Labour Weekend Tournament 24th, 25th, 26th October 2009

Game 1 vs CHB (Central Hawkes Bay) (45 overs): CHB 62-10, WC 63-2
Could not be a more easy win to us. It was a great day, not a cloud in the sky, We met up at Nelson park. Danny got on with the Toss, lost it and we had to bowl first. We got an early wicket, they were not regular with two of there batters put on a mini partnership, just stayed there - not many runs. Anyway, Sam P removed them both with 3 wickets - very good bowling by him. Wickets were very regular from then and CHB were 57-7. Jesse Bowled well at the end, everyone did. 62 was never going to be a problem for us to chase, although we lost Alex B LBW for 1, Sam Collier and I held the Innings together. I got out for 11. Disappointing not to be there at the end, Henry 8*, Sam Collier 20* got us home in the end with lots of overs remaining. A good win for us to start with. Won by 8 Wickets

Game 2 Vs HIBS (50 overs): WC 196-4, HIBS 121-10
A decent game for us, because we got to bat first. It was a hard pitch to play strokes on with the new ball. We were 12-0 after 9 overs - very slow, Alex B got out for 11, I stayed in, ran out Sam Collier in the process (had a complete Brain Explosion!!). I couldn't get anything away, could not pick the gaps, and i got bowled in the 28th over for a very scratchy 19 off LOTS off balls. Now Sam P and Danny were in and batted great. They put on 115 runs for the 4th wicket. Danny Picked the gaps and Sam P did the attacking, both got very handy 50's (Sam's First - good stuff). Danny got 78 (out in last over), and Sam Wilson 1* and Sam P unbeaten on 50 odd. We got 196-4. The HIBS bowlers bowled very well. Ben Skilton 10 overs for 13 runs or something like that, very impressive. HIBS were going to struggle chasing the total on this slow wicket but they were 51-1 after 15 overs, not a great start by us. We got regular wickets from then with Henry cleaning up the tail with impressive figures of 4 wickets for 1 run (was a wide!) off 5 overs!! Also Sam Wilson was a standout with 3 wickets. A good team effort.

Game 3 Vs Napier Tech U15 (45 overs) NT 155-8, WC 116-7
Our Final game of the tournament was against Napier Tech U15. Things started well with Danny winning the toss and bowling first. We got an early wicket, then the two batsman played well for a while. One of them took it to us and tried slogging. It got him out eventually. He didn't make much, as a result he gave his wicket away. NT were 45-3 after 18 overs, that was soon to be 48-5 with Sam P the chief destroyer. He continues to have a great tournament. But we started to slack off in the field and they got a few runs. 71-7 was the score at one time, NT batted there whole 45 overs and our bowlers couldn't get the last 3 wickets. It got frustrating as one guy stayed in for a long time, they ended getting 155-9 in 45 overs. Gettable total for sure. Batting was tough on this wicket as it was very slow. They had some very good opening bowlers and got Alex and Sam Collier out. Me and Danny were in and had to defend, the bowling was spot on the money. It was hard work and slow going. 23-2 after 17 overs was not great. I decided to have a swing because we were so behind on the run-rate. 4.7 the Run rate required. I got out caught. Danny was running out of partners and we were losing wickets. We needed 7/8 an over, just couldn't get that on this pitch. The bowlers were fantastic. 155 was too much for us, we ended 116-7 after 45 overs with Danny getting 39. A fun tournament, good to get some cricket.