Won toss and batted.

Rompa looked excellent and contributed 26 before getting very unlucky to superb run out.

Juz and Damo chipped in with 19 and 16 respectively.

Duzh faced 1 ball for 6 runs off last ball of innings. Finished with 6/227 (cc)

Lash bowled super spell to grab 2/25 off 10 with 3 maidens.

Yorke n Duzh 2 each, Damo and Jugga got 1 and The Falcon (Mark) grabbed his 1^st wicket in A grade.

87 run win to kick off the year but without a doubt though that the standout performance was that of Vice Captains Stiva. Batted thru out the innings for an equal personal best knock for the club with 140*

1 vote Shane Gourlay, 2 votes Daniel Siomos and 3 votes Stephen Wills.

Won toss and batted.

Mat McKenzie’s debut game with the 1^st XI.

Stiva injured leg taking off for a run and required a runner.

Collapsed to be 7/33.

Jugga and Yorke steadied the ship and with Deano got us to all out for 116. Jugga ended up with 25, Yorke 29 and Deano 13*.

What happened next was just vintage display of bowling from all 4 that got a bowl.

Duzh 3/12, Goldberg 3/12, Lash 2/27 n Carl 2/11 to have them all out for 66.

1 vote Kris Logan, 2 votes Dusan Stoevski and 3 votes Yorke Banyard.

Lost toss and was sent in to field.

We were tested and Paco were 0/59 at 1 stage with Chris Smith proving a handful for us especially. Damo eventually making the break through by bowling him around his legs.

Duzh took an absolute flukey catch at short leg off Dukes bowling.

Ended up rolling them for 131.

Duzh n Carl with 2 apiece, Yorke, Damo n Jugga got 1 each and Mat McKenzie got his 1^st A grade wicket for the club as well.

Carl n Damo got 13 each with the bat. Juz got 26 and Mat 29. Jugga top scored and remained unbeaten with 41 as we strolled to a 5 wicket victory.

1 vote Shane Gourlay, 2 votes Carl Polo and 3 votes Dusan Stoevski

Lost toss and was sent in to field.

Debut games for both Imthad and Shiran in the 1^st XI side.

We had them on the hop from the get-go and reduced them to 6/63, before relaxing for a little while and letting them get back into it with a couple of streaky partnerships.

Ended up dismissing them for 134 and had a tricky session to bat thru overnite.

Goldberg bowled super well to finish with figures of  15 overs, 5 maidens, 3 for 14. Lash chipped in with 1 and Damo nicely ran 1 out.

However it was the skipper that did most of the damage with 15 overs, 6 maidens and 5/27.

With the bat Stiva gave his now traditional 1^st ball chance at Poplar Reserve before making them pay with 32. Ended the nite at 5/80 odd with Riz and Shiran the not out batsmen.

Week 2 and we needed about 65 runs to win. We lost Riz and Shiran to be 7/97. Juz was then superbly taken at 2^nd slip and Shak followed soon after.

It was left to Duzh and Lash to get the last 17. Lash didn’t really feel like winning as he tried to throw the match by kicking the ball off the stumps not offering a shot… However it was a good thing Duzh had slipped the ump a green back prior to the start of the 2^nd Saturday and he politely declined Royal Parks belated appeals.

Duzh convinced Lash that he wanted to win and that’s what they did, winning by 1 solitary run.

1 vote Kris Logan, 2 votes Stephen Wills and 3 votes Dusan Stoevski

Won the toss and batted.

Mohamed’s debut for the 1^st XI.

Lucky for Mo with 20 and Shak with a valuable 33* that we struggled to 163. Imthad carried his bat from the opening stance all the way thru to the 8^th wicket, before being dismissed for a very patient and applied 44.

We had 18 overs minimum to bowl in the final session and after all was said and done, had Flem on the ropes at 6/45.

Duzh being the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5/7 off 10 and the other going to Lash.

The 2^nd week was washed out and we had to settle with a draw.

1 vote Shakeel Saleem, 2 votes Imthad Mihlar and 3 votes Dusan Stoevski

Lost toss and was sent in to field.

After getting 1 of their openers out early and putting down their best bat soon after, we were fighting at 1/95.

Duzh and Goldberg then combined for a very nice run out, Duzh then took a sharp catch to dismiss the opposition captain for a golden, and Mo took a brilliant catch running with the flight off Duke to dismiss their best bat and all of a sudden we had control again with 3 wickets in 2 runs to have them 4/97.

Finished up dismissing them all for 164. Duzh 3/25, Shak 3/23, Yorke 2/21 and Carl 1/32.

With the bat in another annual tradition versus Marby, Riz made his customary golden, Rompa fought hard for 26 and Goldberg hit some biggies for an unbeaten 42. But again it was Stiva with his 3^rd century for the club this season that stood out with a superb 102. We went on to secure 1^st innings by 57 runs, and thought an outrite may have been possible.

At 3/66 both captains saw fit that we pull the pin and we collected the 6 points.

1 vote Shakeel Saleem, 2 votes Dusan Stoevski and 3 votes Stephen Wills

Won toss and elected to bat.

Steve Ingham's debut for the 1^st XI .

Very slow start but Carl, Riz, Rompa and Juz all valued their wickets and grafted out knocks of 15, 27, 22 and 19 respectively. Jugga made a handy 17 when asked 2 get a move on and Mo did his part to give as much of the strike to the weapon in Goldberg, who made another impressive 42 not out. We finished with 7/177 on an enormous and lush outfield.

With the ball it took us a while to get going and in the end won by 10 runs with the game in our control the entire way. 2 each to Carl and Kris and Mo chipped in with his 1^st A grade wicket.

1 vote Carl Polo, 2 votes Justin Altus and 3 votes Kris Logan

2 votes - Shakeel Saleem, Imthad Mihlar, Shane Gourlay, Justin Altus and Daniel Siomos

3 votes - Yorke Banyard and Carl Polo

5 votes – Kris Logan

8 votes – Stephen Wills

13 votes – Dusan Stoevski

Lost toss and was sent in to field.

Julian Powell debuts in 1^st XI.

We Took wickets steadily through out the day but ended up dropping 1 particular bloke 4 times. He went on to make 64 out of their 202.

Lash and Duzh took 1 each and the big fella grabbed 3/37 off 14 with 5 maidens. However the star with the ball with his fisrt 5 wicket haul in the 1’s was Yorke, coming off 11.5 overs for a misely 26 runs.

With the bat, Stiva made runs again versus these guys with 39, Riz got 17, Carl 33 and Juzzy played well to top score with 47. Yorke also chipped in to hit the winning runs and remain unbeaten on 16.

1 vote Justin Altus, 2 votes Carl Polo and 3 votes Yorke Banyard.

Won toss and elected to bat.

Started ok but lost Stiva for 14 and then proceeded to lose 3 more quickly. Carl and Julian steadied the ship before Carl was dismissed for 35. Jugga and Goldberg contributed with 17 and 29 and we then lost Julian for a well made 49. Pity about that short run hey mate! Not much more resistance was offered and we were bowled out for 193.

After dismissing their captain at the top of their innings it looked like we were going to serioulsy route these guys. To their credit their middle to lower order made some decent contributions to finish all out for 147. Another 6 points for us.

A couple of highlights was Juggas superb diving catch at long-off to dismiss the super dangerous Jocka and the ridicolous spell that Goldberg produced. 16 overs, 10 maidens, 4/17. Yorke and Duzh got 2 each and Riz finally got a bowl and collected an impressive 1/18.

1 vote Carl Polo, 2 votes Kris Logan and 3 votes Julian Powell

Won toss and elected to bat.

Lost our openers early and when Julian went cheaply we were 3/32. Rompa played a very patient knock for 29 whilst Jugga and Duzh chipped in with 13 and 15. The stars of our innings were Damo and Riz with 39 and 57 respectively. Was good  to see our middle order get runs when under the pump and I was happy with the tempo of our innings for 190.

With the ball it was another clinical display with Riz grabbing 2/16, Carl getting 3/29 and the ever destructive Goldberg bagging another 5 for 26 off his 10 overs.

1 vote Carl Polo, 2 votes Michael Rizio and 3 votes Kris Logan

NOTE: Yorke was strategically rested from this match

Won toss and elected to bat.

Finally had the make up I wanted for the finals.

This was by far the best I’ve ever seen the team bat out a day. It was paced perfectly and was very exciting to finally show if applied what was capable of this group. Although the most satisfying aspect was that we put up 340 with arguably 2 of our best bats in Riz and Carl making minimal contributions. The writing was on the wall for anyone standing before us.

Stiva 37, Juz as a curve ball was sent in to open and looked good before departing for 15. Damo 39, Jugga 19 and Julian unlucky on 49 again all batted very well. Goldberg muscled a super entertaining 82 batting at 10 with some of the biggest hitting I’ve seen. Rompa was super impressive again playing a very patient and controlled 55.

The following week seemed a formality with so many to defend, but we should never count our chickens huh!

We got Khan cheap and Maka was dropped 1^st ball. We also put down Johnny in about the 40s so it just seemed that the chances would come as steadily, but they didn’t. To RMITs credit they chased the formidable score down and won the game to end up on top of the ladder going into the finals, and hand us our 1^st defeat of the season.

We never really tried too hard to win the game but we definitely didn’t just hand it to them. They were deserving of their win albeit we had the field up the whole game, The Skipper wanted to take most of the workload to keep his strike partners fresh for finals, and Yorke was hidden intentionally as we were anticipating a grand final against these guys and didn’t want to show our hand.

In the end Carl and Riz both got 1 wicket, Duzh 2 and Goldberg another 3.

1 vote Damon Brohaska, 2 votes Daniel Siomos and 3 votes Kris Logan

Lost toss and was sent in to bat.

Billy was selected to play in place of our injured star Kris.

We continued to pile on runs just like we had been steadily since the xmas break.

Continuing his great season Stiva got 42 and Carl batted for a while to get his 15. We lost Julian early and then witnessed the game breaking period where our no.3 Riz, and the ever increasingly steady Rompa compiled 94 in a graceful 4^th wicket partnership. After the dust had settled Riz came off for a very well deserved 111 and Rompa was the last man out for another brilliantly constructed half century. We batted all day again to be 8/326 going into the 2^nd week. Just a tremndous display of hard work and concentration.

It was always going to be harder without 1 of our regular opening bowlers but Jugga stepped up and bowled his best spell for the year with 2/18 off 7. Carl also grabbed 2 as well as a screamer in the slips, Yorke got 1 and Billy was unlucky not to snare 1. Duzh finished with 5/47 off 18.3 and steered the boys into their 2^nd successive grand Final.

1 vote Daniel Siomos, 2 votes Michael Rizio and 3 votes Dusan Stoevski

Day 1 was washed out.

Came back Sunday for day two and the outfield looked quite heavy after over 20 mms of rain all day Saturday. We had decided to bat 1^st if we could, but with the conditions the way they were i asked the group if we should reconsider. I was firmly met with an attitude to bat, so to the toss we went.

Ummm there was no toss and we were happy to bat as they were to field.

To RMITs credit they bowled very well in the suited conditions, but I thought we held our own and tuffed it out like a worthy outfit should. Although we wouldve liked a few more, 161 was probably more like 220 under normal circumstances. Damo top scored with a crafty 39, Juz played very well until he was run out quite spectacularly for 26, and Stiva, Carl, Riz, Rompa and Julian all made starts.

We had 12 overs to try and snare a few and that’s exactly what we did. 1^st Carl dismissed Khan with a beauty and then Duzh lured John straight down Juggas throat at mid-on. 2/20 overnite and we had ripped the heart out of them with 2 very good bats in the shed 2 be watching on next week.

Day 3 came around after a lite training week and plenty of planning behind the scenes in readiness for our push towards glory. Goldberg and Carl started things off and didn’t dissapoint with lovely line and length. It took 20 or so runs but Carl found the edge of the nite watchmen and Riz took a sharp catch low at gully to make them 3 for. The opposition captain feeling the pressure sent in a slogger to try and muscle some of the deficit away.

That was the 1^st of Riz’s 3 catches in that position, with his next 1 being of the outmost importance. Maka playing slightly away from his body to Carl found the middle of his bat, angling it thru the gully region at a rate of knots was taken as easily as you like by Riz. This was a huge wicket and if there were non-believers out there they must have sat up. 4/33 with the skipper now in and the last of their formidable batsmen. If we could get him early we would have broken their spirits and marched on full steam to take out the 1^st innings.

Goldberg was simply outstanding at his end and once he got his 1^st, it didn’t take long til he had 4 himself. Lekhi, Sachin, Hussain and Bedi all feel in quick succession to Kris and we were on our way to somesort of lead. Duzh cleaned up the tail to have them all out for 99. Carl finished with figures of 3/33, Duzh 3/36 and Goldberg deserved the spoils with a spell of 4/20 off 11 to go with his 0/0 off 3 the previous week to finish with sublime numbers of 4/20 off 14 with 6 maidens.

A lead of 62 could easily have been taken for granted as there was plenty of time remaining in this game for an outrite result for either side. We basically just had to occupy the crease for as long as possible, and bat out the opposition into making it improbable for them to win. Runs would come as long as we hung around.

Stiva went very early and Carl holed out unluckily at deep square off a rank long-hop just before lunch. Riz and Julian added 39 before the latter played on for 13. Rompa then arrived and departed some 150 balls, 21 hours later.

Michael Rizio in a typical no.3 fashion just took control of the game and took full advantage of the opposition having to field up in order for wickets. Much like in the semi, he dismantled whatever came his way and would have been fitting to finish with another tonne, but unfortunately had to settle with a destructive 88.

Damo came in and made a quick 25 with Juz and Rompa holding on for us to be at 5/186 overnite. Effectively 5/245 with our1^st innings lead.

An extremely important day that was executed very impressively with great determination and grit. We were in a commanding position and it was there for the taking if we could just muster up a similar type of performance to that of either day 2 or 3.

Day 4 and champions would be born. The Skipper asked that the side try and bat 40 overs. They tried valiantly and was it not for the 3 dodgy decisions they received, just mite have accomplished that task and some. However 31 overs were batted out and we finished with 245. Rompa showing his class again with a tremendously patient 44 off 150 odd balls. Truly an inspiring performance and one that will be respected by all his peers and supporters. Juz also chipping in again with a very solid 28 that ate up a lot of time as well.

So it came to RMIT needing 308 off 41 overs for victory, with 1 of their supreme bats unable to continue with a broken finger. Duzh spread the field from ball 1 and asked RMIT to slog like they have never before. They have Khan, Johnny and Sachin that were capable of this, but even these guys would struggle at 7.5 runs for 41 overs to pinch the flag.

They did start well tho and it took a little while for Duzh to get his field exactly the way he wanted it. John was limping ever so noticeably with all the scampering of quick singles and 2’s they had 2 consistently run. He eventually tickled 1 thru to Juz off Duzh and they were 1/50. Sachin came in next and together with Khan put on 68 before he holed out to Jugga at wide long-on off Duzh again. 2/118.

Hussain was next and he too seemed to enjoy the pace coming on to him. Duzh had the mindset that if they were still a chance of winning when they got to 150ish, that he’d unveil the secret weapon. The pressure was enormous with our guys fumbling in the outfield and giving away over throws. Everyone was feeling the pinch but cool heads would prevail.

Juz had a shy at 1 end and missed, but with the batsmen trying 2 pinch another on the overthrow, the alert Goldberg backing up fizzed in a great throw back 2 his keeper who removed the bails and they were 3/174 off about 22. Still, according to the run rate and with wickets in hand and Khan at the crease an unlikely victory seemed possible for RMIT… Think again!!

It was the prefect time to introduce Yorke with the wind. The field was set and the rest my friends is now history. Duke noticing Khan on the advance down the pitch threw it wider and Juz did the rest. This was the straw that broke the camels back as RMITs match winners were all on lookers now. Goldberg quietly went about his business again bowling into a very stiff breeze all inning and helped us with figures of 2/69. Duzh grabbed 2/73 and Juz took 2 catches, executed 2 stumpings and was paramount in the run out of Hussain.

The stand out was Yorke tho. He patiently awaited his opportunity and didn’t dissapoint once given the nod. He was instrumental in turning off the lights for RMIT with 4/23 off 5.4 overs.

1 vote Daniel Siomos, 2 votes Kris Logan and 3 votes Michael Rizio.

1 vote – Damon Brohaska

2 votes – Shane Gourlay, Imthad Mihlar, Shakeel Saleem

3 votes – Justin Altus, Julian Powell

6 votes – Daniel Siomos, Yorke Banyard

7 votes – Michael Rizio, Carl Polo

8 votes – Stephen Wills

15 votes – Kris Logan

16 votes – Dusan Stoevski