenong all out for 180 in the 56th over. There were some sloppy moments in the field early, but then things tightened up and the boys notched up a well deserved win. Due to the rules the game then required us to bat again for 18 minutes. Ashley and Kenan ended up with 3 no apiece.

Rnd 7 3rd XI v St.Kilda at Ross Gregory Oval 17/11/07 and 24/11/07 

The thirds had a couple of stars for this game in Ben Waterman (available one week) and Jon Fagg (returning from injury). Ben assumed the captaincy for the first week. He won the toss and elected to bat. Bret Nielsen and Travis Miles started carefully until the 1st wickwt fell at 27, then things went awry. We were soon 6 for 68. Fletcher Stewart and Kenan Alev steadied things until Fletch (64) was run out at the tea interval - the score was 8-115. Sharpie hung around with Jon Fagg for a while (9 for 122) but then Ben O'Dowd (41) and Jon (62 no) put together a 108 run stand - all out 230 after 70 overs. We had time for 6 overs and the Bens opened up with Ben Waterman snaring 1 for 6 from his 3 overs. The overnight score was 1 for 17.

St.Kilda batted slowly an dcarefully and things weren't going the Lions way. Sam Sheehan (who replaced Ben Waterman) managed to get one batsman to nick one, but it was grassed. The 2nd wicket came from a silly run out (2 for 73). Sharpie got the only other wicket (1 for 41 from 12). They passed our score at 3 for 232 in the 80th over (74 on the day).

Our batting has marginally improved and our bowling was tight on flat track without luck.

Rnd 6 3rd XI v Carlton at Schramms # 2 3/11/07 and 10/11/07

Owing to a wet lead in to the first week, the pitch was a bit soft. Fletcher Stewart won the toss and invited his old team to bat. They struggled to put on a good score, finishing with 138. The wickets went to Tom McQuinn with 3/31 from 8, Ryan Allan 2/29 from 16, James Sharp 2/20 from 12 and Ben O'Dowd 1/22 from 7. Both Brad Mitchell and Ben were responsible for run outs, and Ben had 2 catches. I think they were let off the hook a bit and probably gained about 20 more runs than they should.

Unfortunately, the conditions were still bowler friendly by the time we batted. We lost 3 for 12 and struggled to be 7/60 by the end of the day with James Sharp and Tom McQuinn at the crease. James Considine had done well with a solid 22.

On resumption the second week, the weather conditions had improved and things should have been better for the batting side. Needing the 79 runs to win, the last batters managed to hang around for a while finaly succumbing to be all out for 106. James Sharp top scored with 24,
and Gav Kellar ended up 13 not out.

The rest of the match can only be described as junk time, with Carlton runing up 174 for the loss of 3 wickets shared by Ryan, Tom and James. It was a game set up with some good work in the field, but squandered by the batting. 

Rnd 5 3rd XI v Frankston Peninsula at RM Hooper Oval (Hastings) 27/10/07

The 3rd XI's travelling continued as we headed out to the R.M Hooper oval to take on Frankston in Hastings. Arriving at the ground we were greeted by scorecards of Sri Lankan and Indian touring squads bearing the names of Gavaskar, Bedi, De Silva, Ranatunga and Jayasuriya. Unfortunately this would be as memorable as our visit to Hooper oval would become.

There were 3 changes this week, welcoming back into the team Kenan Alev and Ben O'Dowd as well as Daniel Mu making his debut in the 3s.

We won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that would play slow but true. The lush outfield meant that our early efforts of openers Heatley (5) and Nielson (7) would not produce much reward. The middle order again did not show much of a backbone even when there had been multiple dropped chances by the Heat. Our failures to take our opportunities left us reeling at 4 for 36; some stability was created when Peter Cashen (7) joined Stewart (19) at the crease to put on 24 for the 5th wicket. But that would be all she wrote as we again failed to bat our overs being rolled for 85 in 33 overs - extras top scored again posting a handy 20.

The Heat didn't have much trouble chasing down our 85 passing us with 6 wickets and 13 overs in hand. Their opener provided enough stability to ensure that the heat would gain the 6 points. However we were a brief chance when we had them 3 for 44, knowing that Camberwell had rolled them for 100 a week earlier.

Yet again our efforts with the ball and in the field were exceptional, the guys work ethic will eventually get us across the line if someone can put their hand up and take their opportunities.  We leave the one-day game behind with a record of 1-4 and all of us are looking forward to the challenge of facing Carlton in our first 2-day game of the year.

- Fletcher Stewart

Rnd 4 3rd XI v Melbourne Uni at Schramms #2 20/10/07

Today was another disappointing effort from the boys, yet again failing to bat our overs. We showed little resistance in chasing Uni's 210 being bowled out for 59 in the 15th over. (25 being Extras) However despite this there are still some positives that the group should take away from the game. The boys were exceptional in the field yet again, and there were some shining lights Ryan "Rhino" Allan (4/31), Andrew "MacDaddy" McCormack (2/24) and also Peter Cashen who kept well.

University elected to bat and it did not take them long to put themselves in a good position to post over 250. This start was aided by our extras and lose bowling and at one stage they were 1 for 110.  However after drinks we were able to claw our way into a decent position restricting them to 210 from what could have been 250+.

I would like to thank Peter Cashen on behalf of the boys for leading the side in the first 3 matches of year. Cash did a terrific job and was a fantastic leader. Next week we take on Frankston, and I hope the lads take into training this week a positive mindset, knowing that we have to eliminate the bout of extras that we have been bowling and that we must have a MASSIVE emphasis on partnerships and individual ownership.

-Fletcher Stewart 

With new rotation policy, Fletcher Stewart took over the captaincy from Peter Cashen. Melb Uni won the toss and batted in ideal conditions. Ryan Allan and Andrew McCormack opened the bowling with Macca grabbing the first wicket with the score on 23. The next wicket fell to Ash Mohandas with the score on 120 in the 27th over. The spinners went for 50 runs from 8 overs. James Sharp then picked up the opener after he had scored 67 of the 124 on the board. The opposition fell away with 2 run outs and 4 wickets to Ryan Allan (4/31) and another wicket to Macca (2/48) to have them all out for 210 in the 45th over.

The outfield was lightning fast and so 210 was considered very gettable. However, a series of errors, run outs and low bounces later the Lions were all out for 59 in the 14th over. Brett Neilson top scored with 14 not out, the next best 6 from Sharpie - enough said.

- Interested Observer

 Rnd 3 3rd XI v Hawthorn Monash Uni at Schramms #2

We came into Sunday full of confidence after Saturday’s good win, we lost the toss and Hawthorn decided to have a bat, after not a bad start from the visitors, we managed to peg back the runs and get a few steady wickets and at one stage where in complete control having the away side 8/116, but with a wagging tail the Hawthorn boys managed to get there end total of 194, the stand out bowlers for the Lions were Andrew McCormack with 3/25 off his 9 overs and James Sharp with 3/23 off his 9 overs.

After the break Munro and Fletch got us off to a good start and at one stage we were looking good at 2/61 with Marsh and Mitch at the crease, then came the collapse to end all collapses at 2/61 we slumped to be all out for 81 losing 8 wickets for 20 runs ,  the batting display just wasn't good enough from all the boys but we're all hoping to hit back hard next weekend against the Uni boys.

Peter Cashen

Rnd 2 3rd XI v Camberwell Magpies 13/10/07 at Strath Creek

Fitzroy Doncaster 7/202 def Camberwell Magpies 126 

The Magpies home game was shifted to the picturesque country setting of the Hume and Hovell cricket ground at Strath Creek. After a kick start at the Golden Arches in Mill Park for breakfast, a nucleus of players, managers and scorers formed a convoy to venture into the hills to play cricket.

Peter Cashen won the toss and elected to bat on an overcast and windy day amongst the rolling hills and gum trees and the rose garden arrayed in front of the wonderful pavilion. Fletcher Stewart and Greg Munro got off to a good start, but soon middle order wickets were falling. The Magpies had 2 pace bowlers but a plethera of spinners who found some uneven bounce to make inroads into the batting. Resistance was found briefly from Daniel Heatley and Brett Neilson, but the mainstay was Greg who ended up run out for a great 98. Lachie Curtis and James Sharp picked the pace at the end with Sharpie hitting the white picket fence on the full in the last over bringing up 7/202. This was a much better effort than last week when the boys failed to bat out the overs.

Everyone retired to the pavillion for tea, sandwiches, warm scones with jam and cream and fresh fruit provided by the proprietors of the establishment. The assembled company were able to sit and gaze either out the windows to take in the panoramic views or inspect the many pictures, trophies, caps, memorabilia and materials adorning the walls.

However, back to the cricket!

The boys started well with early wickets from Tom McQuinn and Andrew McCormack. With more accurate bowling than last week, the pressure was on the Magpies and they never really recovered. Only one opposition player offered much resistance, while the good fielding yielded 2 run outs and a couple of excellent catches from Lachie. Fletcher hit a consist line and was rewarded with 2 wickets, but Andrew posted the best figures with 3 for 18. The Magpie were all out in the 36 over for 126 and the boys had their first win and a chance to find full voice with the club song.

Dennis Sims has now stamped himself both as a successful manager of a winning cricket team, but also has managed to get not only a scorer, but a scoreboard operator and a statistician as well.

Rnd 1 3rd XI v Footscray Edgewater at Schramms #2 

The start of the season saw the Lions tackle the Bulldogs in the first one dayer of the year. We won the toss and decided to bat on a pretty normal Schramm’s wicket being low and slow. Our batting performance never really got much a flow to it with Fletcher Stewart batting well to make 52 including 3 fours and 2 big sixes before getting caught out on the huge Schramma boundary.
This started a mini collapse where we ended being 9/100, enter big Tommy McQuinn and Daniel Heatley (Heaters/Shadow) who were fantastic in putting on 66 for the final wicket partnership, and along the way showing off some impressive hitting with both batsmen hitting big bombs!!!

The bowling performance afterwards wasn't that great but everyone worked hard, Sam Sheehan(Shagger) , Fletch and Big Tommy once again all bowled well with 2 wickets each. The Bulldogs however were able to get the 167 runs needed in just over 40 overs and 7 wickets down denying the boys to get off to the start that we wanted!

Peter Cashen 3rd X11 Captain ( for this week)