Outright wins in their 2-Dayers to Senior A & 2B, wins to both Pressies sides and the Womens team and a 10 man 4B Rebels side managed a tie. 3A, 3D & Accessman 4B all had to settle for second.

With only 4 playing days left in the season there is plenty to play for with a number of MPCC sides chasing top spots in their respective grades and we wish them the best of luck in their endeavours. 

Congratulations to MP Cason Kerbing 2B batsman Pankaj Bhagat who made his maiden century for the club scoring 120 against St Albans to help setup a match winning total. His century was the 31st scored by an MPCC 2B (Senior B) batsman and the 195th scored for the club to date. Congratulations also to MP Little Brown Jug 3D skipper Joel Singer who yesterday took his first 5 wicket bag for the club. Coming on late in the piece after his top string bowlers had struggled to breakthrough, Joel bowled 3 overs and picked up outstanding figures of 5 for 7 to give his side a chance of defending their 207/8.

Belated congratulations to MP Bishop Brothers Presidents player Calvin Witika who passed 1000 runs for the club prior to Xmas in a game against OBC on 26/11/16. A couple of his team-mates to bring up milestones this week against OBC were Mark Hume whose innings of 71 on Saturday took him past 500 runs for Season 2016/17. Humey is the 1st batsman to pass 500 for the club this season and is the 2nd time he has achieved the milestone and Steve "Pickle" Van Grunsven whose 70 saw him pass 4000 runs for the club. Pickle has been an all round contributor to numerous teams and grades throughout his MPCC career having also taken around 550 wickets to date. 

Subs Reminder ...

Thank you onca again to all those that have paid their Subs for this season, some good progress has been made in the last week or so. Unfortunately there are still a number of players throughout the grades who need to get theirs organised and the Club would greatly appreciate these being paid ASAP. There has been plenty of publicity and reminders right throughout the season so there are no excuses for those that havn't yet paid. Get them sorted before the end of the season!!

• Please contact club Treasurer, John Costello via email at jayceenz@hotmail.com if you have any issue or queries.
• When paying your subs by Internet Banking the clubs bank account details are: Westpac, 03 0866 0269318 000, Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc
• When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Match Reports from Saturday 25th February ...

MP Bishop Brothers Sen.A vs Southern Districts @ Beckenham 1 (2 Day)(Win)

The Senior A lads turned up to Beckenham Park looking for an elusive first win since December. However having watched the 3D juggernaut the last few weekends, we felt inspired. Southern Districts put us in to bat on a reasonable looking deck but we got off to a rocky start when Ben Mayo (4) was bowled by the Southern Districts version of Dave Monger, this was followed by a few excited appeals before James "The Weekend Bachelor" Carr (55) and Rory "The Reporter" Hawes (39) steadied the ship and built a partnership of 80 odd. But just when batting was at it's easiest, Rory left a big enough gap between bat and pad to fit Kyle Sloane's head through and found himself out with another start to his name. This brought Eddie "Commitment Issues" Commons (57) to the crease who played a great knock in his first game since the first week of the season, and with the help of Scooter built the match defining partnership. Unfortunately Scooter chipped one back to Fraser Hawes (no relation) to be caught and bowled. Andy Mayo came and went for his second consecutive duck, which sets up an intriguing innings next week to escape joining James Duncan and Chris Mccloy as nude run candidates. Eddie continued batting through with he middle order hitters of Mitch "Truck Tipper" Dimond and Sam "Senior A Rep" Gillespie both playing a role. Mitch hammered his way to a rapid 30 before being deceived by a slower ball. The "Big Head Clubs" newest member Sam Gillespie then came to the crease and played a couple of delicious late cuts which is quickly becoming his trademark. He also pumped a full toss for a 6 that was so big we thought it was going all the way to Megan's place! Ryan came in and scored at a run a ball (1 off 1). Comet (0), who has been bunking his scoopology classes also came and went. We then declared at 226-8 off 50 overs.

Southern Districts, who were missing Matt Fielding their most influential batsman due to injury/being soft were never in the chase. The opening batsmen played some questionable shots but in the end gave in to the pressure of our 5 slips and 2 gullies and were easily outclassed by our opening pair of Ryan Hawkins (2-22) who bowled an impeccable length on his comeback and Nathan Columbus (3-42) was also at his consistent and unlucky best. James Carr was back to his burgling ways and claimed 3 cheap wickets, all beaten by pace. Michael Beattie who was finally let out of his house bowled a couple of tidy overs and claimed a deserving wicket while not conceding a single run. Nathan wrapped up the tail to rout Southern for 78, giving us a much needed 148 run win!

After a quick revision of the lyrics, the team song was sung for the first time this year. Great team win by the lads, everyone played their part and contributed. This also gives us mathematical though unlikely chance to claim the 2 day trophy but it also keeps us in the hunt as front runners for the combined Senior A trophy, setting up an important last month of the season.

Click here to view the match scorecard on CricHQ.

Cheers Rory "Medium Head" Hawes.

MP Cason Kerbing 2B vs St Albans @ Edgar Mac 1 (2 Day)(Win)

With the weather writing off day 1, 2B returned early to face St Albans on Day 2 with a 9.30 start time. The captains agreed to forfeit the first innings and look for a result, and Dave won the toss and chose to bat on a firm deck. However, things didn’t get off to a great start as Taylor McLellan (unexpectedly asked to open at the last minute) was bowled for 0, Craig Dacombe was out LBW for 7 and Abi Paudel hit a ball straight back to mid-on to also return for 0, leaving us 3-21 after 11 overs. Pankaj Bhagat and Dan Fogden began the resurrection over a dozen overs before Honey Monster was given LBW after a long shout and trudged back for 9 (4-48). Ryan James, on debut for MPCC, batted steadily and looked like he was getting into his work before losing patience and snicking one through to the keeper (5-65 after 29). Fortunately, things then got going for us as PK found a partner in Kyle Sloane, and the pair of them gave a couple of spin bowlers a smash. PK brought up his first MPCC 50 with a straight six to the long boundary, while Kyle was also looking comfortable, notching up 3 fours and a six in a 28-ball 22 before he also lost patience and tried to launch Saints’ most effective bowler to the boundary, only to find his stumps rearranged. 109-6 still looked a long way from a good score, and when Jacob Wilson was also out for 7 with the score at 125, things looked dicey. However, this brought out Tribhuvan Sharma, and PK finally found a partner able to stick with him for a long time as the pair took us through to lunch and beyond, putting on 63 for the 8th wicket over 28 overs. Sharma played a crucial role, soaking up 79 balls for his 21 runs and giving PK time to bring up his first century for the club with a four over a fielder at 3/4 to the long boundary. Boy George was itching to be allowed to unleash his alter ego, Boom Boom, but was restrained by the skipper till just before 2.30, when he was given the signal and promptly ran himself out, bringing an end to a crucial partnership in the 71st over with the score at 188. Dave Monger joined PK and played backup as PK indulged in a few more and less orthodox shots, bringing his own total up to 120 before he was caught skying a ball to cover. 204-9 as PK’s 190-ball innings ended 74 overs after it began – a great patient knock when the team needed it. Our innings wasn't quite over as Dave (15*) and Chris McCloy (7*) indulged themselves with a bit of slogging and charging before we called it quits at about 2.50 with the score at 225-9 after 77 overs. This was a great turnaround from a tricky position, inspired by PK with able support from Kyle and Sharma.

          The Saints fielders looked pretty tired after a long, hot time in the field, and the hope was to get into them early on. We knew they’d go for the win after a disappointing start to their 2-day campaign. However, they got off to a pretty good start in the forty minutes before tea. Jacob (1-14 off 5) got us a start in the third over with a mistimed shot gobbled up by the Honey Monster, but we struggled to put them under pressure early on with Dave (0-17 off 4) inconsistent. After the break, Taylor and Rosie (0-20 off 3) had a go, but Saints continued to build till Taylor drew an under-edge onto the stumps from the Saints captain to leave them 71-2 off only 15 overs, well on course. The wicket didn’t slow the scoring as Weston continued to punish anything loose on his way to 58. Sharma (0-15 off 2) had a quick go, but the game began to turn when PK, in his first game keeping, took a sharp stumping to dismiss him off Taylor’s bowling. Ryan got the ball at the other end with instructions to stick to a consistent line and length, and he did a great job in reducing the scoring rate at his end. This left the batsmen taking more risks to Taylor and, although they sent a few to the boundary, they also kept surrendering wickets courtesy of a good catch by Rosie at leg slip and LBW and bowled wickets by Taylor, including their best remaining batsman being dismissed messing up a reverse sweep. Suddenly, they looked extremely ropey moving into the last hour. A bloke who batted 8, didn’t bowl, but tried to be a fierce sledger, was sent packing by Taylor (6-76 off 12) for bugger all. 7-143 with another 16 or so overs left became worse as Ryan picked up his first wicket courtesy of a catch by Dave at silly-mid-off, then drew a nick through to Sharma from the world’s loudest wicket-keeper. It was left to the opening bowlers to try to either add another 65 runs or see out the day, but despite a couple of big sixes, Ryan (3-22 off 6.5) picked up his third of the day by hitting the top of leg to a backward-stepping batsman and we celebrated a win by 52 runs with about 10 overs left in the day.

         Like nearly all our best results, credit was due to several players putting their hands up. PK carried us through our innings, assisted by some decent knocks by others, especially Sharma’s strong supporting act, and with several of our regular wicket-takers off target, Taylor and Ryan bowled with great determination to see us home. Backed up with lots of hard work in the field, this was a very satisfying game to report. Player of the day was PK for his 120, stumping and catch. On to Hornby!

Click here to view the match scorecard on CricHQ.

          Dave M.

MP Accessman 3A vs Halswell @ Halswell 1 (Loss)

Another loss for the 3A's this week, a game that could comfortably be described as the one that got away. Turning up to the ground on a hot afternoon, the pitch looked green, but hard and flat at the same time. Timba won the toss and chose to bat first, a result that left us confident on starting the match well. 

We had another shaky start when Gunby got bowled round his legs for a second baller. The experience of Leigh (52) and Lightfoot set about stabilising the innings with a quick 54 run partnership. Marcus fell for 17 and that bought Arscott to the crease, he began to show some signs of form, but soon fell for 6. This bought Malik to the crease who stopped what could have been another middle order collapse. He made a solid 29 off 40 balls and set us on target for an imposing total of 180+. Rob came and went for 5, Timba hung around for 12, Milky (21) and Oliver (14) put together a 33 run partnership in the last few overs, and Brazzale got one away to the boundary off the last ball. We made it through to 176, a score we felt was about par on a pitch that turned out to be slightly slow, but overall a good deck. 

Our effort in defending 176 got off on the wrong foot, when our strike bowler Brazzale injured his back in his first over, which meant he could not bowl for the rest of the game. Both the Halswell openers ran themselves out and kept us in with a shot, but a 100+ run partnership between P.K and their number 4 all but won them the game. Our now slightly weaker bowling line up did all that they could, but the odd loose ball that was dispatched to the boundary, and some all round good batting led Halswell to a comfortable victory, just 4 wickets down with 3 overs to spare. 

Milky continued his form with the ball 2-55, the pick of our bowlers, Nemo was solid with 0-31 off his eight, Oliver got hit around and Marcus was economical with just 21 getting hit off his 8 overs. 

Special mention to PK who made an outstanding 70 which led Halswell to the victory. 

Josh.

MP Little Brown Jug 3D vs Riccarton Singh's XI @ Burnside 5a (Loss)

Coming off a great start to the new year we unfortunately were drawn on an artificial this week against a very aggressive team. Upon winning the toss Songer elected to bat first. We opened up with Rochie and Andy who both started well for the first 10 overs before Andy snuck off for 11. Nick continued with his week on week off form and was out next over for a duck. Rochie and Jono batted for a while before Jono ran himself out for 7. Next in was Sam who with Rochie saw us through to drinks on 84-3.  Sam was out a couple of balls after drinks for 4 playing a weird shot, which bought Basa to the crease. Having only scored 5 runs since getting his hundred against Riccarton last round, Basa took his time and didn’t throw his wicket away. While starting slow he accelerated into the last 15 overs scoring close to a run a ball 31 although once again got out playing his flick shot. Captain Songer came in next without a helmet on which he quickly regretted after having to replace his pants after the first ball he got was close to hitting him in the face. Couple of balls later the bowler tried it again but this time Songer was prepared for it and put it over the Burnside Squash Courts with just a light flick. That shot really showed the power that this high rigged unit possesses, no nearby structures are safe with a man like this in the middle. Next ball he was unfortunately bowled trying to clear the rugby clubrooms, a good future aim for the skip. Having batted for 30 overs Rochie was looking very good possibly the best all season, but a mixture of fatigue and trying to push on the scoring saw him caught out for a well-earned 83, his highest ever score. Having struggled in previous games to push on it was good to see him get a good score plus he had set a good platform leaving us on 159 with about 10 overs to go. Sanjay came in and swung from the hip hitting a 24 ball 31 to have us looking at a very good score, but unfortunately, we couldn’t capitalise on this, with the last 5 overs being very quiet with only 8 runs coming off the last 3. We finished on 209-8 Tom Mitchell was not out 4 and Tom Monger not out 6.

Coming out to bowl we opened up with Sanjay and 3Ds version of Dave Monger (Tom D). While Tom bowled his gentle deliveries well, Sanjay was very erratic by his standards. Riccarton got off to a great start going at over 7 an over for the first 10 with a mixture of poor fielding and loose bowling being to blame. A bit of magic from notorious spin king Ronald Khuu created a chance in the 10^th over but unfortunately the fielder who was obviously lacking high rig qualities pulled out of the catch before the ball pushed him over the boundary. Jono (0-33) and Tom Mitchell (0-36) where brought on and both bowled decently for a bit before losing their lines in both of their last overs. After drinks Sanjay was given another chance and again struggled finishing on 0-52 off his 6. With the team battling to make it a close game Captain Songer and Wizard Khuu combined for a great spell. Ronnie bowled very tightly confusing the batters with his hijada delivery. He got some great wickets in his spell with the batters getting caught when trying to take him. He finished with 2-50. Songer in the meantime ran through their entire middle order taking 5-7 in the process off 3 overs, his best figures ever. The game started to get tight at the end with them needing 3 runs and being 8 down but unfortunately the batter managed to hit a boundary to finish off the game to win by 2 wickets.

A very poor performance by the team this week excluding Rochie with the bat and Songer and Ronnie with the ball. While Ronnie only got 2 wickets he should have had at least 3 more with catches going to ground which made his stats not show how much of a legendary bowler he is with most teams afraid of facing him. While the official MOTM went to Songer for his inspirational spell the fan voted MOTM went to Ronald Khuu for his good bowling spell.

Jono.

MP 4B Rebels vs City Eagles @ Centennial 2 (Tie)

Saturday afternoon we played the City Eagles at Centennial Park on the number two pitch by the river.  Flats hurt his back mowing the lawns on Friday evening so the team was down to ten.  I lost the toss and their captain smiled and said "we're gonna bat".

I opened the bowling with myself and Sam Gardner and I managed to pick up the first wicket - first ball of my second over - chipped up and caught at mid-on.  A couple of balls later managed to trap the number three batsman in front of his wickets LBW.  The third wicket fell in the fifth over with the score at 27.  I took myself off and brought Andrew on and kept Sam bowling from the other end. In the tenth over Sam had the batsman pull one which got stuck between Rhys' fingers at square leg. We had the City Eagles 4/34 after 10 overs. This brought in their big hitter BJ, but we had a plan for him which was to bowl short so he couldn't smash us on the front foot. There were no wickets for the next 10 overs but Andrew and Balfour did a really good job at containing BJ who at the start of the game bragged he had 46 6's this season so far and had just come off 130 odd against St Albans. Balfour managed to make him fall over several times avoiding the short ball, even getting him on the wrist. Andy at the other end was bowling good pace, a lot of dot balls, keeping it tight as he always does. The last ball before drinks, Balfour found the top edge of the remaining opening batsman and was caught at slip. We came in at drinks 5/96 (20). After the break we came in with Josh and Cam at the other end, Cam picking up the wicket of BJ for 45 with his third ball.  Cam struck a second time in his second over and they were 7/111.  The next over Josh bowled he picked an edge up to slip which was taken as well.  He also managed to pick up an LBW in his next over. Cam finished it off picking up his third wicket for the game. With the score 138 (29.2) a pretty good effort from the guys in the field....not bad for 10 players!

We opened up with Sam Gardner and Lucan,  Lucan was first out mis-hitting one on 10.  Roosey was next in to bat and ended up on 8 going the same way as Lucan - caught.  John came out for a while to support Sam Gardner but he was out LBW.  Andy was the next batsman, things seemed to steady with Sam getting us through to 81 before Sam was out for 46. Balfour came out, hitting a four straight off the mark, getting a single to bring Andy onto strike. Mr Anderson hit the most amazingly, beautifully timed straight six landing in the trees by the pool. Balfour, not to be outdone tried hitting across the neighbouring pitch for six only to go out for 19 which brought Rhys in at number 7.  He hit a nice big four but was clean bowled a couple of balls later.  Josh went out there and came straight back after getting caught for 0. This brought Cam in at 9 with 20 needed to win. Cam and Andy went about their thing for a wee while ticking the score over till Cam was caught out for 9. With 10 runs to win I came out last batsman at number 10. Cam had got out on the last ball of the over so I wasn't facing. Andy hit a four and a couple, I was meanwhile counting the score down in my head. We managed to run two byes so we had 2 needed for the win. I couldn't get a run off the next five balls but managed a run off the last to bring the scores level. The next over I just kept hitting the fielder dot ball, dot ball, dot ball - five infact.  Last ball of the over a pretty tame ball came my way and tried to hit it to mid-on and ended up hitting it to long off, slightly aerial, watched the fielder move to his side, with a moment of hope that he dropped it.....but he didn't...Game Tied!!

Jason 3/18, Cam Rickery 3/18, Josh Terry 2/23, Sam Gardner 46, Andrew Anderson 30. Player of the day for his 46 Sam Gardner.

Cheers Jase.

MP Accessman 4B vs The Wanderers @ Centennial 3 (Loss)

No match report submitted from this team.

MP Bishop Brothers Presidents vs OBC @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

Bishop Brothers took on the OBC lads on the back track at home and had a bit of a late start, surprisingly it wasn't us that were responsible. Another lost toss and we were asked to bat on what must be said, a fair corker of a track. Hamish and James opening up for OBC with ball, Paul and Pickle with bat, and a bit of a rollicking start ensued. MP (or more specifically Paul) pushed the score quickly to 85 in the middle of the 13th before we lost Paully to a run out for 49, and the first drinks break called. Humey joined Pickle and put on another 70 at which point a stunning caught and bowled sent Steve (70) back to the hutch. Mayo had a cameo 16 then ran himself out, Dwayne came and went, Hume tried pulling out the scoop, clipped his cap and departed courtesy of slip practice for 71. A few more wickets fell quickly although Gavey "Gordon" Strachan knocked a few around for his 16, it came down to our final pairing of Winz (13*) and Badger (7*) who took us home to our best score of the season 254/9. Bowling of note Greg Jones 8/3/52, P O'Conner 8/2/51 and J. Barringer 6/2/29.

When it came to the bowling side of things we just didn't give them a sniff. Winz and Pickle suppressing the run rate from the get go, OBC managing 26 runs off the first 12 and going into the 20 over mark 69/3. It was always going to be hard going at this point, made more so when Steve threw down the stumps to remove the set batsman D.Lodge for a well compiled 37. Screws just got tighter and tighter with no batsmen being able to break the shackles and the innings petering out to 135/9 at the end of the allotted overs. Only one bowler had more than one wicket P. Dearsley 8/2/20 but the RPO's of the others had a part to play in the final results, S. Van Grunsven 6/1/5, C. Witika 8/1/21, C. Crimp 6/1/24, G. Strachan 8/1/30, G. Alsford 3/1/14 and R. Mayo 1/0/2. All helped by a massive fielding effort most notably M. Hume 2 catches and a direct hit run out. Unfortunately a little niggle in this match which we will be trying to alleviate next time. Official M.O.M. was M. Hume for his 71 (56), 2 catches and run out, but it was pretty close.

Click here to view the match scorecard on CricHQ.

Cheers, Steve.

MP Identity Signs Presidents vs St Albans @ Hagley 2 (Win)

No match report submitted from this team.

Click here to view the match scorecard on CricHQ.

MP Featherstones Dairy Women Div.1 vs OBC @ Polo 1a (Win)

Us ladies played OBC at Polo grounds. Both sides were short on numbers making it a bit harder in the field. Losing the toss we were put into field. We bowled them out for 89 in 15.4 overs. Good result due to good bowling all around, with wickets being spread throughout the team. And Savannah fielding superbly out at square leg taking a catch and saving some 4s. Tat and I then went in to open the batting. We both finished unbeaten (Tut 42* & Tracey 40*) scoring 91 in 14.4 overs. Well done ladies. Played marvellously.

Click here to view the match scorecard on CricHQ.

Trace.

MPCC Draw for Saturday 4th March 2017 ...

• MP Bishop Brothers Sen.A vs LP Addington @ Edgar Mac 1 (2 Day)
• MP Cason Kerbing 2B vs Hornby @ Denton 1 (2 Day)
• MP Accessman 3A vs Sumner @ Barnett 2
• MP LBJ 3D vs ECS North Bolts @ Edgar Mac 2
• MP 4B Rebels vs St Albans @ St Albans 3
• MP Accessman 4B vs LP Orcas @ Spreydon Dom.2
• MP Bishop Brothers Presidents vs Sydenham Hospital @ St Albans 2
• MP Identity Signs Presidents vs OBC @ Burwood 3
• MP Featherstones Dairy Women Div.1 vs St Albans @ Hagley 2

MPCC Subs for 2016/17 ...

• Mens Subs for Season 2016/17 … Men’s full subs to remain at $240 for a season if fully paid by 12 November, 2016 or if an AP has been established by 12 November, 2016. The club's bank account number is 03 0866 0269318 000, use your name and mention "subs" in the reference. Otherwise the subscription to be increased to $280 for late payment. ($120 for students and team captains, or $160 for late payment).
• Womens Subs for Season 2016/17 … Women’s full subs to remain at $130 for a season ($65 for students) if fully paid by 12 November, 2016 or if an AP has been established by 12 November, 2016. The club's bank account number is 03 0866 0269318 000, use your name and mention "subs" in the reference. Late payment would incur a further $40.

Internet Banking ...When paying your subs by Internet Banking ...The clubs bank account details are:

• Westpac 03 0866 0269318 000, Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc
• When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Facebook ... Both the Senior and Junior sections of MPCC can be found on Facebook ....

• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Cricket Club
• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Junior Cricket Club
• Be sure to "LIKE" both pages.

If you have any queries send us an email to mpcricket@xtra.co.nz