2nd Grade Grand-Final against CSH

Firstly, and foremostly, thank you to everyone who played for or supported the Apaches through the 09-10 Season - you are the reason this club is as fscking awesome as it is ! :-)

Unfortunately, we went down to CSH in the Grand Final, although they certainly knew they were in a game of cricket.

The first day saw us lose the toss, and the first session went their way. Although the bowling was tight, a couple of their boys chanced their arm on the long, long grass of Booralee 5, and got away with it. At 3/80 and some of their best batting to come, things were looking tough.

The Apaches dug deep to make them work a lot harder after the break, and slowed the runs down. We still couldn't quite get the breakthroughs we were after, before the introduction of Neil to the attack. although his first couple of overs were a bit loose, and they managed to get to about 130, his combination with Dave Geer (in his second spell) completely undid them, as he claimed three quality wickets, Davos grabbed a couple more, and then Bryan cleaned up the tail in the space of 5 deliveries.

155 all out after they looked like posting a big total - a fantastic effort an a gutsy comeback.

With about 40 minutes to stumps, the aim was to just get through and push on for the win on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn't quite manage this, with Tucks getting an unfortunate call on a ball that hit his forearm, Asty managing to be found in front of the stumps and Thommo bottom-edging one that would normally have been about 10 meters over the head of point... Neil P kept his head and was still there at stumps, and the Apaches 3/19.

Sunday was a gorgeous day, and less breezy than saturday. Sean and Neil had a bright start, before Sean prodded at one and got caught behind, then Watto tried to leave one unsuccessfully, Neil got caught in the deep, Polar top edged one etc etc...

They held all of their catches, and we just couldn't build the partnerships to get to the total. In short, they were a little bit better than us across the park.

When Dave Geer got held by a good running catch going over the top, it was the end - all out 103.

The end of a very good season, both for 2nd Grade and the entire club. With the restructure of the grades, the loss of a few players and the stop-start nature of a season plagued by byes, the first ever complete washout of a round and the collapse of other clubs, getting combinations and momentum going was tough. We did well...

Off the field, also one of the best seasons the club has ever had - the support of partners and people not actually playing was fantastic - thank you one and all, and see all of you at the Preso Night (currently slated for 17 April 2010...)

Cheers

Webko

Great work to get there guys! Have a great presentation night and end of season bash!