2021
Another year, another Boxing Day Tonk Test to make Christmas Day with the family slightly more bearable…
Team selection was based on the age of the participants at the time they (knowingly) fathered their first child. It’s possible that in a few years, some of the players might have been in the wrong team - for various reasons… (ever wondered why your first kid looks like your old flatmate?)
Baby Daddies
Nelson*
Karl Lear
Damon Green
Rod Macdonald
Tige Seaburg
Figgo
Andrew Mills
Zane
Narly+
Shawn
Eelco Uri
Grand Daddies
Steven Albrecht
David Harrison+
Robin McCoubrey
Lindsay Gray
David Oxley
Monty
Dan Robinson
Spencer Bailey
SOB
Scott Tibbotts*
Ockert Visser
Pre-game lineup
Match report (by Nelson)
Welcome back to the (better late than never) Wide World of Sport super sports Boxing Day wrap up.
Down at the MCG, England succeeded in Fing in the A any chance they had of a miracle series come back, falling to 185 all out on day 1.
Down at the Double D, the 6th annual Boxing Day Tonk Test had an infinitely more successful showing.
The match was adjudicated by Umpire Hollywood without incident and there was not a single play referred to the 3rd umpire all game.
The Grand Daddy’s, skippered by Scott won the toss and with one eye on the BBQ and his heavy Saffa representation elected bowl first.
Big Eelco and Karl opened the batting for the Baby Daddy’s and Ockert opened the bowling. The scoring started with the traditional 6 by Eelco off a rank full toss, with the first wicket also following tradition coming in the next ball.
Karl’s stay at the crease was brief, striking a 4 before the catch of the match in the slips by Ockert off Spencer.
With the Baby Daddy’s score card starting to have a distinctly English feel, Millsy and Tige looked to steady the ship before Tige holed out falling victim to Robin for the second year running. Millsy was looking comfortable before the Digger pairing of SOB and Haz combined for a smart stumping.
Figgo played a match turning innings batting out to 25.
Rod, batter of the recent TONK round looked comfortable before learning the hard way that the only outcome of hittya ball within 30 metres on Dan Robinson is a one way ticket back the Burnsco.
Damon and Zane then combined to put on a batting clinic for a crucial 60, both retiring.
Runball then put his hand up to get the attention of the ICC anti corruption unit by becoming Robin’s second victim.
Narly came in to accelerate and take the score above par but was unable to get out of 3rd gear against some quality bowling.
Nelson came in at 11 batting on one leg and struggled to get to bat to ball, barely troubling the scorers.
In the end the Baby Daddy’s finished on a par 160.
The Grand Daddy’s opened with Albrecht and Lindsey and they navigated the early overs before Eelco picked both up with a 2fer.
Millsy with Rod at silly mid on combined to pick up Ockert cheaply.
Spencer was unable to replicate the batting heroics of a few summers ago and was bowed by Karl.
At this stage the Grand Daddy’s had plenty of overs available but needed the worm to follow a Covid R2 type curve. Monty and Ox answered the call putting on 20 each collecting singles and punishing the stray balls before Monty was bowled on 20 by Narly.
Robin relinquished the score book and joined Monty at the crease.
At the 11th over, drinks were called and the worms were evenly poised.
The Baby Daddy’s then put on Black Caps 90’s mid innings Larsen / Harris master class with Rod, Tige, Nelson and Narly getting through those overs without taking a wicket but good economy.
Runball bowled the 4th to last over and took both Ox and Robin’s wicket exposing the cream of the Tonk batting MVP’s with a now challenging required run rate.
Danimal took a few balls to find his range before cracking the first of his 6’s.
SOB took less time to get a clean strike but picked out Tige at long on off Zane.
With the game still in the balance, Haz came to the crease but now needed a classic BDT innings full of boundaries but unfortunately for the Grand Daddy’s was unable to transfer his round 1 Tonk form and became Rumball’s 3rd victim.
Captain Tibbot’s was the last man in but selflessly surrendered his wicket to another BDT run out in the hope Danimal could hit the Grand Daddy’s to victory.
Into the last over, some Diggers type magic was needed. Zane tried to oblige with a new delivery which could be best described as a “‘palsy”. In the end a 6 was struck from the last ball of the innings but the Grand Daddy’s were 20 runs short.
Once the team Africa had the BBQ’s in a position to hand over the missus’s the second innings commenced in the form of the traditional boat race. Like Iain Murray earlier in the year, Hollywood signalled the start of the match before the respective teams got into their work. The Baby Daddy’s secured starboard and took the first cross, getting a 1 man lead by the midway point that was carried through to the end of the line.
Boat racing, far from the mums and kids…
Ockert picked up POD for the Grand Daddy’s with Rumball getting the nod for the Baby Daddy’s. Fair play award goes to Scott for agreeing to trial a matchup power play.
Overall, it was another spectacular day, thanks to everyone for making it the highlight of the cricketing summer.
See you next year. 🏏
