Over 60s PJ Red - Maitland Write Up

Port Jackson Red Captain's Report

Over 60’s Regional Competition - Maitland 13-17 Oct 2019

Port Jackson Reds returned to Maitland following a disappointing result last season with the intention to compete and re-win the Division 1 trophy that was meekly given up the previous season.

With a strong and well-balanced side PJ Reds just missed out on the final but finished in a clear third place with 3 wins out of 4 games. Convincing wins were achieved against Tamworth, Coffs Harbour and Newcastle Lord Taverners, with a tightly fought loss to Southern Highlands.

Tamworth on 13/10/19

PJ Red 144 all out, Tamworth 93 all out

Playing on synthetic due to heavy rain on the Saturday, PJs won the toss and elected to bat. Early wickets were lost and at 4-41 a recovery was required. Peter O’Reilly (43) and Cuthbert Berenger (35no) steadied the ship and were the backbone of a defendable score.

The miserly bowlers got to action with Joe Scarcella, Michael Rowles and Paul Adams, despite not taking a wicket between them, sharing 19 overs for 36 runs. Peter O’Reilly and Wasantha then took 3 wickets each with 3 run outs as Tamworth had to chase hard and fell well short. Exceptional catching by both teams resulted in every chance from both teams being taken.

Southern Highlands on 14/10/19

PJ Red 3-181, Southern Highlands 3-183 (38.2 overs)

Weather then turned good for the rest of the tournament and we were back on turf. PJs won the toss again and after reports of this oval (having been one of the only turf wickets used the previous day) playing lower as the day went on, it was decided to make early use.

We got off to a flyer with George Hodgson takin g to the opening attack (46 off 43 balls). Well assisted by Harry Solomons (31) we were 0-89 off 20 overs and looking to get above 200. Tight bowling and excellent ground fielding kept us to 3-181 with a good Contribution from Peter O’Reilly and an excellent partnership between Jim Robson (27 off 22 balls) and Peter Rolls (31 off 27 balls) got us a competitive score but 20 below where we would want to be.

So it proved as Southern Highlands, despite being behind the rate early on, batted consistently with a wicket each for Joe Scarcella, Wasantha and Paul Adams.

Coffs Harbour on 16/10/19

PJ Red 6-219, Coffs Harbour 7-126

We could only hope that Southern Highlands would slip up in their final game. We did what we could by winning the final games consistently. Despite facing 3 of the top VCNSW bowlers the batting clicked well with good contributions all the way down the order, special mention though to Simon Lyon (47 off 57 balls) and Jim Robson (46 off 34 balls).

Coffs did not make an attempt to chase the total once Eric Higgins was bowled for 6 by Steve Kavanagh who bowled superbly (2-10 off 7 overs). Peter O’Reilly 2-10 and a wicket each for Paul Adams, Michael Rowles and Wasantha rounded out the innings.

Newcastle Lord Taverners on 17/10/19 (3rd/4th Play Off)

Newcastle 73 all out PJ Red 1-79 (11 overs)

PJ Reds carries on its ruthless fashion to claim a convincing win to take 3rd place at the championship. A very tight bowling display saw Newcastle struggle with 2 wickets from Peter O’Reilly, Michael Rowles and 1 wicket for each of Joe Scarcella, Steve Kavanagh, Paul Adams and Wasantha.

The batters were keen to be positive and despite an early wicket Steve Kavanagh (31 no off 24 balls) and Peter O’Reilly (33no off 31 balls) got the runs in 11 overs.

It was a good tournament for PJ Reds both in the playing and the camaraderie between the players on and off the field.