NEWS

Tyson KO's Grange 3’s

It was a home game on Saturday for the 2nd XI as they attempted to keep their title hopes alive. And they certainly did that as they took the points and glory in another good spirited game against Grange 3’s.

Winning the toss Westy took the decision to Bowl first knowing full well the wicket may do a few things early on after the previous days rain.

This was not to be though as the opening Grange batsmen took the initiative and got off to an absolute flyer.

Bamo and Giggsy trying everything they could to get the break through but as Grange reached 52 for no wicket in the 9th over things had to change.

Into the attack came BP who made an instant impact as Campbell who’d smashed his way to 35 decided to keep going in the same vein without having a proper look at what BP had to offer.

Westy took a good catch in the gully after the opener tried to smash BP to cow corner.

Arun then came into the attack and bowled Turnbull with his 2nd delivery as he played and missed at one outside off stump he was left wanting as the ball turned beautifully on to middle stump.

With the opening partnership gone BP and Arun set about turning the screws and building the pressure on the batsmen.

The pressure soon got to Conwell as he played onto his stumps from one of BP’s deliveries.

BP went on to bait fellow Maccabi teammate Gabriel Radford into playing a few shots.

Frustratingly for Radford he frequently found the fielder before he was stumped from an Arun Jay ball to top off another good performance behind the sticks from James Bonner.

BP finished with figures of 2 for 13 from his 10 overs of tight bowling. Arun took a bit more tap going at 2 for 30 from his 10.

The spin twins doing the job again and kicking off the demise of yet another side.

Into the attack came Tyson who bowled a great spell of medium pace as he finished with figures of 2 for 13 from 9 overs. He took the vital wicket of Murphy, on 26, as he was helping get Grange back on track. Giggsy took a great catch at point to get Tyson’s 2nd wicket of the day.

Meanwhile Gus ‘hop-a-long’ Hoffmann was bowling a fine spell of spin at the other end. Gus had his old man to thank for his first wicket as Sean took a brilliant diving catch at square leg while former Lion Mark Prince was his other victim as he was bowled. Gus finishing with 2 for 12.

Giggsy and Arham finished the innings with good spells helping to keep Grange to 151 for 8.

With Az absent this week Gus took the responsibility to open with Sean. Getting off to a slow but steady start things where starting to look good before Sean tapped one up to square leg as he was out for 9. Gus and Tyson steadied the ship again before Gus suffered a similar fate to his dad and gave an easy catch to square leg.

With Westy and Tyson at the crease the pair soon got things moving again by rotating the strike well and hitting the bad ball.

With 110 to win with 30 overs to do so the pair patiently made they’re way towards the target.

Tyson being the dominate batsmen of the 2 was playing some aggressive shots and was dropped 3 times on his way to 58 before eventually being caught and bowled.

With Nick barely troubling the scorer before impatiently swinging at a full delivery James Bonner joined Westy in the middle for another important partnership.

Westy showed great patience as he made 38 not out while James Bonner made another excellent contribution with the bat reaching 22 not out to finish things off.

Some excellent catching by the lions proving to be the difference between the sides.

The strength and depth in the 2nd XI team is really starting to show as everyone is contributing and pulling in the right direction. A good game of cricket with some good banter between the sides, played in great weather made for a top days cricket.

Tyson taking the spoils as man of the match with his 2 for 13 and 58 not out. The worrying thing fo rthe opposition is there is a lot more to come from Tyson this year!

Good to see Stevie Burnett back in the fold after a year out and with the promise of more bodies coming back from injury selection is going to be a nightmare for the skipper as he tries to pick his best side for the challenge of Drummond Trinity this week.

(Thanks to Aidan at Shot@Captured for the photos)