Under 11 Division 1
Queanbeyan 8/109 (Alexander Drown 20* & Dominic Hawksworth 15*, Edmund Huang 2/8 & Xavier Ellingham 1/4)
defeated
Weston Creek 4/81 (Bradley Ackland 15* & Justin Burdin 11*, Alexander Drown 1/4 & Finley Hollyhead 1/11).
In the first game of the season, the Queanbeyan under 11 Division1 boys travelled to Kambah to take on the highly fancied boys from Weston Creek. Co Captains Finley Hollyhead & Dominic Hawksworth lost the toss and were invited to bowl first in the damp conditions. Finley however soon had the Creek in trouble by clean bowling one of the opening batsmen in his first over. Opening partner Angus McLachlan also bowled with good pace and accuracy, although without any luck, forming a great combination with Finley. The ever dangerous Christian Palombi then increased the pressure with a direct hit runout from backward point to claim the second Creek wicket. First change bowlers Dominic and James Elwin bowled with both pace and accuracy as the Creek defended grimly, determined to keep their wickets intact. Christian, Daniel Thorn, Alex Overall & Ben Thomas bowled accurately to keep the run rate down, with Alex Drown taking the final wicket by bowling full and straight with Dominic a fine catch. Wicket Keepers William Taylor and Harry Cross both showed clean hands to ensure that very few byes were added to the Weston Creek total. Considering the long outfield and heavy conditions, Weston Creek were quite comfortable with their total of 4/81. Queanbeyan openers William and Ben started briskly looking to take on the bowlers and the field from the very first ball. Unfortunately both boys soon lost their wickets leaving Queanbeyan precariously placed at 2/6. Dominic and James then resurected the innings with a controlled and risk free partnership taking the score to 40 before James was dismissed and Dominic retired. Both boys showed good techique and patience playing the good balls with respect, whilst putting the bad balls away. With the team out of immediate danger Finley then played a fine swashbucking innings, before a middle order collapse of 5 quick wickets again placed the Queabeyan boys under pressure. Alex's Drown and Overall then brought the team home with an entertaining 31 run partnership, featuring some lusty hitting from big Alex.D. After a scare at the start of the innings and another late, Queanbeyan eventually finished comfortable winners by 28 runs.
Under12 Division 1
The Queanbeyan team (sponsored by Construction Control) opened their season with a hard fought win over Eastlake in a rematch of last years grand final .. Winning the toss and batting first saw the Queanbeyan reached 3-95 after its first 25 overs with Lewis McLennan pummelling the bowling to be 43no. Excellent contributions from Zac Barton-Browne (16) and James Brown (21) at the top of the order got the team away to a good start. The bowlers then restricted Eastlake to 2-84 off their first 25 overs. The second week saw Eastlake bat first and end with a good score of 5-174 off their 50overs. James Brown was the best of the bowlers with 2 wickets, Tyler van Luin and Jack English taking one wicket each and Will Graham effecting a run out. Lewis was out first for 61 as the run chase hotted up. George Cross 35no and Brodie Nickson 12no batted sensibly putting on 44 runs for the 6th wicket and getting the team home with 5 overs to spare. Queanbeyan finished on 5/194 off their 50 overs.
Under 14 Division 1
Queanbeyan 9/154 (N.Craze 60(72), T.Cutler 20(44); N.McGuiness 3/14, C. Johnston 1/11)
defeated
Grammar 150 (J.Lightbody 31(53), G.Gillespie 24(39); T.Cutler 3/19, N.Craze 2/15)
Queanbeyan won the toss and elected to bat on a Taylor Park field recently mowed but still quite long. Nicky Craze 60(72) was the standout batsman, sharing partnerships with Justin Brownbill 12, Brad Moore 5, Alex Page 12 and Tom Cutler 20. Despite having only 10 players on the day the team managed 9/154 with Aaron Hull(6*) still there at the end. Grammar opened their batting slowly keeping to the required rate of about 3 runs per over. Some tight bowling and good fielding meant that after 25 overs they were only 3/67. Guy Gillespie (20) sped up the rate but fell to a good catch behind by Brad Moore. Tom Cutler (3/19) struck twice in two overs and then threw a runout. That left Grammar on 8/147 with 4 overs left and 8 runs required to win. It was looking very tight. With 5 runs required, Nicky Craze (2/15) struck in successive balls, both good catches, the last to Reuben Parige a sharp take in gully. This was a great finish to a tight game. The result could have gone either way and it would have been fair. Queanbeyan fielded and bowled well. Special mention needs to be made of the division 2 players from last season who have stepped up and shown that they really have the goods. We are looking forward to a great season ahead.
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