**There are different ways of breaking a cricket bat. TOORADIN star Cal O’Hare has done it twice the conventional way; basically being too good for his own good; breaking two bats by playing extraordinarily hard cricket shots. But a local cricketer, who has promised he will get physical if we mention his name, did it in more spectacular style on the weekend. Those a little older will remember Dirk Wellham swinging his bat at a gate and hitting the gatekeeper in the throat. Well our bat-wrecker didn’t miss the gate; looking on in horror – and embarrassment – as his bat broke into two pieces after giving the fence a good old whack on Saturday. It’s a painful experience…he reckons he will be at least $400 out of pocket.
**A week is a long time in cricket and TRAFALGAR opener Liam Durkin found that out the hard way against DROUIN on Saturday. Traf did a great job of bowling out the Hawks for just 110 on day one, but were left with 22 overs to bat as a consequence. Durkin really dug in heading towards stumps on the opening day, facing 70 balls for no runs as Traf crawled its way to 2/11 at the close of play. Guess what; he was dismissed by Hawks’ skipper James Wilcock with the first ball he faced on day two, ending with a hard-earned duck of 71 balls. His opening partner Riley White was lively in comparison, taking 43 balls to make four.
**If what we’re hearing is correct, things are not exactly going according to plan when it comes to the change of structure for the CCCA next season. We know of at least two clubs that are not happy after a proposal that was originally accepted by clubs is now in question after the CCCA executive stepped in. Apparently communication has not been great on this issue either, with clubs being forced to wait to see what the structure might look like for next year.
**He’s done it again. MERINDA PARK legend Johnee Cuthbertson made a remarkable 28th century on Saturday, almost 28 years after making his first. JB faced 84 balls, hitting 11 fours and three sixes in his mighty knock, although it didn’t translate to a win. EMERALD knocked over the Cobras total of 156 in just 20.1 overs, with Brett Maddock (73) and Kunal Nanda (67 not out) guiding the one-day Bombers to an impressive win. We can’t blame Cuthbertson however; he did make almost two thirds of his team’s runs!
**While on MERINDA PARK, it was a good night out for Cobras’ president Jamie Smith who took out the $2,500 first prize at the club’s major prize draw on Saturday night. Now, we’ve all heard stories about highly-paid players winning these types of things on a regular basis, which is always a bit suss, but this one is totally legit. Twig has been a long-time contributor to the Cobras and proved how much of a good bloke he is by putting $500 of his winnings over the bar. Smith was captain/coach when the Cobras last played in a CCCA Premier Division Grand Final in 2013 (don’t mention the words Tom Hussey).
**The Presidents’ Knock! CCCA President Ben Knowles and CLYDE club President Tristan Walton enjoyed a massive partnership for the A Grade Cougars on Saturday. The pair piled on 145 runs with Walton finishing on 77 and Knowles 85, helping Clyde post 262 on day one against PAKENHAM UPPER/TOOMUC.
**One brings two, that’s what they say in cricket isn’t it. Well there was living form of that in the DDCA Turf 3 match between KEYSBOROUGH and ST MARY’S. The Knights set 251 on day one, and the Saints were always a good chance to chase it until they lost consecutive wickets time and time again. If I told you that St Mary’s had 43, 76 and 56-run partnerships on the day, you would find it hard to believe they lost a combined 9/0. The FOWs were remarkable: 1/43, 2/43, 3/43, 4/119, 5/119, 6/175, 7/175, 8/187, 9/187 and 10/215 – remarkably, nobody even got to bowl a hat-trick ball on the day.
**Some legends were in the house at HSD over the weekend as the Cobras revealed their team of the 21st century. Congratulations to Adam Semmens, Trevor Davies, Matthew Cox, Kaushalya Weeraratne, Michael Davies, Triyan De Silva, Justin Davis, Paul Stockdale, Robert Davies, Brodie Yapp, Glenn Hamilton and Ryan Patterson on making the team.
**HALLAM KALORA PARK Austin Fardell and Jawid Khan put on a 76-run partnership in the T20 grand final against NARRE SOUTH – Khan contributed 67 runs and Fardell 9. Sometimes you just have to be there when the wickets are falling and rotate the strike, Fardell did that brilliantly. Without that contribution and important partnership, the Hawks maybe don’t win the T20 flag. Well played to both batters.
**Congratulations to TOORADIN stalwart Daniel Quinn, who played his 250th game for the Gulls on Saturday. Quinn has won just about every competition you could possibly win in his time at the club, with his premiership tally at nine, including four as skipper. And what a way to celebrate by taking his first two wickets for the season to help his side bowl out NAR NAR GOON for 189.
**How good to see TOORADIN Cricket Club and TOORADIN-DALMORE Footy Club come together to play its fourth annual Ben Proctor Memorial T20 match at Rutter Park on Tuesday night. All proceeds from the night went to Beyond Blue on an important night for both clubs in honour of late great mate Ben. On a side note, it’s certainly interesting to see dual-sport star Brad Butler skipper the Footy Club XI!
FOOTY SHORTS
**Shoutout to BERWICK’S Marcus Krasnadamskis, who has been putting his best foot forward and training with RICHMOND through the AFL’s Supplementary Selection Period (SSP). The ruck prospect has been on different camps with the team in the pre-season and will be hoping to earn a spot on the list later this month.
**When PAKENHAM said they’d like to see EVERYONE involved at preseason training – they meant it. In a recent gym video, senior coach Justin Stanton was well and truly amongst the high intensity training with the players. Well done Juzzy, we love the commitment!
**Round one of the VFL fixture was released last week and CASEY has a massive test ahead of it to open its season as the Demons will visit reigning premiers FOOTSCRAY on Saturday 21 March at 2:05pm.
**While on CASEY, there’s some big news in local footy that will break regarding a leader at the Demons and a local club. We’ll have more on that when we’re allowed to tell you. Club’s get a little sensitive when you break news that you’ve been told not to.
