The Quokkas are an internationally franchised drinking team with a cricketing problem
Renowned for our fearsome lack of fear on the cricketing pitch, we bring our unique brand of sporting ineptitude and enthusiasm over ability to the ovals of our opponents
What an honour it was to captain the Quokkas again in our Pride match against Holy Trinity CC.
In What can only be described as our biggest match of the year, we had a cast of thousands and everyone was ready and rearing to go at 9am.
Off they go
The day started with a gracious bat flip & Holy Trinity chose to bat. Jay opened the bowling strong and kept them to on their toes. Partnerships didn’t last long, as they retired after about 20 balls.
Ed bowls while Animal looks on, Charlie helps in the slips, Prez brings some heat
They played hard, batted well and scored quickly. Lots of chatter in the field kept Quokkas spirits up, mostly from Dutchy who at one point declared “they’re swinging more than a Camberwell couple”.
With all that swinging, They did manage to get the ball over the rope a few times.
Our fielding was tight, thanks to having a couple of extra hands in the field, Charlie and Max giving them no room to move.
Some accurate bowling from Fargo & F1 saw them lose a couple of wickets, Charlie helping Radar with yet another rapid stumping. Holy Trinity setting is a target of 163.
F1 and Radar got Quokkas on the board early, with Rohan retiring on 20 in the fourth over. Some tight, straight and accurate bowling from HT kept us on our toes, none more than Dutchy, Oscar & Big Dave who managed to get a total of 0 off 6 deliveries between them.
Fridge hits out
Prez & Max steadied the ship with a partnership lasting a Couple of overs, Charlie also showing them how to do it. Fargo did he best to show his all rounder skills, with a special guest appearance by the six-hitting Sizzle.
Charlie, Maxy, and Fargo and Sizzle
We managed a respectable 103 off our 20 overs, but cricket, sport and diversity were the real winners of the day.
W J Cox oval, an oval the size of a postage stamp and a pitch with a width not that forgiving. With the clouds around and the humidity about, it was perfect conditions to replicate Steve Harmison’s famous first ball of the Ashes.
The Nomads were going to host an amazing BBQ and due to this they were sent in to bat. We were gifted an orange ball which felt a lot harder than the traditional cricket balls we have played with. After discussions with the various Vice captains within the Quokkas (approximately 10 in total), we needed a different gameplan to tackle the strong batting side of the Nomads. One over spells was the tactic to be employed for our innings.
The first 12 overs were not great. We leaked around 135 runs and we only managed two wickets during this time and their team have retired two of their batters. A few extra drinks during the break and we really turned up our fielding. Every player was backing up the throws and our bowlers were keeping the economy down. We managed to restrict them to 218 by the end of their innings!
The pick of the bowlers was Pete ‘The Animal’ with 2/19 from 3 overs but all our bowlers really contributed in that second half of the Nomad’s innings.
219 was definitely a score that could be chased down as long as we have batters in the shed. The field size was small so as long as we hit it in the gap, we should be able to score runs. The Nomads immediately set an aggressive field to try and create wicket chances. This didn’t work early as Radar was seeing it like a beach ball and scoring quickly. Ed was just on the opposite end and focusing on a well built innings. However, soon as Radar was eyeing off retirement, the Nomads pulled off a miracle catch to dismiss Radar for 28 from 13. Alex was next in and he and Ed put on a 20 run partnership before Ed was caught and bowled for 15 from 16. Alex kept at the same attacking gear and putting away each delivery for 4, unfortunately he was bowled for 21 from 9.
By the end of the 12th over, were were below par at 4/111 as Dutchy had performed the Quokka BBQ of burning Prez. To redeem himself, he top edged a bowl near his temple and re-energised his innings to retire at 38 from 20. We had an attacking cameo from Hendo which unfortunately ended when he perfectly picked the fielder at deep square leg, ending his innings at 20 from 10.
HENDO!
Our innings was at 8/171 in the 21st over. 48 runs needed from 4 overs. The Animal and myself trying to work out what we need to do with the comfort that Dutchy is in the sheds. The Animal was in charge of rotating the strike which he did cleverly and my job was to just get bat on ball, which all 10 VCs kept reminding me. The final over required 16 from 6, The Animal and I already agreed just to hit out or get out as Dutchy could come back in and finish the job. 2 sixes and a couple of hard run 2s managed to finish the job for the Quokkas and we won with 2 balls to spare!
A memorable game for the Quokkas!
Radar and The AnimalCricket is very much the winner
I saw Haley’s comet in 1986, Aguero’s 93rd minute goal for ManCity’s first premier league title in 2012 and I was there for Glenn McGrath’s half century at the Gabba.
But on Sunday December 11 2022 something even more rare and prestigious occurred. We’ll all remember where we were sitting (on the esky, scoring) when Dylan Nichols in his 63rd game retired 31 not out!!!. And it wasn’t a scratchy 30, there were shots through cover point that made grown men cry (the bowlers).
Men: This will bring you to tears
Although insignificant to witnessing the moment many thought would never happen, the Quokkas won the game through swashbuckling batting from Dutchy and Alex 70 & 40 respectively and 30’s to Oscar, myself and some guy calling himself The Rev….261 on the board!
Dutchy on his way to a very angry 70Oscar, smashing 6sEd, doing something
The Rose got off to a flyer, but after drinks some tight and wicket taking bowling from Jay, Alex & Dave B (who’s tribute to the Rev was a wicket off his 15th delivery) and 2 catches and a stumping to the man you can’t keep out of the game, Radar and the Quokkas won easy, 261 to 216.
Jordan, opening the bowling despite injury
I have a feeling the stats were updated pretty quickly after the game….
(editors note: many thanks to Slug for the photos)
The Empress returned for the new season with a settled squad. Fielding at least 10 players who played in the BDNO at the end of last season. It seems a settled squad helped the team as they were able to beat the powerful Royston Hotel who, despite missing one fairly handy cricketer, are still one of the more formidable teams in the league.
Still a great way to start the season, as they’re also one of the most enjoyable teams to play, with a great bunch of people, and matches always played in great spirit.
The Empress batted first and got off to a really good start, with everyone pushing the scoring rate and running hard, all while playing their natural game.
I was rapt with how we kept the game moving, and even though we lost a couple of wickets through the middle overs, I didn’t think we ever got bogged down.
Dutchy and myself retired, with notable contributions from J-Rod who hit the ball as far as I’ve seen him hit it, before getting out bowled leaving a ball around his legs (very J-Rod) just before he would have retired and Ed who played a very typical-Ed-lower-middle-order-rear-guard, before the family partnership of The Animal and myself played out just about to the end.
I thought the real positive from the day was the incredibly solid bowling and fielding performance from everyone in the team.
We’d set a decent total of 206 which gave us some wriggle room to be a tad defensive with field placements, but we stopped every boundary that should have been stopped and took a few important catches. Every fielder was incredibly disciplined and holding their positions and giving their all. Bowling was tight and full outside off all day. No batters were given an easy ride to boundaries with a few bowling some impressive spells to take timely wickets.
Notable performances with the ball were Big Dave with 3 wickets (along with being the fielding MVP again), J-Rod with 2 wickets and Jordan whose bowling never fails to impress with 1 wicket but really not giving the batters anything to hit. Really though everyone bowled amazingly well, so it’s hard to single anyone out.
The Royston got to 177 which bloated quite a bit due to my second over of trash mediums that were absolutely spanked by their number 11.
The Sheffield Shield, Marsh One-Day Cup and the Twenty20 World Cup have all got cricket fans nicely warmed up and ready, now it’s time for the main event: The Quokkas are back.
With Winter over, the squad is returning from their hibernation in the pursuit of glory, or at least some good fun with friends.
The good fun may be a tough ask with The Royston being our opponents, a pub we have never been able to put to the sword, even in some of the muddled-up Covid matches played.
Another challenge to fun this Sunday will be the weather, with fairly heavy rain expected for most of the day. Still, this is Melbourne and anything can happen in that regard.
Form Guide:
The Quokkas did manage to have a net session the other week and everyone seemed to be able to hold a bat / ball / can. Congratulations all.
In the Spotlight:
Climate Change. Rightly so.
Team News:
While some teams have had to fold due to their pub closing (DOC – farewell sweet prince), others haven’t been able to get enough players together. Thankfully our pub, The Empress, not only does an excellent Sausage Pizza but has been spreading the word on The Quokkas – leading to an increase in numbers and helping us keep going.
Many thanks to Pete and the team.
While it’s still early in the week, we do have a full complement ahead of Sunday – plus a spare:
Prez
Ed
Dutchy
Radar (c)
Jay
Sam J Barrett
The Animal
J Rod
The Fridge
TimBChapman
Big Dave
Hendo
Pitch and Conditions:
The last time I was at Fairfield oval it was to watch Maxy play in an under 10s soccer game, and let me tell you, it was an absolute quagmire. Whatever drainage system is used at that ground is about effective as trickle-down economics.
With La Nina hitting the great State of Victoria for the third year in a row (is that a hat-trick?), and on a very good length, it’s quite likely that cricket boots will need to be replaced with gumboots and access to the ground may need to be sourced from the neighboring Boat Club.
Yowzers
For those of you interested, Maxy’s team lost 7-4. Pretty impressive considering the pitch.
Stats and Trivia:
This match will see Dutchy become our most-capped Quokka (105 appearances) & we look forward to him smashing Michael Tucks record. He is also one (1) wicket away from joining the 50-wicket club. Ed and Big Dog best buy another chair for that table.
A Ducks quack does not echo
This will be J Rods 70th appearance for The Quokkas (55 YPCA, 5 BDNOs, 4 T20s, 5 VBCAs), we all look forward to seeing the overpriced training gear he purchased over the Winter
Starsky and Hutch drove a 1974 Ford Torino
The Quokkas have scored 14,292 YPCA runs and been spanked for 14,754
It was one of those days that make you wonder why you never moved to the beach 20 years ago; hot and an outfield that has less green than….a beach.
The heat had already got to the Carringbush captain as he said to not worry about the toss and the Quokkas could bat. And bat we did!
Rev (25) and Rohan (35) set the tone at the top with 50 in the first 5 overs and then it was a procession boundaries as JRod, Dutchy and Jay all hit 30’s, Jays’ off 12 balls (which was coincidentally the time he got out of bed and the number of cocktails he’d had the previous evening).
The 2 Petes and myself added 50 and after 25 overs we were 7/236.
The Carringbush continued on the procession, enjoying watching us look for the ball in the snake pit at long on/off/midwicket.
A genius bit of captaincy (listening to The Animals advice) to bring on a slower bowler got us in the game with Dutchy taking 3/7 and the Sheriff picking a pole to keep the damage to 4/65 at drinks break 1.
In the most un-Quokka thing ever, we ran out of slow bowlers, so it was back to the medium-slows getting bashed into the snake pit. An example was my first over of slot bowling going for 3 sixes.
Rev and myself had the last laugh getting the 2 remaining big hitters and then in true Quokka style we dragged out the game in the heat till eventually, Rohan, The Animal, JRod and an Alex bowling cameo ended the punishment, leaving the Carringbush 34 short at 202 all out.
Quokkas 3 and 3 after 6 games heading to the unknown opposition and conditions on King Island.
Perhaps were we a bit optimistic about this Covid thing blowing over so quickly when the season was getting started, as it seems like the realisation of each game is a day-by-day proposition.
Our last scheduled game was against the combined Rainbow and Raccoons team as that was the only way they could make up an XI. Last weekend the call went out from the league (well done Huss) for players to make up other games and we had 6 of us turn up for The Standard, who managed to get none out on the park for the first time in 25 years.
Not their fault at all, its all very fluid at the moment.
Speaking of fluid, we are breaking into new territory with this weeks opponent, The Carringbush.
Hopefully everyone stays safe and well and we can have a game on Sunday. Three games in three weeks, this might test us.
Form Guide:
After starting the Summer strongly, The Quokkas have reverted to form and dropped their last couple of games, including the ‘all stars’ combo match played last Sunday.
Batting has been a particular concern, with only two Quokkas making over 100 runs for the season so far (5 games).
That being said, this has never been about wins and losses, to perhaps the more pertinent stats is the 24 different players that have turned out for us already this season. Welcome, all.
In the Spotlight:
While he certainly does have the appearance of a hermit, or as my Nanna might say “a gentleman of the road”, Ed has also taken on the habits of one this season; only turning out for the two games and batting in only one of those.
Perhaps his return will rectify some of the run-scoring issues we’ve had, or perhaps he may tell us of his travels in his famously verbose way. Either way, welcome back Eddy.
Team News:
We’ve had some breaking news, literally, already; Alex out with a badly broken finger for the rest of the season. Here’s hoping our leading centurion makes a quick recovery.
The squad, at the time of writing, is:
Ed (c)
James Gow
Dutchy
J Rod
Jay
F1
Rev
Radar
The Animal
Local
Fridge
Pitch and Conditions:
Fairlea East can be a brutal place on a hot summers day with not a lot of shade, but it is isolated and resisted by dog walkers and pitch invaders. It is expected to be a very hot one Sunday, with a top of 35.
Stats & Trivia:
Alex goes out for the season with 149 runs off 115 balls from 5 innings, only being dismissed once, for a strike rate of 1.3 and an average of 149. He’s hit 16 fours and 1 six. He’s also taken 5 wickets at 17.4 and 5 catches (25% of the team total).
This will be Eds 69th YPCA game for The Quokkas – nice
Dutchy is sitting on 1,475 YPCA runs for The Quokkas, 25 more and he gets to the landmark 1,500. With a career average of 30.10, it could well be this week
Jay is on 693 YPCA runs, and with an average of 28.88 he should crack the 700 club in this match. He is currently bested by Dutchy, Ed (1218), Alex (813) and Radar (737)
On a clear and sunny day that we have started to become accustomed to in Mid-March, The Quokkas made their way to the main oval in Edinburgh Gardens, excited by the opportunity to play on the newly laid turf wicket and have some fun in the process.
Unfortunately for The Quokkas, the clear and sunny weather available to us on Sunday wasn’t the case on Saturday, leaving the turf wicket looking like northwest Ohios famous Black Swamp. That’s right, the famous one.
The Black Swamp of Fitzroy
Thankfully the good people at the City of Yarra had the sense to keep the astro wicket in the ground, so we were able to get a game going with little interruption. In fact, I arrived to see wickets set up and the boundary cones laid out with some of the Quokkas warming up having a bit of kick-to-kick with one of the better used Sherrins I’ve ever come across.
It’s probably not worth noting that I, the Captain of the day, was the last to arrive to the ground because I got distracted liberating some lemons from trees in Clifton Hill, but it is worth noting that citrus would be my only successful catch of the day.
Catch of the day
With covid restrictions still in place, a coin toss was had to decide who would bat first, which I promptly lost and the directed the team to do some catching practice. Probably should have started this about an hour earlier.
I asked Dutchy to take the new ball, leading to one of the strangest starts to a YPCA game I’ve come across. The first ball, a free hit, was pinged straight to mid-wicket and resulted in a diamond duck for the non-striker. Good run out Local and Dutchy.
The second ball, another free hit, was belted out of the ground and nearly into the stands. The third ball was belted straight at me, though about 100m above my head, leading to a call of “Mine!”, followed by me running around in circles on the spot and ending with the ball landing 5m behind me.
You, dear reader, may be starting to pick up a theme here.
J Rod took the second over and kept it to 2 runs, the start of a dominant afternoon from the suddenly aggressive man from Moree.
The bowling card kept rotating with good efforts from a high-quality buffet of medium pacers including Local, Jay (having lost TFB status to Radar, according to J Rod), VP and Ed.
Few runs were given but even few wickets (e.g. zero) were taken until the introduction of Snipper, fresh from learning how to kick a drop-kick, who hit the pegs with his second ball. Fair effort, that.
This brought on a brace of wickets before drinks, with Ed taking a good catch off Alex’s bowling and Radar getting (another) stumping, this time off Dutchy’s bowling. It should be noted that Dutchy entered the swamp in his first over to field a ball and was nearly lost to us forever. Not all heroes wear capes.
After 12 overs The Rose “Petals” were 4/84 and I was feeling pretty good about our chances. It’s the hope that kills you.
It should be noted that the game was interrupted on multiple occasions by a group of families that were playing a number of ball sports on the edge of, and sometimes within, the boundary cones. Now, I’m not sure if they were somehow magnetised to that location but it seemed an odd decision considering the amount of space at Edinburgh Gardens available that didn’t have a cricket match on it.
Shown: Edinburgh Gardens inc WT Peterson Oval (cricket ground) and other area that is not a cricket ground
We returned from drinks and were given a display in fast bowling from Radar that J Rod had one or two comments about that may have been directed at Jay. At the other end The Fridge came on and was, and I don’t think its over-cooking it to say this; un-playable.
More Westinghouse than Hilfenhaus.
Lord knows where this bowling form has been hiding but it was great to watch, even from knee-deep in Mordor, which is where I’d chosen to field for some stupid reason.
I eventually brought myself on to bowl and got one of the more embarrassing wickets of my “career”, with the batter backing away to the leg side for one that was heading that way, missing the ball by a minute or two (it may have been deceptively slow), letting the ball ricochet off his pads and onto the stumps.
The last few overs were wrapped up by Jay, hitting the top of off stump, J Rod, Fridge (un-playable) and Local; also taking a pole in the last over. I should note that it was good that our bowlers kept hitting the stumps as I kept dropping them. Apologies, J Rod.
With a total of 145 set, I was still feeling confident about our chances and sent Ed and Radar in to get the chance underway.
Ed, doing stuff
I didn’t get a chance to give them any last minute messages, but Radar was soon back on the sidelines and free for a chat.
1/7
Ed was then joined by James in the middle, both of whom worked extremely hard for runs against some excellent swing bowling. Unfortunately James did not come out to bat with his paddle, as Ed sold him down the river and he was soon run out.
2/19
Snipper, appointed by Local as a specialist 4, soon arrived and found the boundary regularly, though went out just as quickly trying to hit their captain out of the ground.
3/28
Next up came Local, who looked very calm in his approach after initially trying to reverse-sweep the first ball for 6. He missed that and then missed another one that hit middle stump.
4/34
Fridge, fresh from his dominant bowling spell, came to the wicket looking to hit out but struggled with the excellent bowling on display. A rank full-toss finally arrived but it so surprised him that it got right past him to find middle stump.
5/47
At this point I was feeling less confident but still had Jay, Alex, Dutchy and J Rod in the sheds. A couple of retirements and we should be fine. This was also the point I had to put down the scorecard and pad up.
Jay and Dutchy battled bravely, even hitting out for the first boundaries in a while, but neither managed to get more than 22 runs.
Alex was out quickly trying for fast runs but J Rod was getting well set, hitting sixes with ease while everyone else had struggled to get off strike. Unfortunately I was the only batting partner he had left and I ran myself out searching for quick runs, leaving J Rod on 37 off 19 (not out), and more importantly, The Quokkas 12 runs short of a draw.
Sometimes life gives you lemons, and sometimes you steal them from someones front yard.
While it would be possible to ruminate over the areas that could’ve won us the game, and believe me – I have, its also important to remember the words of Rahul Dravid: “Cricket is like life, you lose more often than you win.” And this from a man who scored over 13 thousand Test runs.
What makes more sense is to reflect on the sunshine, the friends and the fun that was had – thanks all for a great afternoon out.
In all, it was a great day out and it was great to see the joy that the win (their first in years) brought to The Petals’ faces.
Alphington Oval on a sunny afternoon is one of the prettier places to enjoy pub cricket – an irony maybe lost on the Quokkas as we experienced an ugly mauling.
Our opponents: The Royston, a nemesis from recent years who luckily don’t mind throwing on a few jugs after the game when we inevitably get back to their pub. They’re a very decent bunch of humans – it’s just a shame that the decency doesn’t extend to not smashing you relentlessly over the fence at deep long on.
Where to start.
Captain Local went in to his 7th game as captain with a hope, a plan and an intact W/L ratio of 0/7. The Quokkas had offered to get pizza for the innings changeover (thank you Ray Jayner), so we batted first.
Our openers J-Rod and Jay battled battlingly on the spread-out field, before Dutchy and Radar went to work in the overs pre-drinks, both bringing up hard-fought 30s. Boundaries were difficult to come by and all the Quokkas batsmen were made to run, except Dutchy, who was able to get over the fielders regularly.
Coming in next, Alex wasn’t able to capitalise on recent good form unfortunately, but Ed and Local then combined for a 50-run partnership that saw them both retiring back to the pavilion at the end of the same over. A great day for Tasmania, if not necessarily for power hitting.
What followed was definitely not a great day for Ami (who, it has to be said, had stepped in to the breach when Nimble wasn’t available and driven quite a long way to be at the ground that day – thank you Ami). Batting with The Reverend ‘yes/no/YES’ Nicholls, Ami was unhappily run out at the non-strikers end before facing a ball. A small consolation is that he is now the member of the exclusive Diamond Duck club, and a very nice trophy is coming his way.
The remaining batsmen cycled through, which brought Dutchy back to the wicket for one last tonk, getting him to a half-century. Well done Dutchy, well batted.
Overall, it was a better than solid batting performance, setting a total we thought could be competitive against the big-hitting Royston.
Sadly, no.
Ami suffered his second indignity for the day, opening the bowling with Radar and becoming the first in a long line of Quokka cannon-fodder for the afternoon, despite bowling well.
Local shuffled the bowling options and fielding positions and was fortunate that the Quokkas found wickets regularly. Radar had an outstanding game behind the stumps and both Jay and Alex held excellent catches.
But the Royston batting lineup was too strong and the runs kept coming. They had a number of retirees and any bowling success we had just meant that the retirees were closer to returning. Things turned unpleasant at about the 19th over when Ami was repeatedly picked out at cow corner. Unfortunately for him, the balls that were picking him out were already well over the fence when they reached him.
Not long after that, the Royston reached the total and the game was over. Congratulations are in order for them – they played well and in great spirit. Congratulations also to all the Quokkas who played, for their spirit and good humour. It was a great afternoon despite the loss.
A cursory look at the scoreline above may tell you the game was close, but what it didn’t tell you how close, with (spoiler alert) Dutchy hitting a 4 on the last ball of the day to get the winning score.
Before that, the game had collapses, run outs, horses (no, really) and almost seismic shifts in momentum before the aforementioned dramatic finish. It really was rather exciting.
But lets, you and I dear reader, reminisce.
The game was scheduled to start at 2pm on a very warm and unusually muggy Melbourne day. With the Curtin hosting, we would be fielding, which caused me trepidation as captain as I wasn’t sure how The Quokkas would fare in the conditions. How foolish I was!
Having started the week with 16 players available, a series of text messages conveying various levels of interest had me with an interdeminate number of players as the game started.
Tell a lie, we had ten players walk onto field, but Nimble represented his brand well; appearing from seemingly nowhere with a cheery smile and goodwill. I took this as a good omen. And a relief.
Soon after Rowdy also arrived, giving us a spare fielder for the arduous fielding conditions, as well as a handy cricketer.
Our fielding innings before drinks went extremely positively, with Jay making an early breakthrough, thanks to a solid catch behind the stumps from Dutchy.
Pup followed his Captains request and dumped the Sam (or Tom?) Curran-inspired change to his bowling action, resulting in only 3 runs scored from his 2 overs. His efficiency was replicated by the Big Dog, Sizzle and Ami before the drinks break.
Ed bowled two overs as well.
The Animal, by now visibly frothing at the mouth and having to be restrained by chains, was then unleashed and showed us all the lost art of bowling on a good length. Rowdy, who had silently substituted on to the field for Pup provided support to The Animal with genuine pace that the Curtin batters struggled to hit and the rest of us struggled to see. Amazing what 5 years out of the game will do for you.
Nimble, Jack and Local then came into the attack, each of them claiming a wicket, which was something of a relief. Jack bowled some excellent spin, toyed with his length and had The Curtins biggest hitter back in the sheds for only 2 after he tried to clear yours truly on the fence. He really was very unlucky.
Local dug deep from his sweat-laden fielding position for have a ball pop to Pup and Dutchy made use of Rowdy behind the stumps to get a very handy caught-behind.
I also bowled two overs.
Jay then got to bowl the last over of the game, picking up another wicket (caught Pup) and leaving us to chase over 161 for the win.
After a really very enjoyable barbecue provided by The Curtin, Local and Rowdy padded up and walked up full of vim and vigour. Rowdy then hit the first ball for four, all along the ground to the cover boundary.
“Woosh” I thought, “91 off 24 now”. I started to wonder if he’d get to 100 runs against the Curtin before he tried to launch an inswinger over midwicket and had his middle stump knocked out of the ground.
“Ah” I thought.
Pup then came to the wicket and very promptly Local was back in the sheds. The less said about it the better, I thank you.
2 wickets for 4 runs in the first over wasn’t the start I’d hoped for, nor was a combined 4 runs from Rowdy and Local.
The weather had also started to change at this point, with the humidity almost gone and a strong breeze billowing in from the East. I knew it was strong as it knocked my beer over.
Sizzle arrived at the wicket to my curiosity; which Sizzle would this be? The Sizzle that hits them out of the park, or the Sizzle that goes out in the most unlucky circumstances conceivable? It turns out it was the Sizzle who plays with aggression and intent and soon another 38 runs were added in quick time before Sizzle got so aggressive that he (unluckily) ran himself out.
Pup retired soon thereafter, having compiled a patient 31 off 29 balls, leading to a period of the game that shall henceforth be referred to as “the rebuild”. Nimble and The Animal (batting at last!) put on another 40 runs, leaving the Quokkas at 4 wickets for 81 in the 15th over.
It really was a terrific effort from the pair, running singles and creating a platform for the “finishers” in the team to work their bludgeoning trade from.
Ami, in his debut game for the season, was the first on the scene; blasting 28 from 21 balls, including 2 massive sixes over cow corner. I’m fairly certain one has permanently damaged the road adjacent to the ground, such was the ferocity with which it was hit.
Ed then came to the crease for his first hit since reappearing from the shaky isles, striking and running as wildly as his appearance. Eventually he ran himself out, also wildly.
The last partnership of Jay and Dutchy then went about chasing the total with purpose, running twos and threes as the target reduced but still remained unflinching and intimidating.
From 61 needed from 7 overs, it became 47 off 6, 41 off 5, 33 of 4, 26 off 3, 18 off 2 and finally 9 off 1.
The ending, dear reader, has already been shared but the excitement of the day was palpable and really, that is what we will remember; how enjoyable the contest was. Not the result, but the experience. Experiences like this can only be achieved through collective team performances and collaboration, and with an equally respected opponent who shares your philosophy.
This game wouldn’t have been possible without the Curtin, or the culture which they fully embrace. Both of these things were started by Owen, whose name adorns the trophy that is passed to the winner of these contests, and who we will always be grateful to.
Many thanks to Owen and to everyone involved for a great day, and here’s looking to many more.
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