Round 7 Wrap Up: Col Takes 500th and Steel Continues Batting Charge for Blue

1st Grade
A much stronger performance from Plateau 1st Grade saw them fall to Long Reef by a narrow 21 runs on Saturday. Long Reef won the toss at Plateau Park and elected to bat first. A strong bowling performance from Plateau had Long Reef all out for 149 in 33 overs. The attack was lead valiantly by Jeff-Porter Denning, who ended with figures of 4/13 off 6 overs. All others bowlers used also picked up a single wicket including Johnson (On debut in 1sts), Ruben Donato, James Price, Nirav Patel and Nick Bonner.
In reply with the bat, many of the Plateau players got starts, with more than half the team reaching double figures. But consistent wickets and no one being able to go on to post a big score left them 21 runs short of the Long Reef total. Sam Steindl topped scored with 36 from number 9 as he continued an impressive season with the bat.

2nd Grade
In a historic day for the club with Col Huxley taking his 500th wicket, 2nds registered their 3rd win on the trot to find themselves 3rd on the ladder. Brodie won the toss at St Matthews Farm against Cromer and elected to bat. With usual opener Toby Horstead running late, Ethan Elliott was promoted to opener alongside Conrad Meulman. Early wickets fell with the score at 2/20 bringing Cam Baber to the crease with Ethan. The two put on a 90 run stand to set the team up to power them towards a big total. 2nds reached 6/209 from their 35 overs, Ethan dismissed for 33, Cam with an entertaining 80 which held the innings together and Toby with a quick fired 31.
In the field and defending their total, Plateau started without early wickets but managed to keep things economical for the first half of the innings. When Cromer did eventually decide to go for big shots, Plateau was able to keep their nerve to bowl them out for 180. Matt Richards ended with 0/4 off his 4 overs, Oscar with 2/43 off 7 and Adrian 1/26 off 6 in his return with the ball. Conrad and Cam also picked up a wicket each, along with Steve who bowled well at the death for the Plateau with 1/9 off 2. In the second last over, Cromer with 3 wickets in hand required 30 runs. Enter Col Huxley:

Ball 1: Wicket 498 (LBW) – Traps the opener on 86 directly infront
Ball 2: Dot
Ball 3: Dot
Ball 4: Wicket 499 (Bowled) – Full outswinging delivery that moves away from the batsman’s pads and takes off stump.
Ball 5: WICKET 500! (Stumped?!?!) – The number 11 charges down the wicket with a wild swing and misses the ball outside off stump, Liam Bennet on debut at keeper throws the ball back into stumps to become the answer to a great bit of of Plateau trivia in his very first game for the club!

Congratulation to Col who ended with 3/33 of 6.5 overs.

Presentation of the Match Ball to Col

3rd Grade Blue
A clinical display from Blue saw them make easy work of Wakehurst in their 7th round clash at Nolans 4. Matt Moore won the toss and elected to bat and things initially looked bleak with the score at 2/1 with both openers dismissed early. However Damon Steel in red hot form made amends to the start posting another big half century of 71 to continue a great run with the bat. He was well supported by Matt Moore with 22, Ewen Chung with 28 and James Humberstone who finished 21 not out as Blue posted 8/195 from their 35 overs.
Blue made easy work of Wakehurst, rolling them for 99 and securing a bonus point win. Raj starred with the ball, with a decimating 4/16 off 7 overs. Ewen Chung added to a good all-round performance for the game with 3/20 off 4 and Rob Steel took 2/12 off 3. A much needed result for Blue to keep them in touch with the top 4.

3rd Grade Gold
Gold were against Terry Hills at Nolans 3 on Saturday, with Terry Hills winning the toss and electing to bat. They put on a very good batting display with the top 3 sharing 130 runs between them to a total of all out for 188. The leading wicket taker for Plateau was Sam Filmer-Ramsay with 3/49 off 7. Single wicket takers included Lauchie Allomes, Craig Allomes, Pat Koch, Max Dudfield and Ben Blackshaw.
In reply with the bat, Gold put in a very solid effort to fall short by 26 runs, all out for 162 in 27 overs. Unfortunately they lost wickets too frequently throughout the innings and needed one more batsman to turn a start into a 50. Top scorer was Brad Baber with 42, supported by James Borucier with 30 and Pat Koch with 23.

4th grade
In their game against Wakehurst Black Widows, Collaroy lost the toss and were sent into bat at Lionel Watts 2. Andrew Cameron once again starred with the bat, posting 56 from number 3, but no other batsman managed a score over 13 with Plateau ending 8/127 off their 35.
Defending a smaller target, Plateau were unable to take frequent enough wickets, with Wakehurst reaching the target 4 wickets down and in the 29th over. Eli Cox was once again the pick of the bowlers, taking 3/20 off his 7 overs. Neasmith was the other wicket taker with 1/29 from his 7.