Penned by Mark “Warney” Mitton
Nunny sits at the footy while Dave Ewers saves the day with brilliant ton. Also, Nunny again to High Court over Umpiring Dispute
South Road IV Captain was to be seen the night before the game against Morphy Park, at Richmond Oval watching the warm up match between West Adelaide and Norwood. He was discussing tactics with his star spinner, Warney. One tactic was for the spinner to toss the coin. That, he did. He won that toss and had no hesitation in choosing to bat first. It was a hot day and Warney wasn’t going to allow his team to burn their necks fielding.
The Seaview HS pitch was a disgrace, with big holes in the matting. These holes were so bad that there was another layer of matting covered over this first layer of matting. The grass had not been cut and there were a few bad patches in the outfield.
Another tactic was for Captain Nunn to open the innings with youngster, Peter Heidenreich. The plan was for the Skipper to play himself in and build a big score.
Making his return to cricket after 3 years out of the game for Morphy Park was Les Roach. Captain Daniel Golding decided to give him the new rock first up. It looked like 3 years hadn’t done any harm to his bowling at all. Les was producing some massive inswing that spelled trouble for the batsmen with a capital T. Luckily on the last ball of the first over, Nunn played a cracking on-drive that created a misfield and got him off the mark with two.
Peter Heidenreich faced up and he looked to play aggressively, hitting the ball as well as he ever had. He looked as though if he could just stay in, he’d go on to make a big score. He looked very positive in defence and deserved to score some runs. The same couldn’t be said for Nunn who wafted at one outside off stump and he got an outside edge that flew to first slip who juggled it and took it. It was the greatest catch in the History of The Game. South Road losing their first wicket, Nunn out for 3. He would have been kicking himself as he walked off.
Les Roach bowled a treat by producing a beautiful inswinging yorker that hit Heidenreich on the toe. The fielders went up and so did the Umpire’s finger. Heidenreich plumb lbw for no score, unlucky not to have made any runs. South Road were 2 for 4. Aaron Schmidt replaced Heidenreich and the same fate applied for him when he was struck right in front and the opposition went up. Once again, the finger went up and Schmidt was on his way, first ball. South Road 3 for 4, Roach on a hat trick bowling beautifully.
Daniel Mohamed joined Josh Ewers in the middle and he was facing hat trick delivery. Mohamed survived, just letting it go through to the Keeper. In Roach’s next over, Josh Ewers played another wild shot at another inswinger and looked to see his off stump lying on the ground. He walked off for 1. South Road were in the biggest trouble yet, 4 for 5, no doubt regretting Warney’s decision to bat first, at that stage.
In came Dave Ewers and he would go on to play the innings of a lifetime. He played a couple of big shots and he repaired the innings with Mohamed, who also displayed his big hitting prowess to boost the run rate.
Mohamed was bowled by Baulderstone for 12 and Dave put on a 55 run partnership with his daughter, Lois. Lois supported her Dad brilliantly, batting bravely and even scoring 4 runs before she was bowled by Bellwood. Lois showed her teammates how the job was done and she played a real team innings. Well done, Lois. You should be proud of yourself.
It didn’t go without controversy. Umpire Nunn was at loggerheads with the Morphy Park Skipper for apparently letting them know about them mentioning about the grounding of the bat by Lois who was one short. Nunny defended Lois saying she was 14 years old, that they couldn’t get her out and he called the Morphy Park skipper a peanut and told him to get on with the game. Morphy may have been annoyed about an edge that came off Dave Ewers’s bat earlier that was caught behind but given not out and this incident may have been the final straw. Morphy’s Captain demanded Nunny to be sent off and called for a replacement Umpire. The incident left Nunny so distraught that his needed his usual recovery session at the beach, this time at Henley Beach. He also decided to take the matter to the High Court.
Dave Ewers would go on to make his century having played some glorious shots against a tiring bowling attack. It was a great knock and well deserved. Congratulations Dave! You are a champion and may you make many more centuries for the Roadhouse for years to come!
Dave made 115 before he was out caught at slip off the bowling of Geoff George in the last over. Dave was exhausted as he walked off. He’d dug his team out of a massive hole at 4 for 5 and got them to a respectable score.
Robbie Kiss also showcased his batting potential by making 24 not out and playing a patient innings when it was needed. That’s after Robbie was on 6 after just 2 balls. Robbie was batting as though it was a game of beach cricket and he played some wonderful shots that lifted the team score. It was also Robbie’s Highest Score. Great effort, Robbie. That was a well played innings. He and Warney were there at the end. Warney finished on 1 not out as the Roadhouse made it to 8 for 175 after 60 overs. They’d got out of jail and stolen $200 on the way.
It was a defendable total and there was a belief that the Roads could do it. But sadly it wasn’t to be. There was some good defensive bowling, but the bowlers played into the hands of the Morphy Park batsmen, who weren’t playing straight, instead hitting across the line. This was because there were way too many loose deliveries from the bowlers. The exception being the star of the show on Day 1, Dave Ewers. He gave his all with the ball bowling really well, getting the early wicket of Brett Macklin who cut one straight Aaron Schmidt, who took an excellent low down catch.
Robbie Kiss was brought on a bit too late but that didn’t stop him from taking two brilliant wickets. Both bowled from around the wicket. Robbie making a more than useful contribution with bat and ball in this game.
Warney came on and he bowled well for 8 overs before conceding 16 runs in his 9th over, thus ruining a decent spell of bowling. He did take the wicket of Michael Henley who top edged a ball to Danial Mohamed at fly slip who took it easily. Warney finishing with figures of 1 for 45 from his 9 overs.
There were chances that were missed but to be fair they were difficult chances. The conditions weren’t good with a few very muddy patches on the field and the ball became very hard to bowl with.
The game had reached the point where Captain Roger Nunn took things into his own hands by coming on for a roll of the arm. His first two deliveries were wides but then he got one on the pitch and it snuck through the defences of Les Roach to give Nunn a wicket that is as rare as hen’s teeth.
The game ended abruptly when Morphy Park’s Captain decided to declare with 5 balls remaining. The total had been surpassed and the game had been played in good spirits apart from a bit of chatter between the two Captains. Nunny again deciding to make another trip to the High Court to settle the matter. Morphy Park making 5 for 230.
South Road had every chance to win this game and they bowled too many loose deliveries which the batsmen, George and Crisp took advantage of and that played right into their hands. The batsmen did not look comfortable against the bowling outside off stump. They could not hit many, if any deliveries, through the V and that suggested that they liked to hit across the line and slog. But the Roadhouse can hold their heads high. They were very competitive and didn’t get completely thrashed for a change.
The next challenge for the Roadhouse is a trip to the famous Victoria Park to play Section 6 Leaders, Plympton Footballers. If the bowlers can reduce the amount of the loose deliveries they bowl, it should make for an interesting contest. If they lose, they face the likelihood of being relegated to Section 7 in 2016/17. Go Roadhouse!