GPS First XI cricket 2021 Round 5
St Joseph’s Nudgee College revved up its GPS First XI premiership campaign while Lochie Butterworth-Love batted Churchie to victory in a round of thrillers.
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St Joseph’s Nudgee College revved up its GPS First XI premiership campaign with a decisive win over old foe Terrace.
In a surprisingly lopsided encounter, Nudgee dismissed Terrace for just 88 before racing to a seven wicket win inside 19 overs.
In contrast the other three matches were thrillers as Churchie’s Lochie Butterworth-Love (33 not out) became the hero in a one wicket win (9-124) over Brisbane Boys College (123) while TSS (9-130) somehow beat BSHS (129) in another nailbiting finish.
Toowoomba Grammar School (9-193) also pipped Brisbane Grammar School (192) at the post.
At Ross Oval, two grand old foes came together under beautiful summer skies with gleaming white picket fences the backdrop Balkin’s opening burst.
With the new ball glistening in his hands, Balkin made the ball whiz as it passed the bat en route to him carving a hole in the Terrace batting.
Nudgee won the first hour when Terrace found themselves 4-42 as Balkin 5-1-16-3 and left armer Kallum Russell 4-0-21-1 fired.
But just as importantly for coach Terry Oliver, Nudgee also won the second and third hours as well.
“We have been good the last couple of weeks, not only starting well but strangling them with our change bowlers,’’ Oliver said in praise of the bowling around Balkin and Russell.
“That is what we did again today.
“The starts have been good all season, but lately we have been continuing that on and keeping the pressure on all day.
“In youth cricket, you keep the pressure on, the runs dry up and it turns south from there.”
Terrace No.4 Mitchell Bodimeade (29) displayed his class early by raising his team’s 50 after just 11 overs, but teammates continued to fall around him when batting all-rounder Jackson Mills (2-11) claimed a wicket in his second over to reduce the visitors to 5-51.
Top order batsman Luke Maugeri (2-15) then chipped in with two wickets bowling his medium pace and Terrace’s batting depth was being tested as the Red and Black boys slumped to 7-61 after 18 overs.
When Russell (3-35) returned for his second spell he dismissed the threatening Bodimeade, and between him and Mills the pair ensured there was no get out of jail card activated by the Terrace lower order.
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But Nudgee’s landslide to victory all started with Balkin.
No doubt striving for maximum pace, Balkin bowled four wides and over stretched once at the bowling crease, but he found his radar to claim two of his wickets bowled and LBW.
It was high class, genuine fast bowling which shifted the focus of the batsmen from attack to that of survival.
In the Nudgee run chase, Maugeri completed a nice double with a brisk 30 and Nudgee’s unbeaten run continued.
At Fursden Road, The Southport School (9-130) did it again to wriggle from the jaws of defeat against a spirited BSHS (129) bunch who fought tooth and nail.
In a gripping 26 minute last stand, No.11 Tom Kelly joined No.9 Daniel Statham in threading together the 13 runs required for victory after TSS had slumped to 9-117.
Just as they did earlier in the season against Churchie, TSS some how found a way to win.
It was a gripping contest as BSHS struggled back into the match from being dismissed for 129.
BSHS new ball bowler Luke Hatherell (2-25) threatened TSS early in their innings while Daemun Singh (3-9, 10 overs) bowled magnificently, conceding just eight runs off his first seven overs, including two wickets.
Connor McMillan’s dismissal of Jack Sinfield for 21 then gave BSHS an outside chance at 4-70 (20 overs) and in the end BSHS were unlucky not to win.
Earlier, Lachlan Crump’s amazing four over burst as first change bowler for TSS netted him 3-7 from four overs while Tom Gossett (0-15, nine overs) and Kelly (1-3, five overs) built pressure on pressure.
All the while the bowlers were backed by disciplined fielding as TSS strangled their opponents.
Crump went on to claim a fourth wicket (4-21), including that of BSHS batting mainstay Aaron Joby (13, 48 minutes) who again looked the part until Crump trapped him LBW.
Jordan Kingdon also tried hard for BSHS to mount a revival, but Griffith Williams’ dismissal of all-rounder Hatherell - caught by Sinfield - further eroded the BSHS innings before Miron Nanayakkarawasam interjected with the bat.
BSHS were reduced to 4-26 and 7-68 before leg-spinner Nanayakkarawasam fired off 46 in quick time.
With staunch support from McMillan (11) and Will Storrs (17), BSHS made 129 and then sent a scare through the TSS camp when the joint premiership favourites slipped to 5-83 after a double break through by leg-spinner McMillan.
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At Mills Oval, Toowoomba Grammar School remarkably recovered from 4-11 to muster 9-193 and win the match against Brisbane Grammar School.
TGS came back hard to win, with tailenders Harrison Tzannes and Will Kruger scrambling singles in fading light.
“It was a nail biting defeat and a gutsy performance from Toowoomba. Hats off to them,’’ said BGS director of cricket Trevor Irvine.
To think the TGS side was in dire straits early.
When TGS batted, BGS new ball bowlers Marcus Bean (2-13) and Robbie Sanders (2-7) took four wickets between them to have the visitors 4-11 and seemingly out of the contest.
Taj Glenn (60) and Sam Anderson then inflated the TGS innings to such an extent that TGS needed 110 in the last 25 overs with six wickets in hand.
Nowlan claimed Anderson for 29, but Glenn pushed on, raising his 50 from 86 deliveries as he and Jem Ryan (30) set off after the victory target.
The Anderson-Glenn partnership of 73 took TGS to 5-84, then Ryan attacked alongside Glenn.
So well did the lower order bat, that TGS needed just 14 runs from the last five overs with two wickets in hand.
Lost in the last minute drama is the bowling effort of TGS’s Ryan.
If Nudgee’s Balkin has been the fast bowler of the competition to date, Ryan has not been far behind him and again today he was at it again with pace and aggression and control netting him 1-10 in his opening six over burst.
Earlier BGS batters Hugh Couper (47), Ethan Bartley (57) and Matt Lockhart (52) played superbly against a very good TGS bowling unit.
Bartley and Lockhart produced a partnership of 110 as BGS rose from 5-83 to 192.
Under intense pressure early from the TGS bowlers, Couper also helped when he raced to 40 at nearly a run-a-ball despite TGS bowlers Jem Ryan (1-28), Wihan Kruger (1-36), Paul Draheim and Harry Meiklejohn (1-26) each capturing a wicket to have the visiting team 4-63.
Irvine said although BGS had shown improvement this season, they had not put a complete team performance together.
But he said BGS did well to get to 192 and then have the opposition 4-20. “It shows the value of partnership and never giving in,’’ he said.
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At Oakman Park, Churchie pair Lochie Butterworth-Love (33 not out, 63 balls) and Henry Zietsch (nine not out, 16 balls) scrambled a last wicket 24 run partnership to beat BBC.
Churchie were 9-100 chasing 123 when the pair came together, slowly, surely chipping away at the target to claim an unlikely win.
It is the second thriller Churchie have been involved in this season after a near miss against TSS.
But this time Butterworth-Love and Henry Zietsch scrambled a last wicket partnership, cutting through the tension to claim victory.
Churchie No.9 James Holy (11) also deserves a mention for starting the recovery from 8-74 when he added runs with Butterworth-Love.
Brisbane Boys College were at their defiant best when they battled back from a seemingly impossible position against a rejuvenated Churchie.
Defending just 123, BBC produced a wonderful team bowling effort that was then unhinged by Butterworth-Love and his mates.
BBC bowlers James Alexander (3-30), Javen D’souza, Jack Hogarth, Blake Davis (2-25) and Samuel Bell (2-25) tag-teamed across the innings to have Churchie 9-100.
Earlier in the day, with Zietsch’s golden arm evident, a Churchie again had early success at the bowling crease.
With three early wickets, Zietsch pinned BBC to 4-60 after 20 overs and around him Steven Timms, Will Harris. Hamish McDonald and Campbell Corrigan maintained pressure.
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