Analysis: What La Nina means for Gold Coast cricketers

After seven weeks of sunshine the Bureau of Meteorology has warned a La Nina event is set to drench the Gold Coast summer, sparking fears of another rain-impacted cricket season.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 12: The covers are taken off during the Marsh One Day Cup match between Victoria and New South Wales at Melbourne Cricket Ground, on November 12, 2021, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

AFTER seven weeks of sunshine the Bureau of Meteorology has warned a La Nina event is set to drench the Gold Coast summer, sparking fears of another rain-impacted cricket season.

Nearly all matches scheduled for the weekend of November 27/28 were cancelled after more than 150mm of rain fell between Tuesday and Friday.

News of the La Nina event has been met with disappointment from the region’s cricketers, according to Surfers Paradise coach Scott Day.

“Any time you sign up to play cricket you just want to play,” Day said.

“Any rain like that is frustrating more than anything but that’s the thing, you can’t do anything about it.”

Last year’s La Nina event was to blame for one of the wettest seasons on record in 2020/21.

The season saw 28 matches washed out, including both semi-finals, with even more reduced to shortened fixtures.

Heavy rain will call for the covers again this season. Pic: Getty Images

The weather phenomenon occurs when strong winds push warm water west across the Pacific Ocean, cooling temperatures and increasing rainfall.

The last “significant” La Nina event saw the summers of 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 experience high rainfall.

The milder La Nina event of 2020/2021 saw 13.5 per cent of regular season matches washed out.

Mudgeeraba-Nerang topped the table with 92 points that season after losing three matches to the rain, the fewest of any club.

The Bushmen have faired the best in wet seasons among Gold Coast sides recently.

During the last three La Nina affected seasons Mudgeeraba finished in the top two on the Kookaburra Cup leaderboard, winning two grand finals.

WEEK EIGHT MATCH REPORTS

THE age of Oam has begun for Surfers Paradise, with the 15-year-old hailed as the top junior spin weapon in the state after leading the Demons to an important win over Burleigh.

The week’s rainfall meant only two Kookaburra Cup matches could proceed in week six, with competition frontrunner Mudgeeraba and contender Helensvale forced to split points in matches they were tipped to win.

Both teams lost ground to Surfers and Palm Beach Currumbin, whose superior drainage helped them seize full competition points at home.

Left-arm orthodox spinner Patel was the star of the day for Surfers, shining in overcast conditions to put Burleigh’s top order to the sword.

Patel took all four of his wickets in the first three overs of his spell opening the bowling, conceding three runs.

Reigning Bulletin team of the week selections Scott Sanderson and Mick Spargo were dismissed for ducks.

Surfers coach Scott Day said Patel had no equal in Queensland junior cricket.

“He’s just performing outstandingly well,” Day said.

“He’s leading the whole Lord Taverner’s competition in wickets with Gold Coast and opening the bowling against senior men.

“The wicket was perfect – if we could play on that every week we’d be happy.”

Patel ensnared Burleigh’s openers lbw and bowled, No. 3 Sanderson caught at slip and Spargo lbw to finish 4-17 from eight overs as Burleigh was bowled out for 73.

Surfers cruised to 0-51 before losing three wickets in a minor collapse, leaving Claye Beams and Steven van der Walt to overtake the total in the 18th over for a seven-wicket win.

Runaway Bay fell to back-to back-defeats in difficult batting conditions against PBC.

The Lions chased down the Bay total of 74 in 20 overs for a six wicket victory.

Opener Joel Harrison topscored for the Seagulls with 38 but no other batsman escaped the single digits.

Brent Anderson led the PBC bowlers with three wickets while Canning Mason (32 not-out) led the chase.

Second and third grade fixtures were completely washed out but some lower grade matches did go ahead.

Jess Turner (84) led Coomera Hope Island to a 39-run victory over Alberton in fourth grade.

A half-century to Liam Bayley and strong performances from Coomera’s bowlers saw the Crocs’ fifth grade prevail over Alberton by 31 runs.

Runaway Bay’s Garred Birrell came within five runs of his third career century on the Gold Coast to beat Broadbeach by six wickets in fifth grade.

In sixth grade, Broadbeach picked up the division’s only win with a seven-wicket chasedown of Runaway Bay, who were all out for 95.

Brendon Sheldrick and Bailey McWilliams hit the winning runs.

GOLD COAST’S TOP BOUNDARY HITTERS: RANKED

TWO slivers of plastic have helped Kiwi slog artist Bevan Marks wind back the clock to lead the Gold Coast in runs scored and boundaries hit across every senior and junior grade.

The 39-year-old former junior representative cricketer was sixth grade’s runs aggregate runner-up last year, in a 12-game comeback season after three years in retirement from the game.

In moving up to fifth grade Marks has seen his batting average boom from last year’s 70 to 102.5 through five matches.

His secret weapon? A pair of contact lenses he says has taken his batting back to his prime.

“I feel like I’m 20 again,” Marks said.

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“I was about 30 when I started playing for Mudgeeraba and I never seemed to feel the same way I did when I first started (playing cricket).

“Two years ago I got coaxed back to playing again at Bonogin and I had started wearing glasses in that time.

“I got contacts to play again and I guess it changed the game for me.”

With his astigmatism corrected Marks has taken his game to new heights, punishing bowlers for a district-high 65 boundaries from five innings.

His heavy-handed approach has seen him top the runs aggregate leaderboard not just in his grade but across any grade in Gold Coast cricket with 410 runs.

First grade star Harry Lickiss is closest behind Marks’ tally with 327, 83 runs in his rear-vision mirror.

“With astigmatism everything is blurry until you put the lenses on,” Marks said.

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you the comparison exactly but everything is clearer for me now.

“You can follow the ball so much more easily and that’s really helped me.”

Marks’ big hitting is more strategic than just blindly swinging for the fences, though he has cleared them at a rate unmatched by Gold Coast batsmen this season.

“You’ve got to respect what needs respecting,” he said.

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“With opening the batting especially in these lower grades each team has two, maybe three quality bowlers. If you can get through that tough period at the start then you can have your eye in and be a bit more free with your shot-scoring with the bowlers who come in afterwards.

“It’s just about digging in at the start then making them earn your wicket.”

His run-scoring tear comes secondary to making memories with the teammates who enticed him out of retirement to play by their side again.

“I’ve won a third grade premiership as captain; I don’t feel I have anything left to prove up there,” Marks said.

“I’m nearly 40 years old and I’ve got a lot of friends who are playing on their last legs in the cricket life.

“I came back to build memories with them. It may be unfair but that’s what I’m intent on doing and next year I’ll play it by ear.”

Gold Coast’s Top Boundary Hitters: Week 6

1. Bevan Marks, Bonogin 5th Grade

65 boundaries (37 fours; 28 sixes) in five innings

2. Harry Lickiss, Helensvale 1st Grade

40 boundaries (35 fours; 5 sixes) in five innings

3. Ryan Howard, Bonogin 3rd Grade

36 boundaries (25 fours; 11 sixes)

4. Mitchell Brauer, Alberton 2nd Grade

34 boundaries (32 fours; 2 sixes)

5. Scott Robson, Broadbeach 4th Grade

33 boundaries (17 fours; 16 sixes)

6. Dylan Robinson, PBC 4th Grade

32 boundaries (31 fours; 1 six)

7. Vince Hellier, PBC 6th Grade

29 boundaries (29 fours)

8. Harish Kumar, Alberton 1st Grade

28 boundaries (28 fours)

9. Taika Hoare, Burleigh U12 South

29 boundaries (28 fours; 1 six)

10. Zach Hollis, Runaway Bay 1st Grade

29 boundaries (28 fours; 1 six)

Gold Coast’s batting king to make big decision

Gold Coast batting king Nic Peterson is weighing up his retirement from cricket in a potential hammer blow for Surfers Paradise’s Kookaburra Cup title ambitions.

The 35-year-old has scored 3,652 career first grade runs since making his debut for Southport Labrador in the first round of the 2014/15 season.

No other player on the Gold Coast has come within 1000 runs of Peterson’s total in that span, with Jack Winton’s 2,532 runs for Queens the closest.

After 104 innings on the Gold Coast Peterson has chosen to sit out the first month of the new season to test how badly he would miss the battle between ball and bat.

His answer will inform the decision to hang up his whites or return to complete the Kookaburra Cup’s most dangerous batting line-up.

“I’m still undecided,” Peterson told the Bulletin.

“With two young kids I’d been finding it hard to find time for cricket.

“I’m giving it a couple of weeks to see how badly I miss it.”

Peterson is enjoying his time away from the game but stressed he was not ready to make his decision yet.

Surfers captain Claye Beams was willing to give the 2017/18 Sam Loxton medallist for most valuable player as much time as he needed.

“It’d be nice if he came back but if you lose your passion for the game you lose it,” Beams said.

“Nic has to do what’s right for him and his family, and if that means retirement then that’s what is right for him.

“It would be a big loss for us but we’ve picked up Michael Philipson (former Queensland Bulls bat) so we should be able to cover it.

“If he does come back we’re going to be pretty stacked.”

Opener Wayne Phillips has scored 2,826 Kookaburra Cup runs since MyCricket’s launch in 2004, 15th most of any batsman in that span.

Peterson’s tally is 7th most in that period, while reigning Sam Loxton medallist Nathan Reardon is hurtling up the list after leading the competition with a 612-run sophomore season last year.

Reardon’s batting average of 57.1 over 34 innings is the second-best of any player in competition history (minimum 10 innings) while childhood mate Philipson currently boasts the second-best batting average overall.

Philipson has scored 104 runs with a single dismissal across two innings and will return to the crease on Saturday at seven not-out.

Surfers have not won the Kookaburra Cup since 2004/2005.