Port Jackson 70s Season Kick Off!

Our PJs O70s team started the representative season in fine form with some exciting cricket, participating in 2 days of cricket at the informal Over 70s tournament on the Central Coast across the 3rd and 4th of February.

Match 1 v Hunter: 3rd February at Col Gooley Field at Umina.

Played on the backup adjacent Astroturf ground due to wet weather, our first game v Hunter was an absolute thriller.

Hunter batted first and made a modest 138. Steve Kavanagh, Garry Winney and Mike Fursland each took 2 wickets. Paul Thomas had amazing figures of 0-12 off his 6 overs. Harry Solomons was even better at 1 for 6 off his 5 overs.

Our innings started well, with Harry Solomons (22 runs) and Alan Wright (24 runs) had an unbeaten opening partnership. Steve Kavanagh retired with 19 runs off his 30 balls. Geoff Ainsworth held the innings together but we continued to lose wickets, and the required scoring rate still remained at 4 an over. Ray Pallister was patiently seated and counting down the runs and overs. In the last few overs it came down to Paul Thomas and a recycled Harry to score the runs. Harry was trying to hit boundaries with wild swings and had 4 stumpings missed. We made the runs in the last over with 1 ball to spare. Talk about close. Wonderful game.

Scores: Hunter 8/138 off 40 overs defeated by PJs 6/139 off 39.5 overs

Match 2 v Mid North Coast: 4th February at Rogers Park at Woy Woy.

Again as a consequence of the rains, Rogers was still a wet track. We won the toss and asked MNC to bat. Chas Viner was the MNC skipper and decided to reverse the batting order. They were all out for 101, with again Steve Kavanagh (2 for 7 off 5 overs) and Paul Thomas (3 for 9 off 5.2 overs), together with Harry Solomons (2 for 6 off 3 overs) doing the damage. Highlight of our fielding as a ”slip/flop” by David Wright on the wet ground – apparently he has recovered. Bushy was again outstanding in the field.

Our run chase was again started with an unbroken opening partnership by Harry Solomons (28 off 24 balls) and Alan Wright (27 off 18 balls). Douglas also retied for 21. Kev Pike (loaned to us for the game) and David Wright scored the winning runs in the 19th over. A comprehensive win.

Scores: MNC 101 defeated by PJs 2/102 off 19 overs

Our Team: Geoff Ainsworth, Mike Fursland, Peter Harrison (Captain, Manager), Steve Kavanagh, Doug Latto, Ray Pallister, Bushy Pillay, Harry Solomons, Paul Thomas, Garry Winney, Alan Wright, David Wright