PUMA POWER

2 February 2010

LLOYD ILETT

GRAMPIANS has resumed its place at the top of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association pecking order by claiming the final of the one-day competition with a resounding victory over College at Clem Young Oval on Sunday.

The Pumas were far too good for the Students as they cantered to victory by eight wickets and with more than 14 overs to spare.

The top four batsmen backed up a stunning display with the ball from the new leader of the Pumas pride, Will Collins.

Hamish Bailey won the toss and elected to bat on what was expected to be a difficult pitch after 16 wickets fell on it the day before for only 220 runs.

The batsmen began cautiously against the new ball and waited for the bowlers to make a mistake and they both pounced on loose deliveries by each registering boundaries in the opening overs.

Tom Osmond has been in great form with the bat since coming back into the side and he despatched the first ball of Collins’ second over to the mid off boundary with distain and it appeared that he was away.

But Collins had his revenge when he got a ball to climb from a good length and hit the batsman’s thumb to offer Sam Brewer an easy catch at second slip.

It was soon 2-12 when Grant Waldron became Collins’ next scalp when he was clean bowled for six and the demons in the wicket had begun to enter the heads of the College batsmen.

Solomon Mire strode to the crease, chock full of confidence after his outstanding innings the day before and he middled the ball from the outset as he took a boundary behind square leg from only the third ball he faced.

The Pumas must have been concerned that he would produce another innings of quality and take the match away from them before it had really started when he failed to get over the top of a drive to mid off and hand Joe Higgins a catch that the young all-rounder juggled and finally held on to. College had slumped to 3-17 in the seventh over.

After only 13 overs the College innings was in tatters at 5-28 and Collins had the lot for only 15 runs.

To be fair to the batsmen the wicket was playing up with one end producing “tennis ball “ bounce and the end that Collins was operating to, producing variable bounce.

The young College batsmen were ill equipped to handle the conditions and paid for it with their wickets.

With the innings in tatter it needed Bailey and Heath Schmidt to mount a rescue operation and try to post a target the bowlers could defend.

Their first order of business was to see the opening bowlers off without further loss and this they did.

Collins and Milne were replaced by Mick Russell and Joe Higgins and they continued to pressure the batsmen by maintaining the line and length set by the opening combination.

These are the two most experienced players in the College team and they put their heads down and clawed their way back into the contest by some very good batting under trying conditions.

They added 46 for the sixth wicket when Behncke was brought into the attack with immediate affect.

His first ball drew Bailey forward only for the ball to jump from a length and catch the shoulder of the bat and he was caught by Heinrich Joyce for a patient 25.

The fall of the skipper’s wicket gave the Pumas great cause for celebration, as they knew that his was a prized wicket above all others.

Schmidt refused to be intimidated by the bowlers or the wicket and he carried on to guide the lower order through the remaining overs as he played very well.

He chose well in selecting which balls to attack and which to defend and his innings of 53-not-out was the highest of the match and he looked at ease at the wicket.

Lach Whiting (11) and Callum Kanoniuk (three-not-out) batted with their senior partner and guided the final total to 7-127, a score that looked like it would take some getting under the conditions if the College bowlers could replicate the line and length of the Grampians attack.

Mark Lazzari and Russell were given the task of getting the Pumas away to a solid start. They added 47 for the first wicket.

The conditions still favoured the bowlers and the ball did play up from the surface but the bowlers appeared to delivering the wrong line as the batsmen were able to let the ball go when it did not play as expected.

Mire was off his full run but appeared to me to not be in rhythm and the batsmen had little trouble against him, maybe he is still feeling the affects of the Achilles tendon that plagued him earlier in the season or maybe he was just trying to bowl too quickly.

Both openers fell within a few runs of one another as the bowlers took their wickets to give College a sniff of victory.

Callum Kanoniuk clean bowled Lazzari in the ninth over while Sam Weston had Russell caught at the wicket as the batsman was trying to hit him over long off and the Pumas were 2-53 in the 10th over.

From there Jamie Fenech and Heinrich Joyce played with freedom as they drove the run rate higher as they looked to play their shots without taking any silly risks.

The ball sped along the ground to the fence a total of 10 times as the pair looked to end the match quickly.

Fenech was given a scare when he was brilliantly caught off a no ball from Mire.

From there Fenech was not troubled as he and his skipper put on 78 from 15 overs to guide the Pumas to another one-day title to add to the other three that the club has won.

Collins was named a deserved Quinn’s Sportspower man of the match after his stunning display with the ball but every one of the Grampians players earned this flag and now they have to concentrate on winning the double and claiming the Dundas Cup in March.