North Balwyn Cricket Club

DUNSTAN PREMIERS!

In what was a highly contested game against a well respected Mont Albert CC, the second day was a rollercoaster. The depth of our squad never gave Mont Albert a chance to take full control of the match however, and with our boys taking their chances at every opportunity, the flag became ours!!

What a day! What a season! Whether it was their first, second or third, this is a team that the North Balwyn community will remember forever for their ability to find a way to win.

Look out for the wrap, for a complete rundown of the match and if you have any photos, please send them through to the club.

Tomorrow it begins!!

Join us at Mont Albert Reserve from 12:30 on Saturday and Sunday, as our 1st XI strives to once again take us to the promised land!! As the away team we will need huge numbers to get the energy and atmosphere on our side and push the boys to victory!

Win, lose, or draw, all members and supporters are welcome back to the club on Sunday evening at the conclusion of the game to celebrate what has been a wonderful season!!

One to go! Go Bulls!! 🐂

JUNIOR PRESENTATION DAY - MARCH 24th

A reminder to all our members and families, that Junior Presentation Day will be on Sunday, March 24th at 5pm. We hope for a full turnout for this special day in which we can acknowledge and celebrate an incredible season.

There will be a BBQ, drinks over the bar, mini cricket, awards and TOTY announcements!!

This is not a day to be missed! See you all there 🐂

Playing in the finals for the 11th consecutive season, the 1ST XI lost the toss (for the 4th consecutive game) and were "invited" to bowl by EDCC at Zerbes Reserve, in the very hot conditions.
It's fair to say that when EDCC were 0/59 or 1/102 they looked capable of building a score north of 250. However, it was not to be, due to some excellent bowling and fielding. In fact, EDCC slumped from 3/173 in the 66th over to 9/210 in the 79th over (before finishing at 9/219). Alex Smith bowled with great control finishing with 4/28 from 20 overs. Xavier Bateman bowled 21 overs in 2 spells and finished with 3/58 whilst James (old man) Binney did a fantastic job at an important time, bowling 16 overs 0/20. Age shall not weary him. At the other end of the spectrum was 19 yr old, Ryan Roberts. who bowled 13 overs 0/34.
The next day the heat was on NBCC, on the big stage, to chase down a formidable total. A brilliant 145 run opening partnership between Max Tomkinson 73 (off 127 balls with 11 x 4s) and Sam Perry saw the first wicket fall in the 40th over. Max and Sam batted with great maturity, respecting the good balls and dispatching the bad balls as well as running exceptionally well between wickets. EDCC looked like a demoralised unit at the T break but NBCC still had to complete the job. The job was done by Sam, 113 not out (off 187 balls with 14 x4s and 1 x6) in a sensational innings; sharing an unbeaten 2nd wkt partnership of 75 with Sreehari Subramonian (23 off 58 with 3 x4s) which saw NBCC cruise to a 9 wicket win, with more than 17 overs to spare.
So next weekend at Mont Albert NBCC plays in its 8th grand final in 11 yrs. A 3rd premiership in that period would be fantastic (and would possibly start comparisons with the great MFC sides of the '50s and early '60s!!!).

Unfortunately, as great as Sam Perry is, he was unable to be in 2 places at once on Sunday so was unable to coach the Women's team in their GF against Hurstbridge at Reservoir where their 5/153 was just not enough to hold off Hurstbridge who reached the target with 7 balls remaining and 3 wickets in hand. Nicola Hogan again led the way with 50 rtno off 48 with 8 x4s whilst Genevieve Gross 33 not out off 40 with 2 x 4s was next best. On the bowling front Nicola led the way again with 3/30 off 6 overs whilst Neha Bhargava was next best with 2/16 off 5 overs.

The U16s were playing a semi final against Canterbury who batting first finished at 9/199. Jack Stavretis 5 overs 4/10 was the best of the bowlers whilst Jack Grybas took 2/30 off 5.4 overs. In the chase NBCC were dismissed for 134. Jack Stavretis top scored with 48 off 56 ( with 8 x4s and 1 x6) whilst Achir Rikkala 25 off 20 with 3 x4s was next best.

Hope to see everyone at Mont Albert over the weekend. Obviously, the more support the better.

Go Bulls !!

LORRAINE IRELAND SHIELD GRAND FINAL
NBCC (5/153) def by Hurstbridge (7/154) in a final over nail-biter of a premiership match.

NBCC lost the toss and were put in to bat. The Bulls mustered some well composed innings led once again by skipper Nicola Hogan (50* off 48 balls), well supported by Genevieve Grose (33* off 40) and Judi Donovan (26 off 59). It was the highest total Hurstbridge, who has dominated the competition, has had to chase all season.

Three early wickets had Hurstbridge at 3-30, with the first opener caught at gully by Ruth Thornton off the bowling of Nicola Hogan, the second opener caught by Nicola Hogan at short cover off a mis-timed skied drive off the bowling of Neha Bhargava, followed shortly thereafter by the departure of their skipper trapped LBW for 6, again by Neha. The Bulls were feeling optimistic for a possible upset victory.

The Hurstbridge middle order fought back however and steadily accumulated runs while wickets continued to fall. With two overs left Hurstbridge needed 9 runs to win with 3 wickets in hand. Their number 7 bat brought them home with two boundaries to backward square and a quick single.

Nicola Hogan 3/30 off 6
Neha Bhargava 2/16 off 5
Judi Donovan 1/24 off 6
Riddhi Panse 1/22 off 4

Despite the loss, player of the match was awarded to the NBCC skipper, Nicola Hogan, for her outstanding performance with bat and ball.

Well played Hurstbridge, who remain undefeated all summer. But NBCC women fought hard, looked after each other, and will come back stronger next year. What a great season.

NEWS FLASH- WOMENS GRAND FINAL CHANGE OF TIME AND VENUE
Due to the weather forecast, our women’s grand final this Sunday 10th March will now be played at
8:30AM at Barling Reserve, Reservoir.

So get out and beat the heat and support our women’s team playing for glory!

FINALS TIME!

Three HUGEEEE games on this weekend, so let's get some big crowds!!

In an incredible show of consistency, this Saturday our 1st XI will commence their ELEVENTH consecutive finals series in a row. On Sunday we will be spoilt for choice with our Senior women in their first year at the club, have made the Grand Final and have a chance for premiership success! Alternatively, you can get down to support the club's future, who are playing off in an U/16 Semi Final this Sunday! Whatever game sparks your interest, make sure you get down in your finest maroon and gold to cheer on the club to victory!

Game details below:

Dunstan Semi Final vs East Doncaster - Saturday and Sunday, 12:30pm @ Zerbes Reserve

Women's Grand Final vs Hurstbridge - Sunday, 8:30 AM @ Barling Reserve, Reservoir

U16s Semi Final vs Canterbury - Sunday 9am @ Highfield Park

BULLS JUNIOR WRAP PART 2

Settle into your chairs it’s a long one;
Friday afternoon the U14s teams were playing in beautiful conditions and it was a great night to celebrate their last evening for the season.

The 14As were out to defend last weeks total of 200 against Boroondara King Cobras. It took until the 10th over for North Balwyn to take their first wicket with Neel Sudhindraeel coming on to take the first of his 2 wickets, finishing with 2/34 off 7.2. Boroondara had mini mid order collapse with Abu Imran cleaning up a few of the lower order batters finishing with the figures of 3/15 off 8. It came down to a nail biter with Boroondara needing 3 runs off the last two overs. Ryan Sharma bowled a tight over only giving away 2 runs and now Boroondara needed 1 run off the last over. Neel Sudhindraeel bravely stepped up to bowl the last. Unfortunately Boroondara’s top order batter hit the second ball away for 4. Well done team for finishing with such a strong match and for the parents holding their nerve to the end. Also a big thankyou to coach Declan for once again constantly guiding not only the U14As but most of the junior teams through their season.

The 14Bs were chasing a total of 147 set by Mont Albert last week. North Balwyn felt this was a total they could achieve and went into the match hopeful they could finish the season on a high. Unfortunately some strong bowling meant that North Balwyn’s batters struggled to make a start. Aarush Shidid managed to stay in the middle with 23 off 47 balls but in the end ran out of batting partners. Reva Sharma top scored with 26 off 52 and managed a last wicket stand of 41 runs with Aarush before being runout. However North Balwyn fell well short of the target with only 98 runs scored. The team also had to say goodbye to their English coach Sam who’s trying to get the first XI through to the shield grand final. Make sure you all get down to see Sam play in the semi final and support the team. Go watch Sam put all that batting knowledge into practice.

The 14Cs were against Balwyn Blasters at Mrytle park. Balwyn Blasters were top of the standings so they knew a tough match was coming their way. The Bulls lost the toss and were sent in to bat, the top order gave it a fair crack but they knew the bowling would be good. The lads surprised themselves and the Balwyn Blasters by managing to retire 2 of the top 4 batters. Will Hartley again with a great captain’s knock top scored with 22 off 25 balls while Max Findlay was happy to see the opening bowlers off and retire with 13 off 24 balls. With the 4 openers out of the game North Balwyn collapsed to 8 for 73. Knowing they had to bowl well, Noah Atkin took the first wicket and the Blasters were 1/0. The Blasters batted well from there and easily made the total and finished with 4/133. Veraj Madanpotra took 2 wickets for 12 off 2 overs. Well done team on finishing the season strongly and receiving many compliments from the opposition team on how they have improved their game and how nicely they support each other. The team were very thankful to their coach Ryan for all his tips and leadership in not only how to play cricket well but also how to conduct themselves in the field. Sadly Ryan is heading home to England soon, but he has inspired the boys to go play in England when they are old enough to.

Saturday morning sees the U12s finishing their seasons.

The U12As were defending last weeks score of 117 against Richmond. George Mercer and Noah Atkins opened the bowling and immediately had Richmond in trouble. Then the combination of Samaira Shetty and Antonia Dias had Richmond at 3/15. Some of the bowling figures for this innings were amazing and it was hard to pick the best. Samaira Shetty finished with 2/3 off 3 overs and Hashir Salman managed to bowl 5 overs, with 4 maidens and only 1 run scored off the bowling. After 40 overs Richmond could only manage 74 runs. What an amazing bowling effort by this team, a great catch from Hashir early on started an outstanding fielding display by the Bulls with 3 catches all up and a precision run out by Hamish Grossman. Well done to the team finishing the season strongly, just outside finals contention. A big thanks to coaches Will and Harry for helping to get them to this position.

The 12Cs played Surrey hills at Macleay Park. They faced a strong bowling and fielding team and struggled to get their normal sneaky singles. Swaroop Elangovan top scored at 10th batter with 14 off 15 balls and Aarush Gautam was unlucky to be run out on his last ball with 11 off 15 balls. The team knew they had to bowl well to defend this total and they had Surrey Hills on the ropes with 3/32 in the 13th over. Unfortunately for them Surrey Hills best batters then came to the crease. The run chase got tight, Surrey Hills needed 11 off 3 overs. A tight over by Oliver Findlay meant they needed 10 off 2 overs and then it was 1 off 1 over. Swaroop was called up to bowl, 1 dot, 1 dot, the parents were pacing (I know you were Rajan!) and then….1 run. It was over. What a way to finish the season. A team made up of mainly U10s players had lost only their 3rd match all season by just a couple of balls. Well done team and coach Dan.

The final juniors match of the weekend goes to the U10s who were up against an inform team, Glen Iris. So we by now all know this is the most successful team in all of North Balwyn this season. They were keen to have a clean sweep of the season but this was going to be tough. Glen Iris fielded extremely well and shut down the sneaky singles. Vincent Kentell top scoring with 18 off 14 balls. Defending a total of 91 was going to be close. Oliver Findlay got 2 wickets in the last 2 balls of the 2nd over and was on a hattrick. The 10th over bought Oliver back in. He steamed in, bowled a beauty and hit the top of off stump (as instructed by Umah’s dad Imran), but the bails stayed on! Who could be believe it! Carter Davies got 2 wickets in the 13th over and was on a hattrick too, but also couldn’t convert it, 2nd week in a row Carter has done this. Big shout out to Vivaan Deole who kept brilliantly and came so close to many stumpings including one that was clearly out but he didn’t dislodge the bails. So it came down to the last over, Surrey Hills needed 4 runs to win Aarush Gautum was called into bowl, coach Ollie was trying his best to calm and focus the team. Dot ball, dot ball, 2runs, dot ball, 1 run. Surrey Hills need one run off the last ball, this is what childhood dreams are made of! ……Aarush bowls, the batter chips it away for 1run. Wow! What a finish. Still the most successful North Balwyn team for the season, but now they had to admit defeat and bravely go shake the opposition team’s hand. Well done team and coach Ollie, can’t wait to see what your future cricketing looks like.

BULLS JUNIOR WRAP PART 1

Friday evenings the Balwyn North U16s have been silently chipping away at the season.
Last Friday they started their last game of the season against Hays Paddock at home in Macleay Park. In a tightly contested fixture they needed a win to secure a finals berth. They batted in the first innings and weren’t looking great at 5/47 with 4 ducks. However Jack Grybas and Ashhad Salman hunkered down with a mid-innings partnership. Jack finishing with 81 not out off just 58 balls with eight 4s, making his highest score for the season. Ashhad ground out 25 off 67 balls. The Bulls finished with 9/144 in the first innings.
This Friday they knew they had to bowl well to defend their score. Hays Paddock started steadily. Some brilliant bowling again by Jack Grybas who took out the 2 opening batters and ended up with the figures of 4/13 off 6 overs and a runout, kept the Bulls in the running. What a star. Aditya Garyali also pitched in with 2/15 off 4 overs giving him his best figures for the season. Hays Paddock couldn’t recover and were all out for 113.
This means the team is only junior team through to the finals. Well done team and good luck for next week!

In a fantastic weekend of cricket for the NBCC all 5 senior teams won convincingly (as well as the Women's Team who were playing a semi final).

The 1ST XI playing EDCC were defending 4/304 after being sent into bat the previous week by EDCC. After slumping to 3/20, following some vintage bowling by James Binney, EDCC continued to struggle throughout their innings against some great bowling supported by good fielding (especially Max Tomkinson who finished with 3 catches). "Binzo" will tell you "he was clearly the pick of the bowlers" and with figures of 3/22 from 16 overs it's hard to argue about that. However, Xavier Bateman (16 overs 2/14), Alex Smith (18 overs 2/13) and Ryan Roberts (14 overs 2/18) were not that far behind. After being 9/61 off 52 overs EDCC were finally put out of their misery in the 77th over for 99. No doubt the NBCC Vets (attending their Presentation lunch)and those there for the Past Players' Reunion will never witness a batting performance like that again! Anyway, NBCC now get to play EDCC next weekend in a semi final at Zerbes Reserve and should be somewhat confident of winning again( but we all know cricket is a "funny" game).

The 2ND XI were 0/32 overnight chasing Marcellin's 147. Thanks to Mark Rigoni's fantastic 100 not out off only 119 balls( 14 x4s and 1 x 6) NBCC quickly reached the target for the loss of only 2 wickets and finished the season in equal 5th position.

The LOC3 team lost the toss against Hartley but took less than 30 overs to dismiss them for 102. Kiran Chandra finished with 3/13 off 3.3 overs whilst Dan Stavretis took 2/8 off 5 overs and "Jimmy D" closed off his season with 2/28 off 6. Will Grybas took 2 catches and had 2 stumpings. NBCC reached the target in the 21st over losing only 2 wickets in the process. James Norman (or was it an imposter) made 60 not out off only 73 balls (5 x4s) whilst Will Grybas (23 off 30 with 2 x4s) shared in an opening partnership of 54 with "Normo". The win meant NBCC finished 6th in a 10 team comp.

The LOC4 team also lost the toss against Burwood who made 8/159 off their 40 overs. Subhash Rathee (3/10 of 6 overs) and Jiger Nadola (2/12 off 4 overs) had the best bowling figures. NBCC reached the target with 3 wkts in hand and almost 10 overs remaining. Aman Bahtia top scored with 49 ( 5 x 4s and 2 x 6s) but not far behind were Rajesh Mehta 42 ( 4 x 4s and 3 x 6s) and Vikas Garyali 40 not (5 x 4s). NBCC were very unfortunate to finish equal 4th but missed out on finals on %.

The MCA team were another team that lost the toss on the weekend but at least they were "invited" to bat. After being 2/86 NBCC slumped to 7/120 before an 8th wicket partnership of 55 between Luke Gorman (25 off 43) and Johnny Andrews 27 not out off 36 balls (2 x 4s and 1 x 6) took the score to 175 with 14 balls remaining. Enter Jack Grybas who faced 7 balls for 1 run before smashing 24 runs (3 x 6s, 1 x 4 and 1 x 2) off the last 5 balls in a truly amazing innings which saw NBCC somehow end up at 8/204 and with all the momentum. Earlier, Armaan Datta had top scored with 33 off 32 balls (with 5 x4s). In reply,Carnegie lost a wkt on the first ball of their innings when the batsman was comprehensively bowled by Riley Streader. However, after bowling another 6 balls "Streads" was unable to complete the over. Julian "Copter" Cohen immediately grabbed the ball to bowl the last ball of the over and dismissed the "number 3" to have the visitors reeling at 2/4. "Roy" O'Neill relieved "Copter" (after that one ball) and was the pick of the bowlers finishing with 3/17 off 9 overs (at one stage he should've had 3/3). Anyway, Carnegie who had "won" their 2 previous games after protesting the results were looking down and out at 4/22 off after 6 overs. However, to increase their run rate or drag out the game (or both) not long after John Howell was introduced into the attack. John's 3 overs (only) went for 17 but Carnegie got some confidence back and with 20 odd overs remaining were 5/107. It was then Luke Gorman (too injured to bowl) introduced some magic into the game. Firstly, with a very good run out to dismiss Carnegie's top scorer and secondly, not that much later, running (at least 20 meters) with the flight of the ball,then diving,to take a one handed catch only inches from the ground. Arguably, the best catch seen by anyone luckier enough to be at the ground (in any game of cricket) this season if not longer! Unfortunately, for anyone who doubts this, the frogbox vision just fails to catch it (no pun intended) but does get the reaction of several players. A demoralised Carnegie were dismissed shortly afterwards for 113 with 14 overs remaining. The father and son Grybas combination finished with 3 wickets between them. The 4 points and the % boost (before any further points adjustments by the MCA) sees NBCC move off the bottom in a season where they beat 6 of the other 7 teams.

The Women's team were playing a semi final against Epping Pingettes. They also lost the toss but were also "invited" to bat and made 5/158 off their 30 overs. Ruth Thornton (50 rtno off only 44 balls with 3 x 4s) was again outstanding but Genevieve Grose (35 not out off 38 with 3 x4s),Julie Miller (29 rtno off 55) and Nicola Hogan (28 off 34 with 3 x4s) all made great contributions. In reply, EP could only manage 6/124 with NBCC using 9 bowlers and the wickets to fall being shared by Nicola, Ruth, Genevieve, Judi Donovan and Kaajal Bedi (along with a run out). The win means they now play Hurstbridge next Sunday for the premiership.

At the MVP counts over the weekend the winners Sam Perry, Jack Stavretis, Riley Streader, Jack Grybas and Alexander Smith. Congratulations to them and good luck to the 2 teams playing finals on the weekend !

Go Bulls!

NBCC Women into Grand Final!
NBCC women (5/158) defeat Epping (6/124) in the semi-final round and will face undefeated Hurstbridge in the grand final next Sunday.

NBCC won the toss and batted first, setting 159 to win off their 30 overs.
Ruth Thornton 50*
Genevieve Grose 35*
Julie Miller 29*
Nicoal Hogan 28

In reply, Epping was able to manage only 124 runs for loss of 6 wickets in their 30 overs. Wickets were shared between five of the eight bowlers after the opening batter was run out for two.
Gen Grose and Kaajal Bedi each 1/7 off 2
Nicola Hogan 1/15 off 5
Ruth Thornton 1/19 off 4
Judi Donovan 1/20 off 6

Fielding was superb in intensity. Well done NBCC women. Hope to see some silverware after next weekend, but regardless of the result, an excellent inaugural season.

Congratulations to our Senior MVP winners! These players were adjudicated by the umpire or opposition captain as each team's Most Valuable Player.

1st XI - Samuel Perry (centre)
2nd XI - Jack Stavretis (left)
Synthetic XI - Jack Grybas (right)
ECA Sunday - Alexander Smith (absent)

Special shoutout to Charles Cohen for all his hard work organising once again this year!

🚨 Senior MVP Vote Count this Saturday 6:30 🚨

Whether you've played one game or every game, make sure you get down to the club this Saturday for NBCC's version of the Brownlow. This annual occurrence is always assured to be one of the funnest nights of the year. Experience the drama, the suspense, the stolen votes from teammates! With so many contenders across all of the XIs, it really could go to anyone. Who do you think will walk away the winner for their side?

BULLS JUNIOR WRAP:

The 12Cs had an away game against Canterbury, they won the toss and decided to bat. The theme for the day was to see how many batters they could retire and return at the end of the innings. They delivered so well that their first 7 batters retired not out: well done boys. This strategy allowed a few of their retired batters to return at the end of the innings and bat freely, setting 4/80 to defend. Canterbury started well until Sam Cai took 3 wickets in one over, all bowled, finishing 3/1 off 2. Another wicket bowled by Vincent Kentell in the 8th saw Canterbury lose their cool and couldn’t recover from here, finshing with only 52 runs. We were so proud of the boys for keeping an even temper and allowing their love of the game shine through.

The 12As were playing their first day against Richmond in Burnley. Some early wickets saw them at 3/25 in the 9th over. Their middle order rallied with Jackson Mitchell top scoring with 26 off 47 balls. Vedanth Shetty tried to nut out some runs with 13 off 55 balls. Unfortunately the bowling from Richmond saw the team dismissed for 117. Richmond faced 4 overs before the end of the evening, only managed 8 runs. The boys are going to have to bowl very tightly next week to secure a win and perhaps a finals jersey for the week after.

The 14Bs were playing Mont Albert at home and sent Mont Albert in to bat. Mont Albert’s opening batter struggled to score against some great opening bowling. Arash Chhavniwala finished with 1/6 off 4. While Antonia Dias and Hashir Salman took 2 wickets each with Antonia finishing with 2/5 off 4 (can’t wait until she is old enough to play in the women’s team!). After 40 overs Mont Albert were 9/147, which hopefully the team can chase down next week and finish the season on a high.

The 14As played Boroondara King Cobras in an away 2 day match. They won the toss and decided to bat. Some early wickets saw them at 3/30. Abu Imran hunkered down, with a brilliant innings, to retire not out for 73 off 103 balls, making this Abu’s best score for the season. Thomas Credlin and Krtin Sheshagiri did well to stay in the match making 16 runs each. The team ended the evening with 9/200. If they can defend this score next week they may just bump Boroondara out of the finals runnings giving themselves a shot at a final’s berth.

The 14Cs played Laburnum in an away match. Justin Chen batted well in the middle with 16 off 24 balls along with Angus Jones who refused to be intimidated by their fast bowling and nutted out 10 runs off 34 balls. Unfortunately some good bowling saw the team all out for 59. Justin Chen again spun some balls to make Warnie proud and ended up for 3/ 9 off 2. Noah Atkin, Sam Radze and Harley Hosken also took a wicket each. Laburnum batted well to easily make the target and the boys played on with Laburnum finishing the match with 7/95.

Last but by no means the least was Balwyn North’s most successful junior team, the U10s, playing at home against Ashwood. The team heard a rumour that a Balwyn North U10s team a few years back had made 250 runs in one match, this had given them a new goal for the season. North Balwyn loss the toss and were sent in to bat. The outfield was wet and slow, boundaries were hard to come by. The openers Dhruv Iyer and Ollie Findlay were simply magnificent, making runs in the difficult conditions with loud calling and quick running between the wickets. With 6 players scoring more than 16 runs off their 14 balls and Aarish hit his first boundary, the team made 225 runs, coming ever so closer to the legend of 250 runs. North Balwyn bowled accurately and fielded well. With 2 excellent catches to Ollie Findlay and Vincent Kentell. Aarush Gautam scored a runout from 30m with a fabulous direct hit. Carter Davies finished with the amazing figures of 4/5 off 3 and Umar Imran with 0/0 off 2 overs. In the end the team won easily with Ashwood managing only 67 runs. If you want to see an entertaining team get down and see this team for their last game in U10s next week, you wont be disappointed.

After being sent into bat by EDCC (sitting 1st) NBCC lost the early wicket of Max Tomkinson before an 83 run 2nd wicket partnership between Sam Perry and Sreehari Subramonian (35 off 76 with 2 x 4s) took the score through to 2/100 after 30 overs. Sam was then joined by Nitesh Patel and they shared a 181 run partnership for the 3rd wkt off only 214 balls. After spending some time in the "nervous 90s" Sam brought up his 3rd century in 10 innings this season in just over 200 balls before being dismissed for 157 off 236 balls with 16 x 4s and 2 x 6s. It was a privilege to be at Macleay Park to witness such a sensational and important innings. Nitesh also batted very well, making 74 not out off 138 balls with 4 x 4s. NBCC finished at 4/304. A win next week guarantees a a finals spot for 11 consecutive seasons.

The 2ND XI (2nd last) are playing bottom team, Marcellin. After winning the toss and bowling NBCC dismissed Marcellin in 69.3 overs for 147. You could be mistaken for thinking Declan McLaughlin had taken over the captaincy given Dec was the 7th bowler tried having not bowled in the 2s all season and then Dec bowled 15 consecutive overs(2nd most) to finish with the remarkable figures (for him) of 4/30. Declan also said he took 2 "blinders" in the field but did add the direct hit run out from the boundary by Matt Grybas was "a beauty". Jack Grybas took 2/29 which followed a swashbuckling 81 off 58 (8 x 4s and 5 x6s) in the U16s the previous evening out of a team score of 9/144. Anyway, at stumps NBCC are 0/32 having survived the 10 overs and will be looking to go on and record their 4th win of the season (which would see them finish only 1 win outside the top 4).

The LOC3 team playing 3rd placed Mulgrave were sent into bat and dismissed for 126 in 34 overs. Dan Stavretis top scored with 44 not out (6 x4s) and shared a 6th wkt partnership of 51 with Barath Vasan (41 with 5 x4s). The NBCC team had 4 players with an average age of 60 who ave. 1.5 between them! So all things considered NBCC did very well to take 7 wkts in 30 overs before Mulgrave reached the target. Isaac Huynh had the best bowling figures of 3/9 off 3.5 overs whilst "JImmy D" will want it noted he finished with 2/30.

The LOC4 team lost the toss against top placed Salesians who batted first and made 9/160. Rohit Gurtoo (3/36) and Anhad Gill (2/15) had the best bowling figures. In the chase NBCC were 2/87 before being dismissed 18 runs short of the target with more than 6 overs remaining. Anhad had a good game making 60 off 70 (with 8 x 4s and 1 x6) whilst 8 players failed to reach double figures. The loss means even if NBCC wins next Saturday (and other results go their way) they could finish equal 4th but would still miss finals based on NRR.

The MCA team playing 2nd placed CCUU Kings also lost the toss The Kings rode their luck and reached 76 before some of it ran out. However, they then slumped to 7/104 11 overs later thanks mainly to the "Grybo" father and son combination before recovering to finish with a highly competitive 9/188. Jack finished with 4/24 off 9 overs whilst the "old man" dismissed the first 3 batsmen and finished with 3/33 off his 9 overs. The NBCC innings never really got going after losing its first 5 batsmen for a total of 37 runs. However, Hugh Cohen (36), Johnny Andrews (27 not out off 21) and Matt Grybas (21 off 15) along with a 43 run partnership for the last wkt between Johnny and Luke Gorman (17) added much needed respectability to the scorecard. In fact, when NBCC were dismissed for 165 they still had 22 balls left! Anyway, after a week of "points adjusting" by the MCA, NBCC now needs to win their last game to avoid relegation!

The Women's Team had a "must win" game against Holy Trinity if they wanted to be in the finals. Batting first, NBCC made an imposing 3/183 off their 30 overs. Nicola Hogan again led the way with 52 rtno off 38 balls with 8 x4s whilst Ruth Thornton rtno on 50 off 39 balls with 6 x4s and Julie Miller 26 rtno off 33 balls was next best. In reply HT could only manage 7/125 meaning NBCC are in the semi final next Sunday morning.

Good luck to all teams next weekend and don't forget the Senior Players MVP count (for all teams except the MCA XI) will be next Saturday evening at Macleay Park commencing around 6.30pm.

GO BULLS !