Batting: Eric Tunningley 40, Henry Platt 39*, Alex Moore 39

Bowling: Levi Mahony 1/6, Alex Moore 1/7, Josh Moody 1/10

Notable Player: Eddie Tunningley 6 overs, 4 maidens, 1/10

This week saw us square up against our brothers from Marist Midnight. Before play was started, both teams and parents got together on the pitch to listen to some beautiful words by Midnight coach Simon and observe a minute of silence in honour of Ben Austin.

Play then got underway with Midnight sending us in to bat. The Midnight boys were on the money from ball one, but unfortunately for them, our boys were in a party mood (perhaps full of sugar from the previous night’s trick or treating). Alex pummelled the leg side boundary for a quickfire 39, ably supported by Levi making his debut at opener. James looked solid in his short time at the crease but copped a beauty from Midnight’s Nate who was bowling with searing heat and accuracy. Tom looked good too but succumbed to another good ball from Midnight. From there Eric and Henry took charge and combined boundaries with smart running to build a sizable total. Lachie and Oscar added valuable runs at the bottom of the order, and a late cameo from Josh pushed the total past 200.

Any chase at over 7 runs an over was always going to be a challenge, but bowling and fielding still had to be tight… and tight it was. Eddie backed up after playing only 12 hours earlier in stage 2 to open the bowling. In an amazing effort he bowled 4 maidens on the trot to put the pressure firmly on the Midnight batters. Pressure creates wickets and the boys shared them round, Eddie, Alex, Eric, Levi, Oscar, Josh, and James all claimed a scalp. The bowling was backed up by great boundary fielding by Lachie and the impenetrable James at fine leg. Skilled catches were taken by Tom, Eric, and Henry (wk), but Oscar’s effort was truly remarkable. Fielding at short mid off, he snared an absolute tracer bullet by Midnight’s Orlando, in a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment.

In the end the Cobalt total was too big for Midnight. I’m sure all the boys are looking forward to meeting again in the rematch at the end of the season. Will Midnight square the ledger? Will Cobalt retain bragging rights? Stay tuned to find out.