ND Fergus Hickey Rosebowl – Bay of Plenty v Hamilton @ Hamilton 2-3 February 2019

Posted: Tuesday, 5 February 2019

Coaches Report from Charles “Potsy” Williams

Heading for the first Fergus Hickey game of the season, the Bay team was very excited to play some two-day cricket again, especially against our old rivals Hamilton. With a number of changes to the team this year we were a mixture of youth and experience. Playing their first full two day game, because of the Northland washout, was Ben Pomare, Dominic Crombie and Henry Collier. All had earned their spots because of consistent performances for their clubs over the last six months.

We were also very fortunate to be able to call on the experience of Current ND and ND A players Joe Carter, Bharat Popli, Peter Drysdale and Sean Davey. Looking at our team on paper, would have given Bay of Plenty Cricket fans a feeling of confidence. However we knew that meant nothing unless we performed out on the field.

Hamilton were very strong this year and also boasted numerous ND players such as James Baker, Anurag Verma, and the Walker brothers Joe and Freddy. We knew the weekend would be a chance to test ourselves against a quality side.

Hamilton won the toss and chose to field on what looked like a very good pitch. Overhead conditions, a pitch that had a bit of grass left on it and their very talented bowling line up meant that batting would be difficult early on. All of this was discussed and we knew what was needed from our top order.

We lost early wickets, with Steve Crossan, Drysdale and Carter all being bowled through the gate. Popli steadied the ship with Ben Musgrave, for a while, before both of them were removed, Musgrave chasing a wide delivery and giving the keeper an easy catch and Popli uncharacteristically cashing a wide delivery and giving cover a catch. Sean Davey played a couple of nice shots but he too was removed before he could settle in and the pattern continued with Collier, Pomare and Tim Pringle unable to steady the ship. In the end we lost our ten wickets for a very disappointing 68 runs.

We obviously had a huge mountain to climb and in very hot conditions, our seamers set about getting us back in the contest. Chris Atkinson took the first two wickets and was cherishing having the new ball in his hands. We steadily chipped away at their batsman and at the end of the day had them six down for 150 runs.

The Walker brothers batted very well, with both of them going past the 50 run mark. Captain Joe Carter, had a master stroke for the last over of the day, bringing on part timer Bharat Popli to bowl some of his leg spin. Nobody really knew what to expect but his first two balls were on the money. His third ball of the over pitched on about leg stump and spun sharply across ex ND player Brook Hatwell, grabbing the edge of his bat and giving Chris Atkinson a catch at first slip. A good way to end what was a tough day.

Day two saw us looking to take the final four wickets and Bharat obliged with a caught and bowled, to take his tally to two wickets, in his first over on day two.

Dominic Crombie capped off a fantastic first game taking the final three wickets, meaning we took some momentum into our second turn at bat, even though Hamilton were over 200 runs ahead of us. The plan was simple, we had to bat the rest of the day.

Pete Drysdale and Stephen Crossan used the momentum we had and started very positively. Drysdale solid in defence and Crossan attacking with some solid boundaries. Unfortunately Crossan was removed just as he was looking set and not long after Drysdale was judged to be LBW to Joe Walker. Joe Carter was removed with an amazing catch on the boundary and although Popli hung around for awhile and looked set for a big innings he was undone by Joe Walker, when attempting to use his feet down the wicket.

Ben Musgrave was also very positive hitting some sublime cut shots to the boundary, but was undone, when his favourite cut shot was attempted on a ball that was far too close to his body. Ben Pomare was very unlucky when a sweep shot was missed and the ball hit the back of his bat ballooning up to first slip.

One silver lining was the discipline and grit shown by Henry Collier and Dan Smith (who was injured from the day before and could barely run). The two batsmen managed to see off the pace of Baker and Verma and the spin of brothers Joe Walker and Freddy Walker. It showed that application, determination and discipline were the keys to batting against this attack on that pitch. Henry Collier looked at ease at the crease and on another day, where Smith could have run, he would have scored a lot more runs.

Hopefully our batsmen use this blueprint of how to bat in two-day cricket, when we face Counties Maukau in two weeks time at the Bay Oval.

ND Fergus Hickey @ Galloway Park, Hamilton 2-3 February 2019

Bay of Plenty 67 (A Verma 4/16, J Brown 3/20) & 169 (Chris Atkinson 43, Ben Musgrave 20; J Walker 4/52, FW Walker 3/24)

Hamilton 313 (J Walker 79, FW Walker 59, A Desai 49, KG Betteley 43; Dominic Crombie 4/39, Dan Smith 2/41, Chris Atkinson 2/65)

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