Cricket's back, and bigger than ever!

Season 2025-26 will be OSCC's biggest yet, with the club fielding sides in each of the four divisions of the MCC Club Turf competition. This weekend featured a big win for the First XI and the inaugral outing for the newly minted Fourth XI. Read all the highlights below and subscribe to our newsletter to get all the latest news and match reports delivered straight to your inbox.

FIRST XI

OLD SCOTCH 1XI 0/92 (13.2)

def. PEGS 88 (34.4)

63* S. Dawborn, 21* H. Boreham, 2/15 N. Sparks, 2/17 H. Parsons

Crickets back! After a strong pre-season and 4 sides now representing the club it was poised to be a great day for everyone. The 1s knew we needed to start the season off strong and make a statement that we are still one of the best sides in it.

We lost the Toss and PEGS decided to have a bat first. Perfect for us. It was great to have the 3s tearaway quick, Harry Parsons, with us this week and with a hurricane style wind behind his back Parso sent some thunderbolts down early. Nick Sparks was at his best at the other end just toiling away and giving nothing away. After 4 overs PEGS had only managed just the 2 runs and the pressure was building very quickly and just 2 overs Parso struck twice! With a fierce yorker he uprooted off stump and the very next ball sent one of their “premier 1s” boys back to the pavilion with a gaffer that crashed into the top of off stump. Just the start we needed. Sam “Stickers” Goodwill was back to his crafty best coming on in the 10th and bowling an extremely tidy 8 straight picking up 2 well deserved wickets and probably deserved a couple more. Some sharp fielding and awful running from PEGS saw us get 2 run-outs during these middle overs aswell and have them 6/46 shortly after drinks. N Sparks would reap the rewards of the strong breeze and similar to Parso, very quickly was on a hat-trick himself. Shortly after PEGS was bowled out for 88 in the 34th over. A very impressive bowling display from each of our bowlers and with Parso, Sparks and Stickers all collecting 2fa, we couldn’t have asked for a better first game in the field.

An obvious task was ahead, lets finish this off as quick as possible and head home with a BP. Dawbs wandered out with a new opening partner, Hugo Boreham. A splash of nerves and the greediness of Dawby taking the down wind end, Boz played a steady and stable opening role facing their opening quick steam in down breeze. Dawbs very quickly started taking a likening to what was being presented, the 4th over went for 10, the 6th for 17, 8th for 10, 11th for 15 and 12th for 12. All of a sudden Dawby had raced to 63, Boz 21 and the game was over. A clinical display from our new opening pair had us heading home after 13 overs with the BP safely secured without losing a wicket.

A convincing win first up and we head back out to Essendon next week to play PEGS for a 2nd week in a row.

— Will Clark (1XI Captain)

SECOND XI

OLD SCOTCH 2XI 8/208 (36.1)

def. OL TRINITY 8/204 (40)

79* A. Callaghan, 37 C. Schilling, 4/49 C. Hocking, 2/22 T. Hucker

For the first game of the season, the 2s ventured to Bulleen to face Old Trinity with much anticipation for the new season. Winning the toss and electing to bowl on a green surface with a new look side, new recruit Tom Hucker started brilliantly with the ball, taking a couple of early wickets and keeping it tight for his first spell. From the other end, Tom Loveridge delivered a typically tidy 8 sets, finding some hefty swing on the grassy pitch with favourable overheads and provided another crucial breakthrough. Tom Fish followed, rolling his fingers over the ball but finding swing rather than spin, much to the amusement of the batsmen, however it proved handy, and despite not taking a wicket he managed to restrict scoring through a tricky middle period for us. Despite being on top early, a strong 5th wicket partnership started to get away from us, with Charlie Hocking, John Stavris and Andrew Callaghan all struggling to find rhythm in the early parts of their spell. An important breakthrough came from Callaghan at a good time, dismissing their in form bat for a well-made 84, paving the way for a Charlie Hocking masterclass with the ball, finding 4 wickets in a persistent performance.

With 204 to chase, we went in confident, knowing we had an incredibly deep batting line-up. Charlie Schilling delivered a typically blistering performance square of the wicket, and paired well with fellow opener Mitch Sennitt, to progress the scoring nicely, with the pair putting on 56 for the first wicket. Unfortunately, both fell in the space of a few balls, Schilling for a run a ball 37 and Sennitt for 16 with another wicket having us 3/62. Mike Winneke and Andrew Callaghan kept the score moving through the middle of the game, running well and finding the odd boundary, before an untimely wicket on the stroke of drinks of Winneke for 9 had us 4 down at the break. After the break, a pattern emerged where people made starts but couldn’t capitalise, Tom Fish and Tom Loveridge both falling for 14 and Sam Dethridge for 10. At 8 down with 18 to get, there were some nervous faces on the bench, however Charlie Hocking and Andrew Callaghan steered the ship home, Hock making a clean 9* and Callaghan finishing on 79*, winning the game 8 down with almost 4 overs to spare.

A good start with plenty of positives, but also much improvement to take out in what promises to be an exciting season for the Second XI. Bring on Melbourne High next week.

— Andrew Callaghan (2XI Captain)

THIRD XI

OLD SCOTCH 3XI 7/202 (39.2)

def. MELBOURNE HIGH 6/201 (40)

M. SPARKS 39* & 1/14, S. DAWBORN 30, S. SHEARER 2/36, S. GOODWILL 2/36

The 3rd XI were hosted by Old Camberwell away for the first game of the 2025/26 season.

After losing the toss we were made to bowl and didn’t have the greatest of starts with our bowling very rusty after the off season with Camberwell’s batsmen punishing our poor deliveries. After 10 overs Camberwell were 0-94. The introduction of Charlie Smith and Ben McMahon into the attack help stem the run flow as Smith removed their predominant scorer whilst McMahon helped apply pressure with economical bowling. However, Camberwell remained dominant finishing their innings tallying 309 runs.

With such a big total to chase the message was clear to try and keep up with the required run rate which Hugh Hasker managed excellently putting us in a great position early as he smashed 85 runs from 67 deliveries including 6 sixes. Jesse Castan (15) and Max Bodon (29) both had positive starts to their innings however couldn’t manage to turn their innings into larger totals. In the end we fell short all out for 197.

A tough start to the season yet there were many positives to take away from the fixture.

— Nic Bennett (3XI Captain)

FOURTH XI

OLD SCOTCH 4XI 7/202 (39.2)

def. MELBOURNE HIGH 6/201 (40)

M. SPARKS 39* & 1/14, S. DAWBORN 30, S. SHEARER 2/36, S. GOODWILL 2/36

Our first outing as the OSCC 4XI in this division saw us head into the season full of optimism, and while the result didn’t quite go our way, there were plenty of positives to take from the day.

It was a fresh green deck, and although we lost the toss, we were more than happy to bowl first. The boys started well with Tom Lindholm striking early, picking up two wickets in quick succession and finding himself on a hat-trick ball that just missed. Sam Prior and Hector Wild carried that momentum through at first change, both bowling tight lines and finishing their 10-over block with one and two wickets respectively which set a solid tone for the innings.

Trinity then built a strong 98-run stand to wrestle back some control, before part-time keeper and part-time wicket-taker Will Bracegirdle stepped up to break the partnership, claiming his first wicket for the club. The last two wickets fell to Bailey Balot and Ned Lindholm, both bowling with good control to finish things off and restrict Trinity to 178 - a competitive but very chaseable total.

With 11 bowlers and one genuine batsman on the team sheet, we knew batting would be the challenge. Nick Bruce got us off to a lively start with 34 off 28, including five boundaries to keep things moving early. After a few quick wickets, Bailey Balot came in at four to steady the innings with a patient and well-constructed 24, rotating the strike and finding gaps nicely. He was joined by Angus Tickner, who added a composed 34 of his own, and together they gave us a real chance. Unfortunately, Bailey’s dismissal at 5-88 left a few runs for our tail to chase down. Despite some resistance, particularly from Conrad Pender, the tail couldn’t quite wag enough and we were bowled out for 138 with five overs remaining.

All in all, it was a promising first showing for our 4XI. We go again against Old Trinity, and the boys will no doubt be hungry to even the score.

— Tom Lindholm (4XI Captain)

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