Cricket MGS 2nd XI Cricket MGS 10/236 (50 overs) defeated GGS 10/176 (45.2 overs) Adam Kudnig Seb Podolak George Waring 96 52 34 James Hurley Angus Thompson Matthew Parker Will Hanlon Seb Podolak 2/13 off 7 overs 2/21 off 8 overs 2/30 off 8 overs 1/23 off 5 overs 1/36 off 8 overs The 13th Man first arrived at Melbourne Grammar many cricket summers ago. The school coaches at the time gave him (or her – he/she has never been properly identified) some licence to make observations and comments about the way the game was played at school. Hence the 13th Man could afford to be a bit more “hard hitting” in his/her comments than the coaches could otherwise afford to be. With a new coach taking over the MGS 2nd XI in season 2014/15 from an incredibly successful Dr. Marcus Richards, the 13th Man thought it appropriate that he watch the fortunes of the school 2nd XI from afar. A strong team was assembled for the first match against traditional old rivals, Geelong Grammar. Some stern words were expressed by the coach prior to the match. It is clear that the coach is not interested in “baby sitting” players happy to play 2nds cricket. He wants players harbouring strong and desperate ambitions to play First XI. Desperate and hungry. If the Firsts players falter at any stage, MGS 2nd players will be all over them. And belief. The coach wants players to believe they can take the next step, for they are all good enough. A bit cocky, a bit arrogant. AFL, Carlton champion, Alex Jesalenko, once said; “it’s alright to be a bit cocky, as long as you are good too”. MGS skipper, Hunter Watkins won the toss and we elected to bat. The track played a bit low, but otherwise the playing field was in superb condition (and full credit to John Shannon and his curating staff). Our batting efforts were highlighted by a 78 run fourth wicket partnership between Adam Kudnig and Seb Podolak and a further 62 run partnership between Kudnig and the explosive George Waring. The individual scores are listed above. Suffice to say that whilst Kudnig and Podolak both exhibited contrasting styles, they both understood one thing implicitly. With the wicket playing low, both players played everything through the V. Kudnig was all deft angles and timing, Podolak brutal. Hence they complimented one another, before George Waring replaced the steely determination of Podolak and took the notion of “entertainment” to a new level. As one of the older boys in the team exclaimed; “where did this bloke come from”, George went on his merry way, reproducing shots reminiscent of another Waring (M.C.G Waring – 1982 and 1983). I’d be interested to know if the two are related! With a very hot day and 236 runs on the board, to say the MCG camp was a bit smug at lunch was probably right on the money! The bowling attack started hard and fast. “Tangles” Thompson was sharp and straight whilst big Matty Parker created a powerful visual, running in hard from the Bromby Street end. On figures alone, the pick of the bowlers was probably James Hurley. Whilst the Channel 9 commentary team would list him as Fast Medium, James hits the crease at speed and is quite sharp. GGS had one batsman who was able to hold the innings together (92 runs), but in the end the quality of the home sides bowling, fielding and all round application (one hopes, hallmarks of this side!) were impressive. ...cont’d/.. After the match the coach was fairly pointed about what he is about. His role is to get players playing at their optimum with a view to promotion to the First XI. He would rather spend less time telling players how good they are and more time telling them how to get better. He knows that the boys within the team are mature, experienced and tough and on any given day will turn up to play. The 2nd XI juggernaut is on the move. The 13th Man 10A Cricket MGS 8/152 def. by St Kevin’s 5/154 H. Watkin 2/17 off 5 overs A. Fanning 1/31 off 10 overs T. Nattrass 1/5 off 3 overs H. Stewart 67* J. Brown 41 For the opening round of the season, the MGS 10A’s came up against a strong cricketing outfit in St Kevin’s College. Sent in to bat on a typical windy day at Flack Park, openers Hamish Stewart and Jeremy Brown started superbly, with Jeremy blasting boundary after boundary and Hamish placing balls between fielders with ease (whilst still managing to get his fair share of boundaries). The two put on 56 before the wicket of Jeremy fell in the 17th over. Runs were hard to come by after that, with the middle order falling in quick succession. Hamish Stewart however, continued to toil hard and ended up batting for the entire 50 overs and scoring a brilliant unbeaten 67, and with quick-fire 10’s respectively from Hugo Gray and Callum Kimpton, we were able to get to a respectable total of 152. Speedsters Charlie Wackett and Ollie Hurley opened the bowling and did so bowling a consistent line outside the off stump. However, both Charlie and Ollie bowled without luck with edge after edge falling in between the slip and gully fielders. The following 20 overs were hard fought by our boys, as the St Kevin’s opening pair put on 126 before the first wicket fell in the 28th over. Hugo Watkin and Tommy Nattrass bowled well from that point on, with the two of them grabbing wickets whilst remaining economical. A brilliant run out from Dan Dowling brought in the St Kevin’s lower order but it was a case of too little too late from the MGS boys, with St Kevin’s chasing down our total of 152 in 40 overs. The boys will look forward to a solid week on the track before heading down to Geelong next week to face Geelong College. Angus Fanning 10B Cricket On Saturday the 10B cricket team headed out to Edwin Flack Park for a 1.00pm start. It was our first game of the season and everyone was keen to go out and defeat Xavier. It was extremely hot! We lost the toss and were sent out to bowl. We started well with Matthew March getting an early wicket and then a second not long after. The game slipped away from us a bit due to some sloppy fielding and loose bowling but some late wickets from Seb Harvey and Eamon Roderick gave us a challenging but not impossible total, with Xavier finishing on 163-5 off their 30 overs. Unfortunately we lost a wicket off the first ball of our innings and failed to sustain any partnerships thereafter. Strong, swirling winds made for tough batting with the only real highlight consecutive boundaries from Max Wilson, including a huge six and a one bounce four. Liam Honour dug in and made a hard-fought 13 to top score. Unfortunately we came up well short of Xavier’s total and finished all out for a disappointing 55. We are hoping for a much better performance against Caulfield next week.