AIC First XI Players of the Week; the Premiership race in three
The AIC First XI premiership is down to a race in three. We look at the road ahead, and name our latest Players of the Week.
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The AIC First XI premiership is down to a race in three, with leaders St Patrick’s College, Iona College and Marist College Ashgrove clambering for the title.
With three rounds remaining unbeaten Paddies lead the way with four wins from four games (8 points), followed by Iona and Ashgrove (6 points each).
There is still an outside chance one of St Peters Lutheran College, Villanova College and Padua College, who have each won two games, could challenge, so the stakes were high.
RELATED LINKS
ROUND 4 MATCH REPORT - INCLUDING UPSET OF THE SEASON
This Saturday will see a huge match between St Patrick’s College and Marist at Curlew Park, while Iona played away to the improving St Peters.
Down the track there is also a potentially blockbuster last round fixture between Paddies and Iona.
The road ahead looks like this:
St Patrick’s College: Marist (home), St Edmund’s (home), Iona (away).
Marist College Ashgrove: St Patrick’s (away), St Laurence’s (home), St Edmund’s (away).
Iona College: St Peters (away), Villanova (home), St Patrick’s (home).
Padua: Villanova (home), St Peters (away), St Laurence’s (away).
Villanova: Padua (away), Iona (away), St Peters (home)
St Peters: Iona (home), Padua (home), Villanova (away).
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TEAM OF THE WEEK
MARIST COLLEGE ASHGROVE V ST PETERS
Sree Bachu (St Peters)
Bachu wasted no time with opening partner James Nelson after St Peters had won the toss and elected to bat. The right hander rocketed to 49 off just 40, while Nelson chipped away with 19 off 43.
It was a superb opening partnership of 59, putting Ashgrove on the back foot. Why? Ashgrove has had early breakthroughs all season long, so checking the scoreboard with their rivals 0/59 isn’t something they are used to.
Noah Johnson (St Peters)
Johnson came in at No.7 after a middle order collapse saw the Saints lose five wickets for just 20 runs.
But, he wasn’t having a bar of it, building an innings of 37 at a run-a-ball before James Brandon and wicketkeeper Will Nickelson removed him with a run out.
Flynn Cleary (Ashgrove)
Cleary spearheaded Ashgrove’s assasination on the St Peter’s middle order, claiming three quick wickets for the loss of 10 runs.
There’s no doubt after Cleary picked up Sebastian McCormack for 14, Aarav Pant for 2 and Luke Dyer for naught, the pressure led to the mix up between the wickets which dismissed Noah Johnson (36).
Will Nickelson (Ashgrove)
Some season this Year 11 is having. An unbeaten century in a loss one week and a match winning 96* the next, Nickelson is in the best patch of form any Ashgrove First XI batsmen has seen in years.
At the weekend, Ashgrove were without captain Ben Ferguson, a crucial piece of their batting line-up. But that didn’t worry the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the competition one bit. Chasing 193, Nickelson scored almost half of Ashgrove’s runs and most importantly he saw the innings out to not only get his side the result but to keep them in the running for the premiership.
PADUA COLLEGE V IONA COLLEGE
Harley Malpass (Iona)
Malpass continued his fine streak of form on Saturday, as Padua College pulled off the biggest upset of the year so far.
The first drop batsmen who broke the hearts of Ashgrove last week with a match-winning 87, rose to the occasion once more with 70.
Unlike round 3, Iona batted first and were the visitors. And even with the topscoring Malpass, their 156 run total was gobbled up with six overs to spare.
Hamish McKeown also added 38 in 44 ball flurry of boundaries and sixes.
Will Webster (Padua)
Webster was the ultimate destructor at the bowling crease. He took the prized scalp of Malpass, before sending Liam Bragger, McKeon and Harrison Smith walking. Had he not dismissed Malpass and McKeon, two batsmen well into their innings, Iona could have been defending 200+.
Harry Thornton also helped him out big time, taking two quick wickets at the end. Adam Richter was one of them, and after his 82 off 62 in round 3 it’s fair to say it was as crucial as any other wicket.
Will Tozer (Padua)
Tozer was a game winner with his right arm pace delivering three wickets. After shining with the ball, he cruised along in the batting innings with an unbeaten 75.
In a miraculous display, Tozer tallied nine fours and three sixes, spearheading the padua run chase.
Braithyn Pecic (15) and Webster (18) chipped in but it was Tozer who carried the Padua side to the upset, throwing a spanner in the works of this exciting AIC cricket competition.
VILLANOVA COLLEGE V ST EDMUND’S COLLEGE
Villa’s awesome foursome Larry Clark, Tom Reick, Connor Moloney and Zac Joyce
It took an excellent team effort with the ball to erase the Eddies batsmen for just 53.
Connor Moloney (2-2) and Jack Moloney (1-9) took wickets early before Larry Clark (3-13) and Reick (2-18) took care of the middle order. Right arm leg spinner Joyce joined the party and cleaned up the tail with a quick twofer off two overs. It took 25 overs for these boys to clean up Eddies’ and just seven overs with the bat to chase it down.
High praise to Eddies’ Ben Naish. The skipper was the only one on the day to reach double figures, scoring a commendable 29 off 50.
ST LAURENCE’S COLLEGE V ST PATRICK’S COLLEGE
Daniel Gray and Thomas Stenhouse (Lauries)
Gray (59*) and Stenhouse (58)gave Paddies a real run for their money with two gutsy knocks.
They put on a 129 run partnership with quick singles and pushing for two’s their specialty.
Mackenzie Douglas (Lauries)
Captain Mackenzie Douglas dove deep into his bag of tricks on Saturday to dismiss three straight wickets. This was after he removed Paddies opener Lachlan Allen.
He came away with figures of 4-27 off 10 and he should pat himself on the bat knowing he did all he could do to try to conjure an upset win.
Lachlan Allen and James Weedon (Paddies)
The pair had a crucial 38 run stand to begin the chase, and after Weedon was dismissed for 22, Allen remained focused with a classy 41.
Year 10 gun Steve Hogan played his part with 26, before Mitchell Hartshorn (19) and Noah James (27) finished the job just in time.
In the end, thanks to shared batting efforts, the undefeated Paddies side successfully tracked down 166 with two wickets and one over to spare.
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