Day 1
Today’s scheduled two-day game was reduced to a one-dayer due to bad weather forecast for later on today and tomorrow.
King’s won the toss and batted. At 55/4 in the 15th over it was looking bleak until Nathan Robinson and Seb MacDonald, with a fair bit of luck, combined to fashion a 105 run partnership taking the score to 160/5 when Seb departed for a confidence boosting 54 runs (48 balls). Nathan reached his 2nd century in a week (Aquinas College on Monday) before he threw his wicket away, thinking that the job was done. Patrick Maher provided late-innings entertainment with a cameo 53 runs (24 balls) which included 5 sixes.
Cory Dickson with his Canberra Grammar equivalent at the toss
N Robinson 108
S Macdonald 54
Jeet Bhatia 19
P Maher 53
Tom Paranthoiene 14 not out
Canberra seemed out of place chasing a stiff target and was always behind the RRR. Finally when they figured that the zero-risk approach was going to be futile the wickets tumbled due to decent bowling in general, and a reasonably high level of fielding.
L Anderson 2/24; S Macdonald 1/23; T Irvine 1/11; M Chaplin 1/19; C Dickson 3/20; A Molamure 1/17
KC: 299/8
CGS: 162 all out (42.5 overs)
King’s win by 137 runs.
If the weather allows tomorrow, then we could play a T20 against the same opposition.
Day 2
Rain
Day 3
On an unlikely day that cricket could be played we managed to squeeze in a ten-over match against Shore School, whilst CGS took on Christ’s College. This turned out to be a valuable outcome of a ‘written-off’ day.
When the rain managed to take a break these games were hastily organised so boys who had tuned in to a day-off and some gallivanting in the city had to refocus. As we got to the grounds the first match was underway. A ten-over match is littered with exciting moments and when our turn came we asked Shore to bat. Good bowling by Toby Irvine helped restrict them to 74/2 in ten overs. Seb Macdonald opened with Robinson and the 1st wicket fell at 25/1 when the latter tried to be too extravagant. Gallage ensured the Macdonald got most of the strike and victory came in the 9th over with 9 balls to spare.
Irvine 1/9; Macdonald 1/19
Robinson 14 (12); Macdonald 43 (26); Gallage 15 (13)
Day 4
The New Zealand derby saw us take on Christ’s College in a 50 over game.
King’s batted first and the new opening pair (experimenting) of Nathan Robinson and Seb Macdonald was separated in the 3rd over. Robinson then combined with Dimithri Gallage and put on a century partnership which saw the former out on 68 (84) in the 28th over with the total on 129/2. Achindra Molamure came in a took advantage of some poor bowling to barge his way to 38 runs (35 balls) before he was dismissed in the 38th over and the score at 186/3. A big total was in sight but Cory Dickson batting at #5 did not contribute whilst Ojas Madaan looked solid before being caught on 12 (16). Tom Paranthoiene, showing huge improvement from his 2019 form, showcased some powerful drives amongst a few other strokes until he was removed for a healthy 29 (27). Patrick Maher who has a reputation for providing cavalier-like entertainment did not disappoint as his first 2 deliveries were nonchalantly deposited over long off/on boundary for the maximum. He continued to blaze away and was finally dismissed for a highly entertaining 46 (18 balls). King’s reached a dominant 293/9 in 50 overs.
Christ’s struggled to make any reasonable impact on the target and constantly fell behind the RRR, reaching 146/9 in the 50th over.
Robinson 68; Gallage 65; Molamure 38; Paranthoiene 29; Maher 46
Macdonald 1/28; Irvine 1/33; Maher 1/25; Dickson 2/19; Chaplin 1/8
King’s won by 147 runs.
Days 5 and 6
The blue riband match of the Quad started yesterday and saw two unbeaten teams, King’s and Shore School slug it out for ‘first’ place.
In this two-day encounter the hosts proposed we play two innings of 50 overs each, which was perfectly acceptable for us as an appetiser of the season ahead. King’s won the toss and put Shore in to bat on what looked like a slightly moist deck from the previous two days of rain. A lacklustre approach allowed Shore to control the game and they ended on 240/6 in their 50 overs (declared). The fielding was below the usual standard and few bowlers made an impression. Shore bowled to plan superbly and dismissed King’s in the 48th over (164 all out). Achindra Molamure and Nathan Robinson got starts at the top of the innings, Cory Dickson provided some resistance in the middle and Jeet Bhatia hung around for a bit.
S Macdonald 3/64; Josh Olliver 1/16; Max Chaplin 1/27
N Robinson 38; A Molamure 22; C Dickson 48; J Bhatia 16
Obviously, the post-match analysis/lecture was intense and longer than most movies. Day 2 arrived and King’s was pumped up for a fight. In the warm-up they did not look like a team that was 75 runs adrift. From the start they were charging in with all guns blazing and Shore was fighting a rearguard. Could King’s maintain this positive intent for 50 overs on the hottest day of the festival? Shore soon found out that they were facing a different team today as Anderson, Macdonald, Toby Irvine and Patrick Maher were supported by effervescent fielding and a highly charged approach by all. Macdonald was most impressive with the new ball, striking two telling blows to cause the hosts to rethink their strategy. Runs were not going to easily found and survival on the back of a big first innings lead became the modus operandi. Tom Paranthoiene was superb behind the stumps, Cory Dickson engineered run-outs and catches, fielding blunders were a rarity and Shore ground their way to 165/8 (declared) in their 2nd innings of 50 overs.
King’s was set a target of 242 to win in 50 overs for an outright victory. The most experienced batsmen, Robinson and Gallage were back in the sheds in the 21st over (95/2). Molamure was joined by Dickson and they put on 103 runs in 16 overs before the diminutive opener was dismissed for a potentially match-winning 90 runs in the 36th over (198/3) and victory was there to be claimed. Dickson marched on to a half-century and there was a minor tremor after his dismissal (225/4) as Macdonald followed one run later (226/5). Ojas Madaan batted with composure to shepherd Jeet Bhatia towards the target and a resounding, hard-earned victory came in the 49th over with 11 balls to spare.
L Anderson 1/61; S Macdonald 3/44; T Irvine 2/41
A Molamure 90; D Gallage 39; C Dickson 57; O Madaan 20 not out
King’s win by 5 wickets.
