Rockhampton Away Sunday 3rd September
Rockhampton 193-6 T.Cullimore 66. M.Pearce 3wkts. D.Garrett 2 wkts.
Oldbury 132-9.
Match drawn.
A resounding draw for the away team, a Rocky Horror Show for our hosts! An overs game would have seen a heavy loss, but the home side chose a timed game which resulted in an impressive rear-guard action from the home-guard to save the day.
Good bowling by Matt Pearce and Derek Garrett tried to contain the Rockhampton batsmen, but strong hitting by Tom Cullimore saw them race to a 193 total in their allotted time. Good fielding with exuberant throws from that spritely figure of Paul Evans ensured the 200 mark was not breached.
Oldbury started poorly losing the wickets of Tom Sullivan and Bill Pearce before there were 20 runs on the board. A stand between Jon Dyke and Marcus Pridding steadied the ship, but the loss of Jon brought a succession of wickets against tight bowling.
As Oldbury fell well behind the run rate, survival became the priority. With six hard overs to go it was left to opener Gerald Porter (dropped down the order at his request, but surprised at becoming no. 11) and Colin 'Baker' Johnson to fight for the draw. The Baker defended resolutely and Porter, who had decided on a defend at all costs policy proceeded to hit a 6 and a 4 off one of the remaining overs. Only these two most experienced cricketers would go for a suicidal run off the last ball - and survive! Both remained unbeaten and a superb draw was achieve.
Rarely have Oldbury achieved a win and a draw in the same season against Rockhampton, and the celebrations in the Ship afterwards reflected this. Congratulations to Derek Garrett and Nut 'Shells' for their winning performances in the bottle walking, with commiserations to Jim Russell and Nigel 'get some muscles' Hopkins, and also the valiant Stumpy and ever-willing Slapper! Roll on the Ashes next week for the last outing of the season.