Mark Dash: South v Valley

Yoku Road, Ashgrove. If there is a greater precinct in world sport, then I’m prepared to step outside and ‘debate’ you. To the north, you have the home of Valley Cricket Club and GPS RUFC; to the south (the other side of the road), there is the majestic Ashgrove Bowls Club. Still, the words ‘abject failure’, ‘pathetic’ and ‘Mark Dash’ are mutually inclusive in any of my match reports. If I wasn’t running out Stuart Law, missing stumpings and dropping sitters every second week there in the summer, I was missing conversions in front and kicking out on the full outside our 22 in the winter for Uni 6^th grade. Now look, Ashgrove Bowls Club, don’t think I’ve missed you- I could hear your ladies’ pairs on the next green laugh when I bowled another reverse bias playing for Greenslopes. If I had to pick a highlight though, it would be the coffee at the bowls club- it costs you 80c and it doubles as paint stripper. Absolutely brilliant.

Gardner Vaughan are one of the proud sponsors of South Brisbane Cricket Club

Anyway, Round 4 saw Souths journey to Valley for the return of proper cricket. You know, when cricketers wear white and they use a red ball. I don’t have real issue with the white ball stuff, but how many formats does this sport need? I love T20, but 50 over cricket is more boring than watching synchronised swimming and ‘The Sound of Music’ on the split screen. After winning the toss, the Magpies chose to bat…and bat…and bat. Souths’ openers Logan Duval and Aryan Jain batted through the first session to lay a solid foundation for the middle order. Dressing room conversation, however, was dominated by something else. Not many people know this, but the only 2 people in grade cricket who believe that wrestling is real, play at Souths- Lucky Peterson and Gurinder Sandhu. Thanks guys, that is 2 hours of my life I will never get back. In any event, after Duval’s dismissal with the score at 111 (Nelson strikes again), Peterson and Jamie Eccles combined with Jain to take the score to 250 before Jain was dismissed for a classy 136. With the absence of 2^nd XI cricket this year, AJ will need a few more of these to push his claim for an opportunity at the first class level. Another frustrating middle order collapse, losing 4/10 saw Souths close at 6/261; Corbin Zeller and debutant, 17 year older Sam Geyer being the not out batsmen.

Day 2 was, well, bizarre. Play was delayed for a half hour after it was discovered that a bag of ice had been placed on the pitch overnight with the culprit leaving a pair of ladies’ size 6 thongs at the crime scene. I understand Queensland Cricket is awaiting a report from forensics. With a star-studded Diehard batting line-up and only 260 runs on the board, Souths chose to continue batting on the resumption. Dogged resistance from Zellar and Geyer and then an intelligent, unbeaten knock of 66 from James Rosewarne enabled the Magpies to declare at 8/373, giving them 51 overs to bowl out Valley or see them get the runs. Pick of the bowlers was Andrew Gode.

Gurinder Sandha strikes getting Lachlan Pfeffer out of 0

Now, if you had of told me, before the game, that Lachlan Pfeffer, Nick Stevens, Usman Khawaja and Jack Wildemuth would all be dismissed for a duck in the same innings, I would still be in the watchhouse. I don’t say this to rub anyone’s nose in it, more that I don’t like lying. Brilliant bowling from Sandhu and James Ward saw the Diehards reeling at 4/3. With Brendan McNae flayling the attack on the adjoining oval in 3^rd grade, this was more excitement than I could handle; he’s surely booked his ticket for the flight to the Sunshine Coast for 2^nd grade next week. And with Gode falling of the last ball before tea with the score at 5/38, the Magpies had real hope for victory. Considered batting from Jack Beath and Mark Steketee saw Valley close at 7/151 and the points shared.

What to make of it all? I didn’t get lost getting there…on both days. Cricket, like all sports, is a game of margins. The lesson learned is that each round you have 12 hours of cricket and winning 11 may not be enough to get the points. That said, the Magpies have unearthed a real gem in Sam Geyer- to dig in against an attack with two bowlers that have played for Australia and two that have played for Queensland showed his potential. Just on that, this round featured four players that played for Australia, three that played for Queensland and many others that have played 2^nd XI cricket, I think we should be doing more to promote the game at this level- there are not many sports in the world where kids can go to a ground and watch the elite for free. In the current environment too, any money we can put through the club canteen is only going to benefit the game. While Yoku Road hasn’t been a great hunting ground, what takes me back (other than the draw), is the blue hue of the eucalypts in the hills that surround the ground in the late afternoon. Well, that and the hot chips. Next week, we’re back at home to take on the Scorchers…and the kebabs. 

Match Scorecard