The 12ths kept their season going strong with a close win over Glenbrook out at Villawood. We were asked to bowl first and Hirak showed wheels again, quickly reducing the mixed bag of teenagers and late middle aged men to 2/20. They then built a partnership, however, and one guy retired after a pretty stylish 40, leaving them well placed at 1/96 at drinks. But some vintage park cricket almost-bouncing-twice bowling brought a breakthrough not long after, and Jimbo chimed in with a brace and all of a sudden they were 6/102. Again though, they dug deep, and cashed in towards the end off the back of some profoundly 12th grade fielding, and finished off 8/184 at the close, their opener unbeaten on 66.
The outfield was fast, and their fielding was also not amazing, and we made a solid start. Dave hit some very crisp boundaries, and Christian was threatening to unleash when given out leg before. Jimmy also cashed in on the part timers, and we were cruising at 1/100 at drinks after Dave’s retirement. They did make us work for it, and the Gladdies did all they could to turn a straight forward chase into a nail biter. A couple of run outs, including Jimmy’s for 39, and some quite tight bowling turned 5 an over into 6, and a clutter of wickets left things a little close for comfort. Fortunately for us, they bowled out their best bowlers a little early, and the part timers at the end just sent down a couple too many loose ones, and we ended up wrapping it up with 4 wickets and an over to spare. Solid, if not inspiring.
