Round 8 Wrap Up: 1sts Party Hard after Chasing 211

1st Grade
Plateau 1sts broke a 5 game losing streak on the weekend, knocking off 2nd place Cromer at Nolans 1. Tom lost the toss with his team sent into the field in sunny conditions. The Plateau bowling attack was lead by Nick Johnson in his 2nd game for 1sts with an emphatic 3/18 from his 7 overs including 3 maidens. Tom also had high praise for James Price with his figures of 2/30 from his 7. Despite their efforts, the depth of Cromer’s batting allowed them to reach 8/211 at the end of their 35 overs. Other wicket takers included Jeff Porter-Denning with 1/45 and Nick Bonner with 1/46.
In reply with the bat, Plateau were under pressure from the start with a high run rate to keep up with. Bonner was out for 8 with the score at 22 and Tom was out for 7 with the score at 30. Robert Minnet held the start of the innings together with a strong 57(65) but when he was dismissed and the score slumped to 4/99 it looked a tough road home for Plateau. This however brought Kav Moorthi together with Andrew Howson at the crease, combining for a match winning partnership of 113. Kav played an innings of great temperament hitting 7 boundaries all around the field and giving Cromer’s captain headaches in setting a field ending with 63(64). Andrew was shakey to begin with but once he got his eye in he was impossible to keep on strike, almost taking at least a single from every ball he faced to end with 35(39) with two boundaries. The application and temperament of both batsman threw a formidable Cromer bowling attack off their lines as Plateau seemingly cruised to a 6 wicket victory with 8 balls to spare in the innings.
At the Christmas party the 1sts players involved were ecstatic with a clinical victory and were well and truly the life of the party!

2nd Grade
Missing key players in their line up, 2nds had a tough day against St Peters at Beverly Job with a defeat which sent them out of the top 4 on the ladder. Brodie won the toss and elected to bat on what looked like a ground destined for runs. Despite reaching 2/50 from the first 15 overs of the innings and setting a similar platform from the weekend before when 2nds posted 209, the innings slumped to all out for 95. 2nds were unable to accelerate due to consistent lines and strong fielding from a young St Peters outfit. Toby Horstead top scored with 24 from opener.
In reply with the ball, Plateau made early inroads into the St Peters batting line-up but with a lack of runs to defend it was always going to be tough to get home for 2nds as St Peters reached the score 5 wickets down. Nirav Patel ended with 2/19 off his 7, Col Huxley 1/27 and Cam Baber 1/26 off 5 overs.

3rd Grade Blue
Blue were up against Harbord at Harbord Park on Saturday. Matt Moore won the toss and elected to bat. Blue posted a score of 9/151 from their 35 overs. Raj top scored with 36, supported by Damon Steel with 30, Rob Steel with 26 and James Humberstone with 20.
In reply Harbord were relentless with the bat, reaching the total in 23.5 overs and only 3 wickets down. Wicket takers included Chris Dwyer (1/13), Ewen Chung (1/20) and Graham Faulkner (1/17).

3rd Grade Gold
In their 8th round clash with Wakehurst at Killarney Oval, Gold lost the toss and were asked to bat. Despite a lot of Gold batsman reaching double figures, no one was able to go on to post a big score with Kesheva Ratnavibushena top scoring with 21 as Gold were bowled out in the 32nd over for 133.
In reply Wakehurst were relentless with the bat, reaching the total with 1 wicket down, both of their openers posting half centuries. Ben Blackshaw was the only Plateau player to pick up a wicket for the game.

4th Grade
4ths hosted Mona Vale at Plateau Park on Saturday with returning captain and club legend John Jackson losing the toss and his team asked to bat. The Plateau batted very well throughout their innings to post 3/168 from their 35 overs. Tim Shultz was the star of the innings with 72 including 9 boundaries. He was well supported by junior development player Nick Baber with 29 from opener including 2 fours and 2 sixes. Andrew Davis was also 25 not out at the end of the innings, playing a late innings support role to get Tim back on strike.
Defending a strong total, Plateau were clinical with the ball, reducing Mona Vale to 9/116 from their 35. Andrew Davis(3/11), John Jackson (3/23), Sam Jones (2/8) and Jim DeBressac (1/20) were the wicket takers for the Plateau. A great win for 4th grade that keeps them in contact with the top 4 as we head towards the Christmas break.