THE North Richmond Jets gave up their chance to return to the HDCA Fifth Grade top two after capitulating for a paltry 54 to lose to Pitt Town by 41 runs in their round 12 match at McMahons Park last week.
The Jets had the opportunity to put themselves back in a finals box seat with leaders Wilberforce's match against second-placed Bligh Park being abandoned, but they were never in the contest on the second day, folding in the face of some disciplined bowling on a day where conditions were terrible for batting.
However, things weren't much better on day one, when Northo won the toss and asked Pitt Town to bat first on a wet outfield affected by rain which had also meant the ground couldn't be mowed in the lead-up.
And the Jets took full advantage, with their best bowling and fielding performance of the season which kept the pressure on the Pitt Town batsmen throughout their innings.
After an early rain delay, the visitors moved painstakingly to 1/26 off 20 overs, with the wicket having been taken by Peter 'Pirate' Richardson and the only blemishes on the Jets' card being two dropped catches in the slips - these would be the only misses for the day in a massive improvement on the rest of the season.
North Richmond continued to keep things tight and were rewarded with two more wickets to Pirate and Les 'Carpet' Cass, but Pitt Town was still looking dangerous before Nick 'Austin' Powers produced some outstanding bowling to take out dangermen Glenn Bird and Phil Northey in consecutive balls to make it 5/45.
Pitt Town saw its best partnership of the innings for the sixth wicket, between stonewall opener Bill Bartley, who batted 45 overs for 16, and talented youngster Jack Attenborough, who was the only one in the match to look fully assured at the crease.
Once Bartley was dismissed by spinner Scott 'NoIdea' Seckold, however, North Richmond turned the screws, with Seb 'Sting' Reay and Seckold building the pressure before Pirate returned to finally remove Attenborough for 37 and bowl the visitors out for just 95 in 55.2 overs, a score which should not have provided too big a challenge.
Pirate finished with the terrific figures of 3/7 off 11.2 overs, NoIdea took 2/25 off nine, Austin took 2/14 off eight, Carpet 1/11 off seven, Sting 1/19 off 12 and Matty 'Ginger' Beggs 0/10 off eight which included four consecutive maidens at one stage.
With 13 overs to bat before stumps, North Richmond openers Terry 'Top Cat' Conoulty and Ryan 'Rhyno' Johnston set about ensuring all 10 wickets would be intact, and the home team walked off at 0/7.
Unfortunately, it again rained all week, and the Jets' hopes of having significantly better conditions in which to chase the score failed to materialise, and the ground was in fact much slower than day one, despite the grass being a bit shorter.
And the trouble started almost immediately, with Top Cat bowled in just the fourth over of the day, and Harry 'Potter' Stever falling shortly after to make it 2/25.
Rhyno looked comfortable for most of his innings, playing several shots that would normally be rewarded with boundaries, but when he edged a wide one for 20 at 3/35, there was no more resistance.
Except, of course, for Rod 'Quasimodo' Bayne, who was forced to watch from the non-strikers' end as North Richmond lost a pathetic 7/19 to be bowled out for a meagre 54.
Quasi himself made 11 of those without being dismissed, with no other batsman able to venture past two runs as Northey took 5/11 off 11 to secure Pitt Town an important and in the end convincing victory that drew them level with the Jets in third spot on the ladder.
The batsmen's graveyard well illustrated by the fact a total of 101.4 overs were bowled in the match for only 149 runs, and the Jets will need to find a way to adapt to difficult conditions, with wet weather expected to mar the rest of the season.
The first day of the round 13 clash was abandoned on Saturday, leaving North Richmond's showdown with the red-hot flag favourites Wilberforce to be converted to a must-win one-dayer this week.
1st Innings
1st Innings - Pitt Town Sports
|
R |
BF |
Min |
4s |
6s |
c BM Rhodes b S Seckold
|
16
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c R Bayne b P Richardson
|
7
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
b L Cass
|
7
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c L Cass b P Richardson
|
3
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
b N Powers
|
8
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c S Reay b N Powers
|
0
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
lbw b P Richardson
|
37
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
lbw b S Reay
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
run out (S Seckold, M Beggs)
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c P Richardson b S Seckold
|
0
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
not out
|
0
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
Extras
(nb 0, w 4, b 7, lb 2)
|
13 |
|
|
|
|
Total
|
95
|
|
|
|
|
Overs
|
55.2
|
|
|
|
|
FOW: 15 (KG Bird) 26 (B Thornton) 31 (M Dean) 45 (G Bird) 45 (P Northey) 70 (WJ Bartley) 83 (HJ Wever) 86 (C McConnell) 87 (M Kuipers) 95 (J Attenborough)
1st Innings - North Richmond
|
R |
BF |
Min |
4s |
6s |
b B Thornton
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c KG Bird b P Northey
|
20
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c A Roberts b B Thornton
|
4
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c J Attenborough b P Northey
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
not out
|
11
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c KG Bird b HJ Wever
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c C McConnell b A Roberts
|
0
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
c C McConnell b P Northey
|
1
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
lbw b P Northey
|
1
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
b P Northey
|
2
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
b A Roberts
|
0
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
dnb
|
|
|
|
|
|
Extras
(nb 2, w 4, b 0, lb 1)
|
7 |
|
|
|
|
Total
|
54
|
|
|
|
|
Overs
|
46.2
|
|
|
|
|
FOW: 14 (T Conoulty) 25 (H Stever) 35 (R Johnston) 38 (BM Rhodes) 43 (N Powers) 43 (S Reay) 44 (P Richardson) 48 (T Boyle) 52 (L Cass) 54 (M Beggs)
Last Modified on 06/02/2012 21:39