2019
Old vs Young
Another controversial team selection policy teams picked exclusively on date of birth, with the old dudes taking on the nappy crowd.
Although Team Old initially had the metal on Team Young, a middle order collapse led to a comfortable win for Team Young.
Teams line up (Team Young in Hawaiian Shirts)
The kids were pretty bored
Team Short Captain from 2018 handing the silverware over to Team Young Captain 2019
Team Young
Neil Rhodes
Kent Hallman
Lindsay Gray
Robin McCoubrey
Damon Green
Zane Wallace McAlpine
Ryan Cockayne
Andrew Downie
Sam Tuck (W)
Nelson Watson (C)
Joshua Elliot Graves Wilson
Team Old
Simon O’Brien (C)
Spencer Bailey
Scott Tibbotts
Shawn Lewis
Marshy
Marc Figgins
Karl Lear
David Harrison (W)
Steven Albrecht
Narly
Andrew Mills
Match Report, Boxing Day 2019, Battle of the Ages
Anything can happen in cricket, and so it did in the 4th edition of the BDTT on a glorious afternoon at the Domain with the Young Guns edging the Golden Oldies 132/8 off 19.5 to 131/11 off 17.3.
The Young Guns won the toss and elected to bowl.
With a team peppered with spring TONK champions and batting MVP's the Golden Oldies started strongly with Narly producing some exceptional clean hitting to retire on 30 with Mr Consistency Haz anchoring the partnership with 27. It was a furious start, with the run rate redlining at 34/1 (retired) after just 2 overs. The clicker was retired and I started to think if we were going to see the 200 run mark broken?
A few moments of brilliance in the field spurred on by Damon and a run-out by Zane, securing the crucial wicket of batting MVP Scott Tibbots started the to turn things around for the Young Guns. Thankfully, the HIA protocol has not filtered down to TONK as Robin and Kent unleashed the latest boundary fielding tactic of getting low and stopping the ball with their heads.
With the innings delicately poised, there was an appeal for caught behind. Hollywood carefully considered his future association with the Diggers, before recalling some of the constructive fielding feedback from earlier in the year and raised his finger. Glen immediately requested the first DRS in TONK and in the absence of hot spot or RTS the decision was reversed. Unfortunately for the Golden Oldies, Marshy was not able to capitalise and soon after sent a ball hard and flat down the throat of Ryan at Square Leg.
With more than half the overs available, SOB came in at his traditional batting backstop position and went about rebuilding the innings. The tail of the Golden Oldies hit out around him but with the higher number of fielders (and some great catching) it meant that not even Spencer the Finisher Bailey could repeat the heroics of 2018.
At the change of the innings with a modest required run rate of 6 an over the Young Guns decided to open with Zane and Damon and had a great start - Damon (another big hitting south-paw Elephants opener) taking the Inzaman-ul-Haq approach to running and scored exclusively from boundaries on his way to 28.
Glen cut Zane's innings short with a high paced ball on the stumps which triggered a mini collapse. Were the Young Guns going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Not on Kent's watch as he grafted the longest innings of the match scoring a valuable 25.
Glen then proved there is nothing wrong with his eye sight and started calling buffalo's from 100 metres away.
With no run rate pressure; Lindsay, Neil and Ryan batted time, waiting for the bad ball to put away. I came in with just under 20 required and decided to use my first scoring stroke a boundary... but Glen was in the action again taking a good catch down at cow corner. The cup of shame was empty and during the commotion an experienced Golden Oldie put the cup in my right hand and commanded me to drink... boom Buffalo! So I doubled down and can confirm that mixing Apple Cider and Garage Project within 30 seconds is not something aspire to. Eventually, cricket resumed and I open my account seeing off Marshy before a bit of hesitation between the wickets ended up with a run out.
The tension was high and we had another nail biting finish. Robin entered the arena, building a wall of pebbles, allowing the extras to accumulate before stepping to the pitch of the ball and lofting it over the inner ring on the off-side to (and I think everyone would agree) deservedly bring the game for 2019 to a close.
Damon was awarded Man of the Match and Narly POD for the Golden Oldies.
The Golden Oldies (despite a few dubious definitions of 'full') then completely schooled the young boys in the boat race.
Special shout out to the following:
Hollywood for umpiring
Millsy for another sensational effort of the BBQ.
Millsy and Shawn for joint best dressed
Thanks everyone for another great day, take care if travelling and have a happy New Year.