We kicked off our second and final practice match against Maris Stella College, Sri Lanka. We were going to be a player short for the first hour or so it was decided that we were going to bat first. Kaz and new English recruit Dom Harding opened the innings and they got off to a reasonable start until Dom missed a straight one and was bowled for 4. Cal came out at 3 but his time in the middle was short as he was caught and bowled for 10. Next in was Minto and the innings kicked off from here. After a partnership of 67, Kaz was caught behind for a well played 30. Fallshaw and T. Don came and went, then Minto was dismissed for a game high 68. Neil looked very comfortable at the crease as he did in the early parts of last season before being struck down with injury. Black and Bortolotto knocked the ball around before J. Donnellan provided some late order hitting with the innings coming to a close with Marcellin posting 9/192 off 40 overs.
New boy Dom Harding
Maris Stella got off to a flying start with ex Marcellin player Ash Fernando smashing a quick fire 50 before retiring to give others a go. Maris had Marcellin on the ropes with the score of 0/79 off the first 10 overs but from here it was all Marcellin. Brothers Joel and Tom Donnellan bowled brilliantly to swing the game in Marcellins way with 2/24 and 2/25 respectively. Black and Rush continued the trend and applied great pressure to the Sri Lankans middle order. Tim Rush has been very impressive with the ball in both games so far. Towards the end Kaz chimed in for 2 wickets and we got our first look at Dom bowling his medium pacers. The game was wrapped up in the 35 over with Maris Stella being bowled out for 160 giving Marcellin a 32 run win.
Now with the last of the practice matches being played its time to look to round one and Im sure everyone is eagerly awaiting October 10th. Highlights Minto 68 Kaz 30 and a 2/25 Joel Donnellan 2/24 and 14 not out Rush 3/14
