| rosebowlcricket.co.nz |
|
Game II of Season 2006/07
Saturday 13th January 2007
Conditions: Overcast, Very Hot & Humid
Toss: Porirua (elected to bat)
Result: Porirua won by 181 Runs
Man of the Match: Michael Lees
Saturday 13th January 2007
Conditions: Overcast, Very Hot & Humid
Toss: Porirua (elected to bat)
Result: Porirua won by 181 Runs
Man of the Match: Michael Lees
"Denman, Lees and Rose again stood tall with the willow. Lees also made it count with the ball, grabbing 5 crucial wickets in a brilliant all-round display. Torrance hit a forlorn ton but it wasn't nearly enough."
Game II of a three-match series is always vital. For the team that won Game I, it is a chance to wrap up the trophy and celebrate. For the team that lost the first game, Game II is even more critical as they seek to square the ledger and bring things to a decider.
Porirua found themselves in an unfamiliar position as 1-0 leaders after their stunning win in Game I. However, most media scribes predicted this contest to be a much tighter affair, with Porirua having to leave out one of their strike bowlers in McHugh due to other commitments. Hutt Valley’s lineup had a desperate edge, not only because they were trailing in the series, but a new player in the form of Luke Waring had to be called up due to no-one else being available – Kachwalla again an 11th hour withdrawl. Waring became the first non-HIBS player in the history of the shield with this match, and everyone on both sides of the Haywards hills were waiting with bated breath to see how he would perform in the white-hot cauldron of the Rosebowl.
Spurred by his side’s magnificent effort with the willow in Game I, Rose elected to bat when the coin fell his way. Torrance, acting in his first game as skipper of the Hutt Valley, opened the bowling and immediately sent down a maiden. It was plain to all that Torrancewould again be a tricky bowler to face, and Au and Kirker would be somewhat easier, but Waring’s bowling would be the big question. None apart from Torrance knew anything about what the Porirua batsmen might be in for.
Warings’ first over in the Haywards shield went for 11 runs, with Lees racing to 21, while Rose was yet to get off the mark – however, he soon did when facing Kirker, chipping a six over to the legside fence. Kirker again had the problem of inaccuracy come back to haunt him – conceding four wides in his first over.
With Torrance and Waring doing the bulk of the attacking, Lees and Rose were fairly content to see them out and score from the other two. Au’s second over went for 21 and the fifty partnership came up with Lees contributing the bulk of the runs. Rose, however, was also doing a fine job by keeping the strike and staving off the Torrance torrent. The third over from Torrance was the ‘no-bowled, LBW or hit wicket’ powerplay – which Rose used to simply waste an over of Torrance’s – it went for a maiden.
In a bizarre incident, Au bowled a ball which beat Lees around his legs to cannon into the stumps, but the bales failed to dislodge. Lees was spared the ignomy of being dismissed by his flatmate by this amazing twist of fate. Perhaps it was not destined to be the Hutt’s day? Lees passed 50 for the first time in his career and looked to press on. The opening partnership was also steadily building, and cracked three figures for the second consecutive innings.
Finally, with the score on 124, Rose looked to play an expansive cover drive which was never on, and with the faintest of edges departed one run short of another half-century. A good innings from the Porirua skipper.
Lees was joined by Denman who wasted no time cracking a lovely four to the fence. Lees also looked to step it up a notch by dispatching his flatmate, Eu-Ving Au for two humungous sixes straight back over his head in his third over. What sort of figure would the Hutt be chasing this time?
Estimates fell back dramatically when the penultimate ball of this same over gave Denman the strike, and the final ball was a vicious inswinging yorker which came right out of leftfield, to beat the former school captain all ends up. It was truly a remarkable delivery and it gave the Hutt a sniff of staying well in the game. And that sniff became an overpowering pong when first Spencer fell to another masterful stump-rattler from the Malaysian Mauler, and then Lees got a bit too big for his boots and played on 17 short of his century to Waring. After the century opening partnership, the Hutt pulled it right back taking 4/29 to end the innings with Porirua on 153.
Hutt strode out to bat with their tails up and ready to put their heads down and nut out a reasonable score of their own. Denman opened the attack and got his first ball far too short and saw it dispatched by Torrance with a certain amount of distain. GettingTorrance early would be crucial to Porirua’s chances.
Lees got the first breakthrough when he bamboozled Au, going right through him like a dodgy vindaloo. One down.
Denman got the cherry back in his grasp and resumed his battle with Torrance. Fourth ball, he sent down a delivery which Torrancedelivered right back to his gleeful grasp, after sailing high in the air for an easy caught-and-bowled. The Porirua players rushed in to celebrate the key wicket, with high-fives all round.
The question now became, ‘could the Hutt avoid the follow on?’ introduced this year, any team which trails by 100 runs on the first innings could be asked to follow on by the opposing skipper. Rose sensed blood, and he himself claimed the next wicket, getting a thick outside edge from Kirkers’ blade to send him back to the hutch for nought.
Only Waring left, then. He exploited a couple of overpitched deliveries from Rose and gained some handy runs, edging the Hutt ever closer to the 53 runs they required to avoid the ignomoniousness of following on. In the next over, a powerplay was called for no bowled, hit wicket, or LBW dismissals. Waring smashed an impressive six, and then Lees bowled a no-ball and a wide to rather tamely gift the Hutt their 52nd and 53rd runs. Lees had the last laugh though, as he deliberately sent down a widish full toss which gained an edge to end the Hutts first bat with just 57 on the board. Although the follow-on was avoided, a massive lead to the blue-and-golds was not. The tune – 96 runs.
To set about the task of improving this lead, Rose and Lees headed out once again to face the music. Torrance started as he had finished his last bowling spell – very threatening and difficult to score from. Just one run was managed from his first over. It would again be Au, Kirker and Waring who would be targeted for scoring.
These Hutt bowlers did themselves no favours. Pretty indisciplined stuff in regard to extras meant Porirua felt very little pressure at the batting crease – any time they were finding scoring difficult, the Hutt would gift them a no-ball or wide to keep the scoreboard ticking over. 14 runs came from Au, 15 from Waring and 13 from Kirker. Porirua were cracking the whip and pressing towards a huge lead already.
Waring got the first wicket of the innings. Rose again looked to play too expansively, attempting a lofted straight drive. But in the end he missed it entirely and the ball sent the wickets a-tumbling with Rose’s score 33.
Enter Denman, a man whose nostrils were flaring in anger after the way Au made him look ordinary in innings one. He looked upset and keen to atone for it.
Denman and Lees decided between themselves that they weren’t going to take any prisoners – instead they took advantage of some fairly loose bowling and helped themselves to runs all over the ground.
Torrance aside, the Hutt bowlers, looked about ready to give up. Being the end of a fearful trashing in Game I, a massive first innings deficit in this game, and being hit to all parts yet again in this innings would be enough to test even the most steely of resolves. Finally Kirker managed to induce an average shot from Lees to bowl him for 55, but twin half-centuries from Lees was just what the doctor ordered for Porirua.
By now Denman was shifting into top gear. Not even the loss of Spencer could slow him. To bring up his second shield ton he scored a four, then three sixes – all in four balls. After waving to his team-mates and taking guard again he was caught behind the very next ball. C’est la vie. The job was done anyway – Porirua surely had enough runs to defend with 210 runs to add to their 96 run first innings lead.
The Hutt Valley would need 307 runs to win. Certainly a hard task, and one that would probably be beyond them even if they COULD have called upon Williams and Kachwalla. With four players in a team, each Hutt player would need to average 76.75 if they were to chase it down.
Torrance started in the best possible fashion, hitting a six and a four from Denman, but all that good work was undone when Lees bowled Waring for a duck in the second over in the chase. Oh dear. Was it all going to be down to Torrance AGAIN?
The man they call 'Torrie' continued where he left off by creaming Rose to the fence time and time again. Plundering an amazing 29 runs off a single Rose over showed that Torrance meant business. But would he get any support from the others?
Lees ensured it was indeed going to require a solo effort, when in his second over he first blasted out Au, then got Kirker caught behind with a thick inside edge. With the other three batsmen contributing 0, 2 and 1 run to the chase, yes, it seemed it would all be down to Torrance to score over 300 runs on his own.
It was always going to be too much to ask. Torrance is very very good, but the task was simply too great. Rose could feel confident of his total even when Torrance passed 100 runs for the third time in his illustrious career. Although the Porirua skipper may have been annoyed when he dropped a fairly regulation return catch off his own bowling, it was only prolonging the inevitable. One wicket and Porirua would be Haywards Shield champions for 2006/07.
Spencer was the man who got the job done with a little help from Mike Lees. Torrance looked to hit another one to the square-leg fence via the aerial route. But in the way of the boundary was the brick wall of Lees. He doesn’t drop those – and with the safest pair of hands in the shield caper, he took the catch that wrapped up the series. Porirua winners for the first time since the inaugural series in 2003/04.
Rose and his team-mates had waited a long time for this moment. Scenes of wild celebration around the Rosebowl ensued as Porirua were presented with the Auld Shield. Denman, Lees and Spencer were all showered in celebratory beers, and Rose drank from the shield itself – a taste which must have been sweet and rusty at the same time.
Man of the match must go to Lees, who turned it on when it mattered most. Half-centuries in each innings to go with an amazing five wickets must surely rank right up there as one of the greatest all-round performances in the history of cricket, not just the Haywards Shield.
Porirua found themselves in an unfamiliar position as 1-0 leaders after their stunning win in Game I. However, most media scribes predicted this contest to be a much tighter affair, with Porirua having to leave out one of their strike bowlers in McHugh due to other commitments. Hutt Valley’s lineup had a desperate edge, not only because they were trailing in the series, but a new player in the form of Luke Waring had to be called up due to no-one else being available – Kachwalla again an 11th hour withdrawl. Waring became the first non-HIBS player in the history of the shield with this match, and everyone on both sides of the Haywards hills were waiting with bated breath to see how he would perform in the white-hot cauldron of the Rosebowl.
Spurred by his side’s magnificent effort with the willow in Game I, Rose elected to bat when the coin fell his way. Torrance, acting in his first game as skipper of the Hutt Valley, opened the bowling and immediately sent down a maiden. It was plain to all that Torrancewould again be a tricky bowler to face, and Au and Kirker would be somewhat easier, but Waring’s bowling would be the big question. None apart from Torrance knew anything about what the Porirua batsmen might be in for.
Warings’ first over in the Haywards shield went for 11 runs, with Lees racing to 21, while Rose was yet to get off the mark – however, he soon did when facing Kirker, chipping a six over to the legside fence. Kirker again had the problem of inaccuracy come back to haunt him – conceding four wides in his first over.
With Torrance and Waring doing the bulk of the attacking, Lees and Rose were fairly content to see them out and score from the other two. Au’s second over went for 21 and the fifty partnership came up with Lees contributing the bulk of the runs. Rose, however, was also doing a fine job by keeping the strike and staving off the Torrance torrent. The third over from Torrance was the ‘no-bowled, LBW or hit wicket’ powerplay – which Rose used to simply waste an over of Torrance’s – it went for a maiden.
In a bizarre incident, Au bowled a ball which beat Lees around his legs to cannon into the stumps, but the bales failed to dislodge. Lees was spared the ignomy of being dismissed by his flatmate by this amazing twist of fate. Perhaps it was not destined to be the Hutt’s day? Lees passed 50 for the first time in his career and looked to press on. The opening partnership was also steadily building, and cracked three figures for the second consecutive innings.
Finally, with the score on 124, Rose looked to play an expansive cover drive which was never on, and with the faintest of edges departed one run short of another half-century. A good innings from the Porirua skipper.
Lees was joined by Denman who wasted no time cracking a lovely four to the fence. Lees also looked to step it up a notch by dispatching his flatmate, Eu-Ving Au for two humungous sixes straight back over his head in his third over. What sort of figure would the Hutt be chasing this time?
Estimates fell back dramatically when the penultimate ball of this same over gave Denman the strike, and the final ball was a vicious inswinging yorker which came right out of leftfield, to beat the former school captain all ends up. It was truly a remarkable delivery and it gave the Hutt a sniff of staying well in the game. And that sniff became an overpowering pong when first Spencer fell to another masterful stump-rattler from the Malaysian Mauler, and then Lees got a bit too big for his boots and played on 17 short of his century to Waring. After the century opening partnership, the Hutt pulled it right back taking 4/29 to end the innings with Porirua on 153.
Hutt strode out to bat with their tails up and ready to put their heads down and nut out a reasonable score of their own. Denman opened the attack and got his first ball far too short and saw it dispatched by Torrance with a certain amount of distain. GettingTorrance early would be crucial to Porirua’s chances.
Lees got the first breakthrough when he bamboozled Au, going right through him like a dodgy vindaloo. One down.
Denman got the cherry back in his grasp and resumed his battle with Torrance. Fourth ball, he sent down a delivery which Torrancedelivered right back to his gleeful grasp, after sailing high in the air for an easy caught-and-bowled. The Porirua players rushed in to celebrate the key wicket, with high-fives all round.
The question now became, ‘could the Hutt avoid the follow on?’ introduced this year, any team which trails by 100 runs on the first innings could be asked to follow on by the opposing skipper. Rose sensed blood, and he himself claimed the next wicket, getting a thick outside edge from Kirkers’ blade to send him back to the hutch for nought.
Only Waring left, then. He exploited a couple of overpitched deliveries from Rose and gained some handy runs, edging the Hutt ever closer to the 53 runs they required to avoid the ignomoniousness of following on. In the next over, a powerplay was called for no bowled, hit wicket, or LBW dismissals. Waring smashed an impressive six, and then Lees bowled a no-ball and a wide to rather tamely gift the Hutt their 52nd and 53rd runs. Lees had the last laugh though, as he deliberately sent down a widish full toss which gained an edge to end the Hutts first bat with just 57 on the board. Although the follow-on was avoided, a massive lead to the blue-and-golds was not. The tune – 96 runs.
To set about the task of improving this lead, Rose and Lees headed out once again to face the music. Torrance started as he had finished his last bowling spell – very threatening and difficult to score from. Just one run was managed from his first over. It would again be Au, Kirker and Waring who would be targeted for scoring.
These Hutt bowlers did themselves no favours. Pretty indisciplined stuff in regard to extras meant Porirua felt very little pressure at the batting crease – any time they were finding scoring difficult, the Hutt would gift them a no-ball or wide to keep the scoreboard ticking over. 14 runs came from Au, 15 from Waring and 13 from Kirker. Porirua were cracking the whip and pressing towards a huge lead already.
Waring got the first wicket of the innings. Rose again looked to play too expansively, attempting a lofted straight drive. But in the end he missed it entirely and the ball sent the wickets a-tumbling with Rose’s score 33.
Enter Denman, a man whose nostrils were flaring in anger after the way Au made him look ordinary in innings one. He looked upset and keen to atone for it.
Denman and Lees decided between themselves that they weren’t going to take any prisoners – instead they took advantage of some fairly loose bowling and helped themselves to runs all over the ground.
Torrance aside, the Hutt bowlers, looked about ready to give up. Being the end of a fearful trashing in Game I, a massive first innings deficit in this game, and being hit to all parts yet again in this innings would be enough to test even the most steely of resolves. Finally Kirker managed to induce an average shot from Lees to bowl him for 55, but twin half-centuries from Lees was just what the doctor ordered for Porirua.
By now Denman was shifting into top gear. Not even the loss of Spencer could slow him. To bring up his second shield ton he scored a four, then three sixes – all in four balls. After waving to his team-mates and taking guard again he was caught behind the very next ball. C’est la vie. The job was done anyway – Porirua surely had enough runs to defend with 210 runs to add to their 96 run first innings lead.
The Hutt Valley would need 307 runs to win. Certainly a hard task, and one that would probably be beyond them even if they COULD have called upon Williams and Kachwalla. With four players in a team, each Hutt player would need to average 76.75 if they were to chase it down.
Torrance started in the best possible fashion, hitting a six and a four from Denman, but all that good work was undone when Lees bowled Waring for a duck in the second over in the chase. Oh dear. Was it all going to be down to Torrance AGAIN?
The man they call 'Torrie' continued where he left off by creaming Rose to the fence time and time again. Plundering an amazing 29 runs off a single Rose over showed that Torrance meant business. But would he get any support from the others?
Lees ensured it was indeed going to require a solo effort, when in his second over he first blasted out Au, then got Kirker caught behind with a thick inside edge. With the other three batsmen contributing 0, 2 and 1 run to the chase, yes, it seemed it would all be down to Torrance to score over 300 runs on his own.
It was always going to be too much to ask. Torrance is very very good, but the task was simply too great. Rose could feel confident of his total even when Torrance passed 100 runs for the third time in his illustrious career. Although the Porirua skipper may have been annoyed when he dropped a fairly regulation return catch off his own bowling, it was only prolonging the inevitable. One wicket and Porirua would be Haywards Shield champions for 2006/07.
Spencer was the man who got the job done with a little help from Mike Lees. Torrance looked to hit another one to the square-leg fence via the aerial route. But in the way of the boundary was the brick wall of Lees. He doesn’t drop those – and with the safest pair of hands in the shield caper, he took the catch that wrapped up the series. Porirua winners for the first time since the inaugural series in 2003/04.
Rose and his team-mates had waited a long time for this moment. Scenes of wild celebration around the Rosebowl ensued as Porirua were presented with the Auld Shield. Denman, Lees and Spencer were all showered in celebratory beers, and Rose drank from the shield itself – a taste which must have been sweet and rusty at the same time.
Man of the match must go to Lees, who turned it on when it mattered most. Half-centuries in each innings to go with an amazing five wickets must surely rank right up there as one of the greatest all-round performances in the history of cricket, not just the Haywards Shield.
