Long weekend scorcher

ROUND 03

Saturday January 24, 2026

FIRST XI

OLD SCOTCH 1XI 7/246 (40)

def. OLD HAILEYBURY 9/105 (40)

W. Clark 97* & 3/9, T. Fish 37, W. Bonwick 2/3, T. Hucker 2/30

A rescheduled Round 3 match against Old Haileybury saw the 1st XI take to the Meares Oval on a Saturday. We lost the toss and were sent in to bat with the mercury forecast to nearly hit 40 degrees. It was a slow start to our batting innings as the pitch played extremely slow. We slumped to 4/21 before a classic counter-attack innings from Tom Fish (37 from 21) helped us regain ascendancy. He was supported well by Patty Burchard who chipped in with 29 and we made it to 5/114 at the half-way point. Burchard was dismissed shortly after, before our Skipper Will Clark changed the game. He and Tom Kelly put on 100 runs for our 7th wicket, using his typical lap sweeps to pick apart the Haileybury spin attack. TK (37) played his role, ticking the scoreboard over and putting away the bad balls. Schilling came in with a few overs remaining and made a quick 15*, taking our total to 7/246 after the 40 overs. This was obviously highlighted by Clark’s innings, who is making a habit of bringing his best when the team is up against the ropes. He (allegedly) ended on 97* after some creative scorebook work.

It was sweltering as we went out to field and the goal was to take 10 quick wickets and get to the pub. Tom Hucker took 2 early wickets and Shearer (1/15 from 8) was economical, but Haileybury steadied in the middle overs. It was broken open by Clark (3/9) who somehow managed to put 8 overs down after his batting innings. It was obvious by this stage that the game was won, but the pitch flattened out allowing Haileybury to chew up overs. Bonwick and Fish chipped in with wickets, but they ended up batting the full 40 overs, finishing 9/105 and granting us a bonus point.

It was a great show of our batting depth and ability to steady after a slow start. We look forward to next week against Maccabi Ajax at home.

— Sam Dawborn (1XI Star Batsmen)

THIRD XI

OLD SCOTCH 3XI 8/165 (22.2)

def. by MCC 2XI 4/167 (33.5)

N. Bennett 63*, F. Strong 29*, B. McMahon 2/31, O. Sparks 2/41

We arrived at Scotch at 10 with an early start due to the forecasted 39 degrees the hessian had been left on overnight to trap some moisture. After being removed the pitch was quite soft and was immediately apparent that the winner of the toss would bowl first not only to prevent their side standing in peak heat but also to benefit from a softer pitch that would harden up throughout the games play. Unfortunately we lost the toss and were sent in to bat. The game was to be 36 overs each with 6 overs bowled at an end at a time to help with pace of play.

Griffiths and Edney opened the batting and struggled early, the pitch was providing a lot of variable bounce and MCC’s openers were bowling challenging lengths. Edney was dismissed for 3 after a ball caught the edge and Griffiths was dismissed soon after for 11. Hasker came and went for 0 popping one back up to the bowler that stuck into the pitch rather than caressing the surface and Knight only contributed 2. Before we knew it we were 4-27. Mike Winneke and Justin Baumgarten were at the crease and stopped the bleeding temporarily. Winneke was making it look easy, piercing gaps in the field and pushing hard for singles to the fielders on the ring, this however would be his downfall as a direct hit saw him run out for 22 and Baumgarten was dismissed for 10 catching a top edge trying to hit across the line. After 19 overs we were 6-59, McMahon and Bennett stuck their heads over it looking to soak up some pressure and start a partnership, Both struggled against spin with the turn and bounce of the pitch unlike anything of a typical Scotch wicket. After putting on 37 together Mcmahon departed for 14 and Bromell's inning for 4 was short-lived. Bennett brought out the scoop shot from his bag of tricks accessing a vacant fine leg before finally deciding to move a fielder there. Bennett who had struggled with the off-pace bowling found his rhythm once the opening bowlers rejoined the attack accessing the boundary with some lofted straight drives and slogs to cow which brought him to 50 runs. Self proclaimed “doozy hitter” Fred Strong helped Bennett take the innings deep by rotating the strike and running hard between the wickets alongside hitting 2 big doozy’s for 6. Strong and Bennett both ended up unbeaten for 29* and 63* respectively establishing a defendable total of 165.

Parsons and Sparks opened the bowling and failed to breakthrough in their opening spell struggling to find any value in the pitch as the heat had dried it out. McMahon and Strong entered the attack and the two combined for one of the all time wickets. McMahon had a ball blasted back to him which burst through his hands and deviated toward mid off where Fred Strong was diving forward like Robin Van Persie’s Flying Dutchman header taking an absolute screamer. McMahon got one an over later and was thoroughly enjoying the turn on offer. MCC then began to get on top with their former U19 Sri Lanka national team batsmen looking impossible to dismiss. At the 24th over MCC were 2/105, we threw the ball around to try and manufacture a wicket and Ollie Sparks shined getting two in quick succession however we felt narrowly short as they chased our total 4 down with 2.1 overs remaining.

We now sit equal 2nd on the ladder and have to tough matchup against top of the table AJAX Maccabi away at Albert Park

— Nic Bennett (3XI Captain)

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