2nds Saved After Diabolical Collapse

By Tom Carden and Brodie Elliott

A cool head from number 8 Harrison “Faf” Dunn and a 61 from Hugh “Who” Brassil rescued 2nd Grade after a late innings collapse in their round 8 clash against Long Reef at Plateau Park.

Captain Elliott lost his third consecutive toss and chucked yet another pretend tantrum when Longy choose to bat. Aggressive and steady bowling saw the away side only able to post a modest total of 115. Bonner starred for the home side taking 3/10, he was supported by Ryan Dunn who took 3/29 and some hefty short pitched bowling from Sam Steindl (1/7 off 4). An overall improved fielding performance (but still by no means perfect) featured a couple of “never-in-doubt” high ball catches from Andrew Cameron and Toby “oh no” Horstead.

In reply 2nds got off to a healthy start thanks to Dunny and Hugh posting a 3rd wicket partnership of 71. This left 30 runs to get, with a comfortable 8 wickets in the shed. This feeling of comfortability, however, was quickly eroded. First there was a disastrous run out which saw Dunn on his way back to the pavilion for 24. Brodie was then caught behind the following over, resulting in a not-pretend tantrum and also laid the foundations for a catastrophic hattrick, featuring Sam, LBW, and Bonner, who decided to show contempt for the situation, by going for a 6, but only achieving a skied catch to mid wicket. Captain Elliot and the rest of the team watched on in disbelief. All of a sudden the score was 6/90. In form batsman Brassil tried his best to hit the Plateau to victory and at first succeeded. But then he was tragically dismissed thanks to a unbelievable, reflex, one handed catch in the slips. After two more wickets fell, the final pair of Brick and Harry Dunn were left needing 3 more runs. Brick heroically blocked out the last of the Long Reef recognised bowlers and with their stocks depleted, Harrison was able to cooly put away a half tracker for 4 to complete the safest of victories. So safe, that they deserved every bit of that bonus point they also received.

“We were never in doubt” commented Sam Steindl in the post match.

Thanks to Mona Dots losing, the victory puts 2nds back on top of the ladder. This Saturday, they take on the other Mona team, the Sharks, at Lake Park where they will attempt to start building a buffer at the top of the table.

Scorecard here