Today I managed to reach my 600,000 VPP target for the year and I’m officially no longer prisoner to PokerStars. Next year my target is going to be a lot lower, allowing me to play less and expand my horizons at other sites and away from poker a bit.

When we got back home from the days play we hit the tables for a bit, with the pressure of reaching the 600k milestone off it is nice not to have to be worried about getting hands in or anything like that. In the last week or so I’ve been taking some shots at $3/$6nl, mostly because I’ve been noticing a few decent games. I feel like I’m doing pretty well, haven’t analyzed my results or anything and have no idea how I’ve actually done.

The second day’s play of the test match was a lot more entertaining as Australia wrestled the lead in the match from South Africa. Siddle and Hauritz both bowled really well and the selector’s were vindicated in their decision to go with them for the match. We will be going to the match again tomorrow and then will probably hit Crown afterwards and might even play some live pokers (lol). If we do, I’ll be sure to post a report as there is a possibility we will be meeting up with some other 2+2ers there.

I was told this time I would get to open the batting. I started at the non-strikers end and it wasn’t long before Joe got out and we were already one down. Then Brad came out to bat with me, the second time we have been in the middle batting together, the last time didn’t last long and neither did this one. Batting about a foot outside my crease facing a right armed tall bowler who I hadn’t seen yet, I left a ball that landed about 20 centimetres outside off-stump and still well in front of me despite my being out of my crease… somehow it swung back enough and also kept low enough to clip the top of off stump. Thankfully, in the previous over I had scored a run and avoided getting a pair of ducks for the game, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasurable or confidence inspiring day with the bat in hand.

After suffering the embarrassment of being bowled while leaving a delivery I didn’t have to trudge back to the dressing rooms to front my team mates. Cooper came out to bat and I was once again runner. That didn’t last that long though and we were back watching from the sidelines in no time. Brad was the only batsman in the team looking at all comfortable. Because I was out in the middle when he came to bat he had to borrow Nin’s bat (he usuaully uses mine). Anyway, in attempting to play a horizontal bat shot on the off-side the bat he was using snapped in half. Usually, you expect cricket bat to break at the splice or something, this one literally just split horizontally at the middle.

Things only got weirder… Brad was looking good sitting on 22 when he was facing up to the opposition left arm bowler who had done most of the damage all day. He got a short ball and at first moved forward to it but then went to play a pull shot, but was too late on it and the ball whacked into the mid part of his left forearm. He stumbled backwards then rolled back onto the ground. A few of us went out to see if he was okay and he got up and started to walk off trying to move his arm. He had a bit of movement, but it was visibly shaking so he came off and we took him to get an x-ray. The hospital was fairly quick and efficient and it was soon cofirmed that he had broken his arm and very nearly his elbow as well. After his family got to the hospital and he was being looked after I headed back to the ground to catch the end of the match. With a few overs to go and 8 wickets down (effectively nine with Brad being gone) if we had lost a wicket we would have lost the game outright. Nin and Kelly kept it out though and we salvaged at least a little dignity out of what was a very odd day.

At the tea break it really looked like we were going to have them all out for about 150 odd. After tea though things didn’t really go our way, we got slapped around a bit and missed a few chanes. The last pair hurt us the most, we dropped a guy who was on abotu 20 and he went on to make a 50 and propel them to a total of 200. Hopefully that doesn’t cost us the game, but otherwise it was a good bowling effort.

I was scheduled to come in at number three again and about eight overs in a wicket fell and I was out there. In the first over I faced I edge a ball that bounced surprisingly and it flew through between first slip and wicket-keeper at shoulder height and went for four. With my little bit of luck out of the way I slowly got myself going, but scoring was never easy. The outfield was super slow because of the rain and what was going for four last week, was suddenly only a single this week. We go through to tea at about 2 for 90. Chasing 300 odd we needed to get a move on after tea, so I started to play a little more aggressively and take some risks. Eventually I was caught behind when I spooned an attempted pull shot straight up in the air. I ended up ebing the team’s second highest scorer with 31.

Kelly ended up notching a half century and our partnership was the best of the innings. After I got out I went out to umpire, this time in the central position for much of the time. I had to judge a couple of LBW decisions and then later on at square leg I had to give Jacob out run out. There were a few little cameo batting performances down the order, but we were eventually bundled out for 160 or so

Now that I’ve had a decent amount of time batting in the last two games my cofidence has grown, but at the same time there are a lot of things I still need to work on. My calling for runs is very poor, I’m so used to running most balls and a shorter length at indoor cricket that I’m a bit trigger happy. I’d also like to work on my scoring off short balls, particularly at pace. I feel like my straight bat shots are okay, but my cross bat shots on both sides of the wicket are a struggle.

Not long after I’d finished up bowling I was fielding in the deep when I took a sliding catch of Lach’s bowling. They were 2-220 going into the last 15 overs or so and only ended up scoring 322. Some good bowling from Darcy, Jacob and Ned towards the end as well as some conservative batting given the situation really helped.

The team did manage one unique feat, all 11 players got a bowl. If we can get off to a good start next week there is no reason on that size ground that we can’t get the runs.

Nin was creaming the ball and made a quick fire 41. Once he went out the wickets started to tumble around me. Coming off a 50 last game, Darcy tried to play himself in by walking down the pitch at the bowler a bit. Soon enough they had the keeper up at the stumps and that brought about a whole bunch of wickets. Once Darcy was bowled, Brad came in for our first bat together in the outdoor game. It last two balls only when he was hit on the back leg right on the stumps and simply had to be given LBW. He usually likes to bat out of his crease so I’m convinced having the keeper up there played a part.

Enyo went out to a blinder catch and Kelly was stumped and the team was reeling after losing four quick wickets. Somewhere in the middle of all that I managed to hit two boundaries of bda balls and not punish a couple of other ones I should have put away. Not long after Ned came to the crease and I got cleaned bowled by an inswinger from the guy that had done all the damage. I ended up making 13, but spent a lot of overs out in the middle and got a good experience.

The most disappointing thing about getting out was that a couple of overs later they had spinners operating from both ends who were bowling all sorts of juicy deliveries. Ned went on to make 38, little Lachie punched above his weight and hang around for a while scoring 4, Mark managed to tonk a few boundaries and the scene was set for Jacob to come in at number 11 and somehow resuce the game. It started to pour with rain just before he got out there and I’m convinced he decided just to tap a few runs and then get out so that he could get back inside. He did exactly the that and we were all out for 148, a thrashing, but not such a bad effort considering how young our team was.

After putting in an ordinary bowling performance I was glad to at least hang around for a while with the bat. Being out there not only gave me batting experience, but gave me a feel for where I should be bowling.

When I came on to bowl the two openers were still out there and the ball had taken a bit of a beating. I was operating from the same end as last game, but this time I was running into a stiff breeze. Right from the outset I struggled to get through the bowling crease and get my length right. My first over was shocking. Throughout my spell I improved, but I still wasn’t happy with bowling four good balls an over and then two pieces of trash that took the pressure right off the batsmen.

The bright news is that I managed to take my first wicket for Hampton Central! It wasn’t a good ball at all, it pitched short and just sat up. The batsman went to play a horizontal bat shot into the onside, but chopped the ball down and I think it rolled off his legs onto the stump. It all happened so slowly I was amazed that the impact was even enough to dislodge the bail, but I’ll take it. I ended up with figures of 1 for 33 off 6 overs, happy to get a wicket but overall disappointed with how I bowled.

Brad was fresh off the plane from his American trip and bowled 8 overs for the day. In his first spell of 6 overs he as getting the ball to move a little, hit the pad a few times. kept things tight but didn’t breakthrough. He was brought back on for two overs at the death when then batsman were throwing the bat at everything (they scored about 100 runs off the last 10 overs). He took two wickets in two overs, one caught behind and the other clean bowled. We actually end up bowling them all out in the final over for 280.

Last week the team proved that we can chase down a smaller total with overs to spare, so I think we are close enough if good enough. Bentleigh Uniting seem like a pretty strong unit though, so I’m sure they’ll have a tought bowling line-up.

We went in to the day requiring 215 for victory. It was another warm one like last week, about 30 degrees, but with a bit of cloud cover and and a cooling breeze rolling through from time to time. I was penciled in to bat at number eight, but thankfully from the team’s perspective wasn’t required to take to the middle. I think the Birthday boy Jacob and Ned were pretty glad not to have to go out there needing only a handful of runs, especially since we only had ten players.

The opening batsman Nin carried us to victory with a superb knock of 85, backing up from a tough effort as wicket keeper last week. Darcy had his first bat in C grade and notched a half century after looking a little nervous early. Once we passed Mackie’s 214 we batted on a few more overs so that he could reach the milestone.

While I didn’t get to be involved with the bat, I spent a bit of the day learning the ins and outs of keeping score and then standing as square leg umpire. After getting out early caught behind off one he says he didn’t hit, Cody stood the stumps at the bowlers end and umpired the rest of very clear cut and the other was a beam ball that I called a no-ball.

We have a tough game next week against Bentleigh Uniting; another home game. We can take a lot of confidence out of the fact that we were able to score a bunch of runs on a pitch not offering much and a very quick outfield.

This week was our first home game of the season and I arrived to the news that we had lost the toss and were going to have to field in the 30+ degree temperatures. With a few guys missing from last week’s team I was hopeful of getting a bowl this time around. Ned and Jacob got the team off to a solid start with the ball, keeping it tight and Ned taking a wicket.

Around the 14 over mark I came on to bowl with a bit of a wind at my back. The run up top the pitch was awkward  with a huge pothole just where the pitch area begins. I eased into my first few overs and tried to concentrate on not bowling any bad balls. I ended up bowling a five over spell with a drinks break in between, getting two maidens and ending with figures of 0/14. I was most bowling to the one batsman and I had him fishing outside off stump on five or six occasions and was very unlucky not to get a knick. I was scheduled to get a second spell later in the day, but our off-spinner was keeping things very tight from the end I was bowling from so I didn’t get another look in.

It was a long hot day in the field and I made my first mistake of the day in the third last over when a really simple ground ball went straight through me for four when I was fielding on the boundary. The very next ball I redeemed myself though when a sky ball headed my way and I took a catch just inside the boundary line. At first I ran too far under it, but luckily had time to hustle back and take it.

Thanks to some tight bowling, fielding and some super slow batting we were able to keep them to 7 for 214 off their 65 overs. The outfield was super quick and the ball stopped doing anything after the early overs. Cody and Rossie both bowled great spells of spin in the middle overs where the batsman were going nowhere. Hopefully the conditions are similar next week and we can chase down the runs.