1^st XI

Rd 2 saw the up and about Falcons travel to The Basin for their limited overs clash. With a strong win last week Murph won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first in perfect cricket conditions.

Unfortunately for Jarrod Butcher he was comprehensively bowled with the first ball of the 2^nd over. At 1/6 Josh Gregory joined Shan Small at the crease. The Basin bowled a very consistent and impressive line and length that made scoring difficult. Shan and Boof managed to keep it ticking over until the latter was judged LBW leaving the Falcons in a precarious position. Murph came to the crease and again he and Shan went about restoring the game and did a great job in getting the score above 40 until the skipper spooned one up for 5. Shannon departed soon after for a well made 27 with Scotty Mac soon following for 0.

The opportunity was there for Mitch and Sammy to take the game on and that is exactly what they did. Sammy spread the field quickly with some exceptional 1 day batting and getting the score to 85. That’s where the fun ended with Sammy ruled leg before on 27. Our bottom order failed to fire off a shot with only Wilba and Travis Parsonage making any real impact. In the end the lads were rolled for 111 and realistically 40 runs short of anything close to par.

The opportunity to put some early pressure on was taken by Adam Wild who struck early giving the visitors a glimmer of hope. However The Basin held there nerve and claimed a comfortable 8 wicket victory in what can only be described as a disappointing performance. Back to the drawing board for Murph and the leadership group and I am confident the lads can turn it around against Eildon Park in the first of the 2 day games.

2^nd XI

At home for the first time this year Rhys Marget won the toss and elected to bat. He and Brett Morro got things off to a trademark flyer getting the score to 58 before Brett fell for 26. Without adding a run Rhys then followed Brett for a well compiled 31, the Dovey Hay and Nav Singh partnership was short lived with Hay adding 3 and when Matt Young departed on 5 the score was 4/76 and looking ominous. Nav and Benny McLean went about rebuiliding the innings and when Benny departed for a well made 31 the score read 158. Some lusty hitting from Adam Metherall (29) saw the boys get the score to 211. Nav Singh sent a reminder to the selectors with a magnificent 70* off 91 to anchor the innings.

Nav took the new ball and provided an energetic first spell that saw him rewarded with a wicket. He shared the new prune with the ever reliable Sean Reid who just did what Reidy does best. Fortunately wickets fell fairly regularly with everyone chipping in and contributing to bowling out The Basin for 130. Simon Grasser in his fair well game before heading to Europe with the cheese and kisses performed well taking 2/23. Daine chipped in at the end finishing with 2/18 Ashley Hawkes continued his strong start to the year with 1/21. The pick of the bowlers was Adam Metherall who took 3/20 to add to his 29 earlier and showing great early season form.

All in all a fairly comprehensive win and performances in there that will certainly have a few players in the higher grades looking over their shoulder.

3^rd XI

Playing host to Knoxfield and winning the toss Jason sent his opposition in. Why wouldn’t you when you have Ian Jongen taking the new pill. He was at his miserly best claiming 1/14 off 8 and set the trend for the day with Jase’s young attack restricting Knoxfield to 134. Born again Falcon Drew Withers picked up 2/18 off 8 and young gun Jack Marget chiming in with 2/27 off 8 including some key wickets.

With an awkward total to chase it was reigning Rhys Marget medallist Andrew Potts who set about ensuring the target was reached. He and Jason combined for a 36 run opening stand before Jase departed for 22. Matty Lambrick knocked up a run a ball 23 but the damage was done by the stylish opening batsman who ended up 55 not in a mature display that saw the total reached in the 38^th over.

Super effort lads and the first of many wins for the year.

4^th XI by Greg Bakker

The 4s played Knoxfield at Benedikt and, batting first, we got off to a reasonable start before disciplined bowling and a mid innings collapse stymied the run scoring. The final score of 7/116 was never going to be enough on this ground. FOS scored 28, Jez McKinnon 31 and Josh a very handy 25no including his maiden 6 in any level of cricket.

Knoxfield batted aggressively on their small home ground and reached the target off 27 overs with only 5 wickets lost. Many near opportunities created but not enough were close enough to take regular wickets and put real pressure on Knoxfield.  Highlights were a welcome back to cricket spell from Lach Stuckey with an unlucky 2/14 off 4.  Younger brother Spencer took his first catch in senior cricket and Matty T took a couple of beauties in the deep. 

Another competitive performance where the team fought it out to the end but it's still recorded as another loss

Go Falcons!!!

Simon Wilkinson

Assistant Property Steward