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Coming off a few close losses in previous rounds, the Tungstens were desperate for a victory against old foes Toongabbie. In a desperate bid for such victory, Tungsten Old Guard P Britton and B Gray as well as a recall for William 'Pidgeon' Beadman were called upon to bolster the team; which in recent weeks has been rather flaky as far as numbers are concerned. With a full 11 and decent looking side, the Tungstens took to the field.
Openers D Mug and B Gray took a while to find their rhythm against the two portly, left handed opening Toongabbie batsmen, but nevertheless Brendo was able to land a wicket, removing one of the openers for two runs (P Magill).
With a tight offside field the third-drop from Toongabbie (B Stevenson) was still able to punch a few cover drives through the gaps, despite the good fielding display from the Tungstens. This was to be expected as the batsman was coming off scoring 135 in the previous round. However, a bowling change in the form of J Hammond shook up the batting pair via excellent short deliveries. The quivering Stevenson thundered an aerial cover drive straight to deepish mid-off, where A Kyrios was able to wrap his hands around the ball and claim the wicket. Thus departed Stevenson for 23.
A young Frenchman by the name of Lareservee was next in and clearly was not as terrible as a cricketer from France might be. Only 3 runs later the other opener, (R Perry) was dismissed for 34 via great bowling from Prash, getting plenty of dip (so said the batsman) and an edge found P Britton at first slip, who took a fantastic reaction catch at head height.
The number five batsman, Ayub didn't trouble the scorers, holing out to D Mug at deep mid wicket, caught in emphatic fashion by extension of the right arm to resemble what could only be described as a claw; snatching the wicket out of the air.
Beadman had a cameo, bowling decently despite the fact that he hadnt bowled in over 2 years.
In came Toongabbie keeper C Jones, who in ages past was known to be temperamental and fiery in disposition. That disposition only came out in his batting, playing a good innings to get 61, not giving any chances to the Tungstens. Before reaching 61 his partner, Lareservee was dismissed by D Mug, with an excellent delivery that bowled him out.
Next in was Johnson (P, not M) who was also brilliantly bowled by D Mug attempting to hoik the ball over square leg. Dave at this time had switched to rolling the arm over with some off-spin. The departure of Johnson brought the arrival of S. Arnold, aka Michael Costa. With an efficiency never before seen in state parliament, he hit P Britton for three 6s and one 4 off the last over. If only his treasury, transport and policing policies were effective as his leg-side swipe. Toongabbie ended up at 6/209.
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As an aside, during the half time interval J Hammond & W Beadman went to the shops. After parking his car and purchasing his goods, he returned only to find that the key was not turning in the lock (although fitting). The keyless entry system was out of battery so the key was the only option of entry. Fretting about not returning on time to the cricket, he tried a few more times. At this stage 3 men dressed in suits approached him, yelling at him and asking him in what can be only described as more French than English what he was doing. Apparently, Hammo had tried to enter this man's car; one which was identical to his own. Naturally the 3 stooges didn’t believe him so he proved it by showing them his own car. At this time Beadman returned, only to arrive at the car which Hammo had previously tried to 'steal.' Luckily Hammo foresaw this and quickly called him over to the correct vehicle.
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During the beginning of the Tungsten innings, it was discovered that the dreaded 'Buckets' of big-hitting fame was not playing due to having a baby, so congratulations are in order.
Nelso and Shawkers strode out and in a nice opening stand didn’t just survive but kept the run rate up. Nelso particularly was on song. Shawkers hit a towering six in his typical 'extremely thick top edge down behind square' fashion, but then was dismissed, out caught for 14(14) by the bowling of McPherson the younger (who's father we had played in matches past).
Out came A Kyrios, who with some dodgy running (or lack of it) with Nelso managed to survive despite some questionable running between the wickets. Nevertheless, he managed to hit a six over mid wicket of McPherson and some much-favoured cutting off the other end, before being run out via a straight drive by Nelso, where the ball ended up back into the bowlers hands, allowing him to throw the stumps down. A Kyrios was run out for 21(20).
S Mug was next in, and it was during this time that Nelso played what was possibly his best shot of the season, a very nice off drive for four off the bowling of Johnson. Michael Costa had taken to bowling, electing to throw some very slow spin down the track. It had troubled A Kyrios in the previous overs and was troubling S Mug & Nelso now. Stephen was able to get on top of a few of them, with some nice sweeping. However Nelso was caught at short cover for 36(45), a good one-handed catch by Perry off the bowling of Arnold.
At the drinks break the score was 3-85. Correspondingly Toongabbie were 4-85, so we were in front if by a whisker.
D Mug came in, a rare sight for the two Mugridges to be batting together. It wasn’t to be, as Stephen was then caught off the bowling of Kennett for 12(11). In came J Hammond, who had not batted since Round 1. After starting slowly, he and D Mug put on a good 50 run partnership, both hitting some nice boundaries. Hammo was then dismissed by Stevenson, bowled for 13. D Mug was then also bowled for a swashbuckling 49(33) consisting of nine 4s, including hitting J Magill for 18 off one over. The Tungstens were now 6-153 needing 210 to win.
This brought Brendo and Phil B to the crease, who were under pressure to keep the run rate ticking over (the Tungstens required 8 an over from this point). Some bad calling caused Phil to be run out for 7(9), bringing in perhaps the best number 10 batsman in the competition, C Gray. After more miscommunication (Brendo told Chris he would run no matter what) Brendo was run out for 14(12). Again, the most unlikely of number 11s, in came Captain Prash. The run rate was dipping up and down between about 8 and 6 per over, until in the few remaining overs Chris smashed two sixes over mid wicket in typical Chris Gray fashion, drastically reducing the run rate. Requiring 3 for victory, Prash pulled out the previously dormant pull shot to bring about the win in superb style.
A fanstastic win for the Tungstens, where everybody worked for the team. Standout performances by Nelso, D Mug and Chris.
On a personal note this game was one that I enjoyed the most this season by a good stretch. Top stuff. [Edit- Added the scorecard - apologies to Will Beadman, whose DOB I require before the website will show him! - Nelso] | |  | | | BF | Min | 4 | 6 | | M NELSON | c R PERRY b S ARNOLD | 36 | 45 | | 6 | | | S HAWKSHAW | c M LARESERVEE b R McPHERSON | 14 | 14 | | | 1 | | A KYRIOS | run out (P JOHNSON,P JOHNSON) | 21 | 20 | | 3 | 1 | | S MUGRIDGE | c J Magill b P KENNETT | 12 | 11 | | 2 | | | D MUGRIDGE | b P KENNETT | 49 | 33 | | 9 | | | J HAMMOND | b B STEVENSON | 13 | 11 | | 2 | | | B GRAY | run out (P KENNETT,P KENNETT) | 14 | 12 | | 2 | | | P BRITTON | run out (C JONES) | 7 | 9 | | 1 | | | +C GRAY | not out | 25 | 15 | | 2 | 2 | | *P COLOMBAGE | not out | 7 | 4 | | 1 | | | Extras | (6nb,7w,0b,2lb) | 15 | | | Total | 8/211 | | | Overs | 31.3 | | FOW:32(S HAWKSHAW)
69(A KYRIOS) 76(M NELSON) 103(S MUGRIDGE)
153(J HAMMOND) 153(D MUGRIDGE) 161(P BRITTON)
198(B GRAY) | | | | |
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