Pot shots: Nick Jewell and his new bat, Simon Dart passes milestone and a TV man in run-out drama
Using a bat given to him by a former Victorian teammate, Nick Jewell belted 98 for his new side Long Island in the MPCA on Saturday.
South East
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There was a game within a game going on as Nick Jewell neared 100 for Long Island on Saturday.
The Islanders were also about to reach their victory target and skipper Tom Boxell, who was batting with Jewell at the time, was determined to help him get a century, blocking balls to give Jewelly the strike.
“I wasn’t really interested in getting a hundred that way to be honest,’’ Jewell said.
“I told him a couple of times, ‘if you can finish the game, finish the game, mate’.
“I’d had enough by then. We fielded first and I batted for 20 overs. I was ready to get off.”
It was all to no avail.
On 98, and with two needed for victory, Jewell cracked an on-drive and was caught on the fence, falling short of what would have been his first ton for his new club.
Still, the former Victorian batsman was happy to get among the runs, especially after being crook in recent weeks, even missing a game.
“I hadn’t opened my bag since round two,” he said.
“I got bowled middle stump against Moorooduc in round two and I hadn’t unzipped my bag since. I got there on Saturday morning and I hadn’t had a bat for a while.
“To get 98 off 50 odd balls — a bit of muscle memory took over.”
BEAUTIFUL BAT
And the bat Jewell used was a good ’un.
It’s a hand-me-down from his former state teammate Cameron White.
On the topic of bats, Jewell revealed he used to use bats made for Adam Gilchrist during his Victorian career.
“They’d ring me and say, ‘Gilly’s been in, you can come and get what’s left’,” Jewell said.
“They used to make like 50 bats for him and he’d come in and grab 10, so there were 40 bats — like, you just wouldn’t believe how good they were — left over.
“I’ve had some good ones.”
RED HILL RUN MACHINE
Speaking of star batsmen, how about these stats for Red Hill maestro Simon Dart.
His century on Saturday took him past 5000 runs for the Hillmen.
Since joining Red Hill in 2012 from Melbourne, Dart has played 118 RHCC matches, scored 5075 runs @ 58.33, with 13 centuries and 33 half centuries and a highest score of 173.
Oh, and he’s also taken 131 wickets @ 15.73, taken 63 catches and had 20 run outs.
Yep, the Hillmen hit the bullseye when they got Dart.
WRONG BALL
If it wasn’t for an alert bowler, a small cricket ball would have been used in the Vic Super Slam clash between Prahran and Frankston Peninsula last week.
When Heat left-hander Dale Elmi smashed a six onto nearby Orrong Rd, the game was held up while a search party went looking for the ball.
With darkness closing in, umpires called for a replacement ball.
Only trouble was, in all the haste, a 142g ball – as opposed to the normal 156g one – was grabbed out of the Prahran rooms and tossed to the umps.
Prahran bowler Stephen Seymour had ball in hand when he was about to charge in but stopped, sensing something wasn’t right.
“Hey, ump, this is the wrong ball,’’ he yelled.
Prahran has a couple of women’s sides and the ball belonged to them.
YES. NO. WAIT. SORRY
ABC television presenter Paul Kennedy’s comeback to cricket is going swimmingly — he’s averaging 139 for the Carrum fourths — or is it?
Word filters through that he was involved in a mix-up between wickets in a game against Skye on the weekend, resulting in his son, Jack, being run out.
Let’s just say it wasn’t just the weather that was frosty on Saturday afternoon.
CRUNCHING SHOT
Clearly PK is hitting the ball well.
Skye player Darren Okley can vouch for that. He says he was fielding “35 metres off the bat” when PK crunched one towards him, “at around 150kph”.
“I tried to stop it on a freezing cold day,” Okley says, “and my hand splatted on contact and I could still feel it 10 overs later. I’m not joking, it was one of the hardest hits I’ve received on a cricket ground.”
MORE LOCAL CRICKET NEWS:
MPCA: FRENCH ISLAND ENJOYING SUCCESSFUL RUN
MPCA: CRIB POINT MAKES STRONG START TO SEASON
THEM’S THE BREAKS
Ouch!
Seaford captain Ryan McQueen has been in the wars lately. He underwent surgery for a double hernia before the season - and then while fielding at short cover against Tyabb a few weeks ago he thrust his hand down to stop a ball, and snap, broke his thumb.
And it was his 200th First XI game!
Two pins and two wires later, McQueen is sidelined until after Christmas.