From: Mike Tsesmelis

Sent: 12 May 2008 20:04

Hot Dogs

It was another glorious day for the Republic yesterday, hopefully setting the tone for the rest of the season with a morale-sapping win over the Devils.

James Doleman, returning to the team a prolonged absence seemed intent to make up for lost time, claiming two early wickets in two balls to give first blood to the Dogs. The Devils counter-attacked well through Jon Newton and Alex Wyatt, before Grant Horsfield had Jon well caught at point by James, the first of two good catches for him. Alex continued to attack for the Devils though, and with good support by Deepak a big score loomed as Alex bought up his century. Led by JJ Lim (3 wicket) and Chad Blewitt (2), the Dogs fought back well in the latter stages to restrict the Devils to a nonetheless challenging 204-8.

In response Chad and Peter Winchomb got the Republic off to a great start, until Chad was adjudged in front with the score on 43. Grant then joined Peter at the crease, and the two progressed serenely until Grant fell for a rapid 22. Peter continued to dominate, despite Paul Turner and JJ Lim falling in quick succession, until he was bowled for an excellent 61, leaving the game in the balance. Requiring around 90 off 14 overs and effectively 6 down with Graeme McKim unable to bat, Sam Hunt and Mike Tsesmelis paced the chase almost to perfection, with Sam falling for an invaluable 46 before his dismissal brought young Mark Turner to the crease with 6 needed off the last over. With the Devil’s captain Darren Burns bowling the last over and the pressure on, Mark drove the first ball immaculately off the back foot through the covers for two, and scrambled the next ball away for a single to swing the game the Dogs way.  With 3 off 4 required, Mike heaved the next ball over the infield for a quick 2, and then put the next away for 4 for victory, leaving him on 46*, and Mark on the best 3* of his career.  

All in all it was another fine team performance from the Republic, summed up nicely by Grant, shortly after the conclusion of the match having left abruptly (rumour has it to start work on establishing the Alex Wyatt Fan Club): “Please send my best to all the team. Today we won as a team who is united at the core. We also were the better fielding side which sums up the team performance. Great stuff to all”.

On the fielding performance, a special mention should be made to Graeme ‘the Wall’ McKim who suffered a broken metatarsal whilst slide-tackling one of the larger pot-holes in the outfield. The physio’s prognosis is 4-6 weeks out, with the recovery process potentially accelerated by full participation in all team fines sessions until fully healed.

Can you please all let me know ASAP about availability for May 25^th and June 1^st.  We are likely to only play on one of those afternoons. Currently I only have Peter and myself confirmed, with Waqar, Jamal and Graeme all out.

Ryan, can you please forward to the Social Dogs so they know how we’re doing, and I will do the same for any of your write-ups.

Chad, please note that we forgot to add Ryan’s positive fine for filling in for Graeme, and negative fine for doing so in horrendous shorts and skater-boy shoes.  The next session will be a large one, perhaps we can all plan to spend an hour after the game in the Blue Frog with some food and beers?

Mike