NDCC 5th Grade White - After winning the toss we decided for no particular reason to bowl first. Our opening bowlers Marcel Van Wijk and David "Davo" Bateman bowled very well but had no luck in snaring any wickets. Steve Kempton and Lee Cummins replaced the openers and both bowled well again without any luck and Wests were cruising along in what we thought might be a long day. But in true Butcher spirit we never gave up and the captain Renn Murphy decided to have a slow trundle and picked up a wicket through a great catch by Mark Smith in slips/gully (it's a rather dynamic position in 5th grade). Rob Austin had the batsmen guessing at the other end but was unlucky not to get a wicket. Just before drinks Jason Dunn came on for one over and although it wasn't the best over ever bowled, he managed to remove the other opener through a great leg side catch by keeper David Stalker.
After the break we brought on what turned out to be a match winning bowling change in the ever reliable Scott Perkiss. Scott bowled extremely well to bamboozle the opposition batsmen and finished with the great figures of 4/27 off his 9 overs. Mark Smith took a little while to get into his stride but eventually snared 2/14 off 3 overs. Dave Bateman showing little regard for his torn groin muscle snared a wicket and Renn Murphy bowled the last batsman to finish off the Wests innings at what we were told was 199. David Stalker did a great job behind the stumps and saved many potential sundries. Marcel Van Wijk took a fantastic running catch and Mark Smith finished with 2 catches and Scott Perkiss 1 great catch at point.
We knew we had to bat well to win this game and after a stirring motivational speech from Jason Dunn, we started the run chase. Jason Dunn scored a swashbuckling 10 and Garry Crawford was very solid until he also went for 10. Rob Austin came out blazing but unfortunately picked out a fieldsman who could catch. Mark Smith copped a great ball first up and didn't trouble the scorers. Steve Kempton looked good but was also bowled. Marcel Van Wijk was starting to hit his strides but unfortunately his captain ran him out. If he was only 6 months younger he would have made his ground. This brought together Renn Murphy and Scott Perkiss who then shared a 117 run partnership to put us right back in the hunt. Renn scored 56 but was not timing any shots and finally ran out of puff. Scott Perkiss was superb at the other end and hammered the bowling attack to hit an unbeaten 92 including 17 fours and 2 sixes. Lee Cummins was looking comfortable but was unfortunately run out when we needed 22 to win with 2 wickets in hand. David Stalker scored 4 valuable runs and David Bateman courageously batted with a runner and scored 5 while letting Scott Perkiss hit the winning runs in the last over. A very close and exciting win.
Congratulations to all players especially man of the match Scott Perkiss (92 n.o., 4/27 and 1 catch).
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