Sawty Round Up 16- Final Round

SAWTY CRICKET ROUND UP

ROUND 16- Final Round

A great final round for Sawtell Cricket Club. We have at least one team in almost all grade finals. That’s about 80 players who now have to focus on the mental and physical preparations for the finals matches. Best of luck to the captains and coaches who will have a big role to play and to the players playing in their first finals.

Senior Presentation Night is booked for Saturday evening 28th March at Sawtell Hotel. 5.30 for 6pm start. Players will have a free meal and guests a meal at a cost of $30.

Junior Presentation Arvo is  Sunday arvo 22nd March at Richardson Park. Please put the dates in your calendars. Pizzas will be provided for the players.

Any players with perpetual trophies please return them to a member of the committee. I will be at the raffles each Friday evening from 5.30 til 7pm if you want to drop them off then.

Little late with Roundup this week lots of people busy, including me, or too busy celebrating cricket wins.

SPONSOR OF THE WEEK- Boambee Service Station and General Store.

Boambee Bay Service Station and General Store is locally owned. The team provides driveway service. This is a great service, especially to our elderly folk. Always up for a friendly chat while providing quality service to the local community.  The owners support our local community in many ways. If you need fuel, bait, icecream, the things you forgot then drop in to your local servo.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Cooper Heinz

Cooper was in Raby this week representing North Coast at the PSSA school cricket. Cooper is developing into an attacking bowler and an attacking batter who can change a game for a team. Cooper plays in 4ths Blue for our club with his mum Holly and dad Jon. His dad is always telling him to keep his head down and play a controlled game. Then dad goes out and cracks balls from the get go.

‍

U10s Suns

Under 10 suns took on the Coffs cricket club. A real mixed game with a new boy playing his first ever game and some 12's helping make up the numbers for Coffs. The Suns didn't let it phase them though and bounced out into the field. We once again took some early wickets and missed out on a couple more with some very close near misses. We had a focus on positive talk in the field this week and it was good to hear that positive talk extending to the Coffs kids too. Ollie continued his sparkling form with the bat and we had some more aggressive running between the wickets all around stealing those free runs off overthrows. The game smarts are really coming along as we head into the penultimate round.

‍

U10s Stars

Great to see the young players in the club developing in a non competitive atmosphere. Plenty of time for close game wins and loses ahead for them. A big thank you to the coaches and parents giving up your time.

U12 Sixers

Sawtell Sixers U12s vs Urunga U12s

Upper Field

Result: Urunga won by 29 runs

Urunga won the toss and chose to field on a damp Upper Field, where early rhythm for the Sixers again proved hard to find.

Sawtell bowled too short early and were dispatched to the boundary with ease, particularly through the off side. Anything short was smoked through cover, and on a firm surface with a wet ball skidding on, Urunga made the most of it.

Just before the 10-over mark, Percy took a sharp catch at fine leg, lifting the energy in the field.

At 2–69 after 10 overs, Urunga were really well placed. What followed, after a regroup was Sawtell’s best period of the day.

Fuller lengths replaced the short stuff and Huddy struck twice in one over, bringing the Sixers right back into the contest.

Urunga were eventually bowled out in the 17th over for 97, a strong response from the Sixers after the early pressure.

Sawtell Chase

Chasing 98, Sawtell again found it difficult to build momentum. Wickets fell early and at 5 down after 10 overs, the chase had become a tough climb.

Urunga’s bowling, despite at times serving up more lollies than the corner store, proved effective.

One seamer arrived at the crease like a man late for the bus — awkward, energetic, and surprisingly accurate — and the Sixers never quite found their rhythm.

Sixers were eventually all out for 69 in the 16th over, unfortunately just not getting momentum where it was needed.

There were some definite character building moments within the game.

Walter batted on after copping a heavy body blow, clearly shaken but determined not to leave his teammates short.

Sam after being injured in the field came out to bat with a runner, sticking it out for the team.

This Saturday brings a meeting with Diggers, a side that includes the competition’s leading batter and rarely lets a game drift.

It should be a proper test for us and will be a great game.

U12s Sloggers

U12 sloggers vs Woolgoolga Rebels Dolphins 28th Feb.

Our last game of the season was held at our home ground of Toormina oval.

Sloggers won the toss and sent the opposition in. Woolgoolga’s  young team setting a competitive total of 73. Eva took the only wicket by a bowler however a highlight was the sloggers fielders getting 4 run outs. Shout out to Xander having his first  go at keeping - I think we have found his position with no extras given.

The batting innings started conservatively with a few wickets falling and aggressive running between wickets leading to a close game. Bodhi top scored with 17, Eva 14, Eli H 8, and Levi smacking them around for 9 leading the team to victory.

Sloggers had a really good season and should be proud of their efforts. It has been a pleasure to see them develop their cricketing skills and have fun each week.

Congratulations and Good luck to the Sixers in the semi final this weekend. Hope you take down the diggers side and get a shot at the big one.

U14s

They say that lightening doesn’t strike twice in the same place, but after watching our 14’s team play last night I’m not so sure. Finishing our Round 7 clash with Coffs Colts as a tie, with both sides finishing their innings on 7-79, we came into this game looking for redemption. Winning the toss and batting, we quickly got into our rhythm,  with Hunter 21, Chisel 13 and Jude 35 off just 16 balls combining with our other batsmen to set a respectful target of 7-111. A shout out to Liam who had to be carried off whilst batting after twisting his knee and ending up in emergency instead of taking the field with his mates.

Taking the ball, Colts set a brisk pace early on, scoring 67 off their first ten, before Sawtell regrouped during the drinks break, and really tightened their bowling to reapply the brakes. Some wonderful bowling, led by Chisel 2-6 and Lucas 1-6 meant the game slowed down, and in the end Colts needed one run off the last ball to draw, and 2 to win. After a tight over from Jude Colts took their chance and scored a risky single off the last ball, with scores tied on 111. So we played Colts twice and got two draws. What are the chances!

U16s

Getting strike batsman Jacka out for only 14 left diggers with a tally of 48 runs which was chased down in 12 overs

Jaybien and Jude Aspden claiming 2 wickets and Busby top scoring with 19

4th Grade Blue

4th grade blue vs Macksville. 28th Feb

Blues travelled to Macksville to take on the first placed Macksville side. Blues were spoilt having the opportunity to play on turf at the Phil Hughes oval and having secured a place in the semis the week earlier were keen to fine tune and test themselves leading into the finals.

Macksville won the toss and sent us into bat. On a slightly slow and low pitch batting fluently was difficult - but the blues hung in to bat into the last over to make 122. Scotty top scored with 43. A competitive total on this pitch but we knew we would have to back it up in the field.

Macksville got out to a reasonable start despite good bowling, being 28 before the first wicket fell in the 9th over. From this point on the blues really turned on the heat and locked down the Macksville batters to restrict them to 96 all out. Wickets to Tim H 3, Scotty 3, Eva 2, Dan 2.

An excellent all round performance to give Macksville only their second defeat of the reg season.

Bring on the semis!!!

4th Grade GOLD

On a very slow Toormina Oval, we won the toss and went in to bat first.

It was an amazing start to the game as Ben and Damien hit the pitch. Little did we know a never-seen before partnership was awaiting us. Ben batted at Steve Smith esc hitting a crazy 26 off 28 balls to overtake Ned’s high score this season. Similar to Ben, Damien had a great knock too and got a massive 19 off 34 balls. Unfortunately the partnership came to an end but it didn’t disappoint because Brett later came in and he hit an amazing score of 42 off 49 balls.

Later into the game Jig rushed onto the pitch and hit a huge amount of 27 off 22 balls and brought a strong partnership with Brett. With the retirement of Brett and the unfortunate wicket of Jig, Rodney and Jai hit the pitch where Rodney hit a hefty 43 off 29 deliveries. At the late point of the innings Walter entered onto the pitch where he scored his first ever run in 4th grade and didn’t get out too but was sent off due to Rodney’s retirement. We set a great score of 188 which we knew they’d have to fight for. We then were sent in to bowl.

Ned and myself opened the bowling. Ned was bowling Mitch Starc esc and was able to get 3 wickets off 7 overs and only concede 20 runs. Thankfully we were on track to successfully close the game so we didn’t have to get any old fellas (except Damien) to have a bowl. Following Ned and myself was the duo of Jai and Percy. Percy got an incredible 3 wickets off 3.2 overs and only conceded 9 runs. Later into the game Walter came to the pitch to have a bowl and bowled another great spell and getting a wicket off of 3 overs and only conceding 4 runs. With only having to bowl 6 people, we were able to get their whole team out for 100 runs.

It was a really positive team performance especially heading into our big game next week against Macksville. That win also secured our spot for 2nd to finish off the regular season (much higher than Sawtell Blue). Hopefully depending on how finals go we can see a Sawtell vs Sawtell grand final where gold will obviously come out victorious. Good luck to both Sawtell teams heading into finals and of course thank you to Kelly for scoring once again.

Well done Sawtell.

Onto finals!

‍

‍

‍

3rd Grade

As the brave and dedicated soldiers of the Sawtell 3rd Grade team prepared for the their final game of the season, we won the toss and elected to bat in the heat of the afternoon. After Ransom and John weathered the early storm from the opposition bowlers, Henry arrived at the wicket to form a good partnership with John through to drinks and build a platform, with Henry eventually top scoring with 26. However, both Richo #2 and the opposition bowlers were too good, and despite some spirited running between the wickets, we were all out for 56.

The battle was not yet lost though, with both Fin giving them nothing at one end, and Ransom taking wickets at the other in great partnership bowling, Ransom eventually ending with figures of 4 for 10 from his 8 overs. Henry and Bob followed up the bowling taking wickets as well, with regular wickets and good fielding by everyone (including a literal blinder by Jude), striking a little panic into the opposition batting order. With them 8 down at drinks, and still runs to get, we were still in the game. It wasn't to be unfortunately, the opposition chased us down to win a low scoring nail-biter.

In the end,  laughs were shared, fun was had, and it was just a pretty good close game of cricket. Thanks to everyone who contributed to 3rd Grade this season! 🙂

2nd Grade

Sawtell 2s played Diggers at Fitzroy.

Everyone was hoping I would win the toss so we could bat first. We lost the toss however they sent us in 🤔

The top order started shaky with a couple of early wickets however Harmon put the pressure  back on them hitting the ball HARD to the boundary. Within minutes 2 more wickets fell we were 4/37 after 10 overs.

Busby once again played his style. Batting out key overs while putting runs on the board. Change of tempo the boys 4/82 at drinks.

Skipper top scoring with 73. We got bowled out for 161. We all know we would've liked more runs on the board but we knew if we bowled well we had it in the bag.

Zac Levy and Toby Bliman opening the bowling trying to find that right line and length. The boys bowled nicely to set up our second change attack leading wicket taker Josh Degroot takes another 3fa that destroyed Diggers middle order. We got them out for 97.

Great form for second grade coming into the first week of finals. We are working well as a team and everyone knows what role they need to play to win games as a team. Exciting times…… 2 more wins to lift a trophy

1st Grade  

1st Grade R15

Sat 28/2 and Sunday 1/3.

The boys drew the short straw and had to finish the round matches off with a Saturday and Sunday fixture in Dorrigo. Thankfully not much rain was forecast.

Turned out to be a great weather for the day, however the boys were short and up against it with only 9 blokes able to make the trip up the mountain. Toss done (was tails this time weirdly enough), lost and fielding first. Something felt off but the atmosphere in the Sawty camp felt nice and relaxed and composed.

Flynn opened the bowling on what seemed like a good batting strip until he landed his first over. Plenty of movement for him, good carry a high majority of the time but a couple keeping low or jumping early.

Spin from the other end with Mr Dierick landing them quite perfectly as always.

First session ended at 2/34 after 20. Pretty even steadings with Flynn bowling 10 straight, no boundaries conceded and not much in terms of batting affecting the match so far.

Well the second session belonged to Sawty, Flynn bowling another 10 straight and Will bowling the other 10 for the session. Valleys 7/70 at the tea break. The boys are on top quite convincingly, Flynn taking another 5 poles.

Bowling pretty well, a few fielding mistakes but taking most chances comfortably.

A late partnership saw them get another 34 runs but 3 quick wickets from spin see them all done for 104. What an effort.

Batting- the boys started off okay but losing Will early. A few steady partnerships saw us to 3/65 at stumps, in a good position, a lot of hard work between the wickets with running 2s and forcing 3s.

Needing 40runs Sunday morning, quite worried with a solid deluge overnight as the boys were hydrating at the pub.

Sunday morning game plan, bat time and do it comfortably. Noticeably the boys were nervous but a solid partnership of grit from Jessie and James got us underway and we limped over at 6/105.

Absolutely solid performance and moral booster heading into finals this coming week.

Congratulations to Flynn on his second 5 wicket haul this season and on his whole career. Bowling 20overs straight is incredible but bowling as accurately as he did for as long is excellent cricketing, well done! Also to be able to bowl to a field with only 9 players on it is a captains dream, let’s hope we can do it with 11 this weekend. The batting felt like a formality and full trust to get us home.

Flynn Taylor 5/28 off 20 overs

Will Bailey 4/36 off 15 overs

Jesse Buckle 28 (101)

Tyh Murphy 19 (25)

‍