Day 1

This round thirds took on Helensvale Pacific Pines at a very hot, humid and slow Pacific Pines High School.

Bowling first we started the day well, taking a few early wickets and keeping the runs at an absolute minimum with some fantastic field and great hands. Russ Green in his first game for the bay (and first game back after 13 months) took a few quick wickets with some loose balls. We let them back into the game as Helensvale steadied their ship and batted sensibly for a while, finishing on 184. Star of the day was Boof Le Jeune, taking 4/35 in a great display of bowling, not afraid to give the ball some flight to take a wicket.

Our innings started disastrously, with Hinzy holing out to mid on early, and Patty Brown taking a suicide single to be run out by metres. We finished at 3/39, with 150-odd still to get on the second day.

Day 2

With a further 154 runs to win with 7 wickets and some good batting in hand, we were confident of a win.  We started badly though, losing overnight batsmen Scott Mulligan (12) and Brett Smidt (14) early.  Boof was looking strong but was cleaned up with a ripper of a ball for 14, and with the score at 6/92 things were looking dire.  Enter newcomer Russ Green (11) and Timmy Douglas (36) who steadied things and brought us a further 30 runs towards the Helensvale total.  A strong 37 run partnership including some hard hitting between Tiimmy Douglas and Mark Davies (42) paved the way, with Mark losing his wicket whilst the scores were level.  Mick Le Jeune then hit the winnings runs before Pete Norman was trapped LBW the next ball - completing a very close, but a very satisfying win.

After not winning a game and having 5 drawn games up until January 9, this is third grade's 3rd win in a row, meaning we need to win the last two games before we could potentially secure an unlikely finals berth.

Third grade headed to Canungra for their Saturday Sunday game against Tamborine and on the thick grass of Moriarty oval bowled first. Batting was always going to be hard, especially on a synthetic pitch that played inconsistently, we got off to a good start getting two early wickets. Tamborine dug in and put on a bit of a partnership which was eventually broken from bay junior Kieran Le Jeune, picking up his first senior wicket. The rest of the day however belonged to Peter Norman, who battled through 21 overs in the humidity to end up with career best figures of 9/44, well bowled Pete. Tamborine finished on a respectable 157 from 55 overs.

Heading into bat, stability was the plan but plans don’t always work, and we found ourselves 3/29 at stumps. Heading into day 2, quick wickets from Tambo didn’t help our cause, we were 5/31 when Pete Norman joined Martin Laird came to the crease. A steady partnership of 14 brought promise, however when Pete was caught Kieran “Boof” Le Jeune came in. Boof and Marty put on a patient, solid partnership of 85 to get us right back into the game at 6/140, with just 17 runs to win. Marty hitting 67 and Boof hitting an excellent 46 in his first 3rd grade match. Despite the best defensive efforts, we couldn’t quite get the additional runs we needed, eventually finishing 9 runs short on 148 in a close game.

Third grade this game took on Burleigh at Sam Loxton 3. Batting first, the plan was to put on a total, except things didn’t really go to plan. After a good start from David Baird (15), the innings fell apart, at one stage being 5/27. A steady hand from Dan Roberts (38) and Pete Norman (12) saw things improve, however the innings ended at 90.

Defending a small total was never going to be easy, and our boys bowled well to stay in the game. Wickets to Pete Norman (3/36), Dan Roberts (2/21) and Kai McMahon (2/14) saw us get close, but not quite close enough, Burleigh taking first innings points with 110.

The second innings was our chance to win the game back, and quick runs saw our boys bat much better and post a total of 5/169 dec, with Dustin Emms-Healey batting well for 38, Andrew Gross with a cameo innings of 32 and Brett Smidt looking solid for 31. The boys were given an hour and a half to bowl the opposition out, however the game came to a close with Burleigh winning on first innings, finishing at 4/55.

Our third graders took on Mudgeereeba Nerang Red at Sam Loxton 2, and took the ascendency early with a great first spell from Craig Gannon, who went right through the top order picking up 4/25 off 11 overs. Tight bowling keep the boys on top early, saw them head to lunch at 6/78. Mudgee then clawed their way back, after a couple of dropped chances and some good, consistent batting saw them reach 208 after 66 overs. Stand out performances to Gannon and Nathan Finney (4/43 off 16 overs), and Joe Tolman who spent most of the day chasing Mudgee’s edges through the slips.

A tough 10 over spell saw out the end of the day, with Patty Brown and Dustin Emms-Healey keeping things moving but we lost a couple of late wickets, finishing 2/23 at stumps. With another 180 runs to win and a new day, things didn’t start well with the boys losing quick wickets and struggle to 7/73. Pete Norman and Josh Benney then combined brilliantly, with some great shot-making and running, putting on 100 between them and getting us back in the game. Josh was caught for 81, a great knock, and Pete finished not out on 43. In the end, we fell 30 runs short.

Sent back to bowl, we thought we might have a chance of producing an outright, however after being 1/60, Mudgee lost a few quick wickets then shut up shop, eventually being bowled out for 116 with only 20 minutes of play remaining.