1s and 2s chalk up important wins

ROUND 06/07

Sunday December 07, 2025

F I R S T X I

OLD SCOTCH 1XI 9/174 (40)

def. MELBOURNE HIGH 126 (32.1)

J. Wiseman 105*, P. Burchard 25, S. Goodwill 4/30, M. Sparks 3/24

After another rained out weekend, we rolled into Melbourne High extremely excited to finally have some sun beaming down on us on a Sunday. We lost the toss and on a wet wicket, was sent into bat. Initially, this looked like a bad toss to lose, as the pitch was causing havoc early with balls jumping around making conditions very tough to bat on. Quickly, we were 3/15 and in some serious trouble early doors. This was until Paddy Burchard and James Wiseman were able to arrest the momentum and get us back into the contest. However with Paddy falling and another going soon after we were back in trouble at 5/63. With Wiseman holding down the fort and batting superbly, we just needed to create some partnerships alongside him to give us a chance at a defendable total. A handy 17 from Tom Kelly and some other contributions allowed us to creep towards a defendable total. However, this was only attainable if Wiseman was able to continue his flurry of boundaries and not fall. An incredible display of patience and ruthlessness from Wiseman saw him continue to pounce on the bad balls and give us a fighting chance in this fixture. At 5/63, Wiseman was on just 33, what he was able to produce over the next 20 overs was special stuff. Going into the final over of our innings, Wiseman was on 92, he managed a single off the 2nd ball then managed to get back on strike for the final 3 deliveries. A brutal 6 off the 3rd last ball brought him to 99 and with the crowd on the edge of their seat praying he gets there, the next ball was a dot. Then with the final ball of the innings, it felt like it was going to be 6 or out. With a punishing blow towards long on, the crowd waiting and watched it sail over the fence comfortably, bringing up an inspirational century. A terrific innings and one that won’t be forgotten.

Wiseman had single handedly given us a chance and with 174 on the board we were right in the mix. With some of our regular seam bowlers away this week, we elected to start off with our trust spinner, Sam Goodwill. With the 2nd ball of the innings, Stickers drew the false shot and we had our first wicket, 1/1. Some good stroke play by their batsmen had us on the backfoot again as they flew to 1/43 after 6. Enter M Sparks, a change of bowlers and all of a sudden a change in the game, Mike picked up 3 quick wickets and we were back on top at 4/70 with their 2 best batsmen now dismissed we had to go in for the kill. We kept applying pressure but a solid partnership was brewing with High 4/100. Stickers was re-entered and picked up a wicket straight away. All of a sudden 5 overs later Stickers had collected 2 more and had them 7/106 and we were on top. Some more tight bowling drew some false shots and all of a sudden had them all out for 125 after just 32 overs. Stickers (4/30) and Mick (3/24) were brilliant with the ball and well supported by the rest of the bowlers. It was another clinical performance in the field as we took every chance we had with some brilliant catches from Boreham, Bennett, Sparks and Bonwick.

A brilliant win and one that elevates us to the top of the table with a game in hand. Onto the triple header at Scotch next week and we take on our recent rivals, Old Haileybury on the Main Oval.

— Will Clark (1XI Captain)

S E C O N D X I

OLD SCOTCH 2XI 7/237 (40)

def. OLD HAILEYBURY 7/229 (40)

T. Loveridge 42*, A. Callaghan 42 & 2/38, T. Fish 1/34, L. Gance 1/41

After the miracle on grass last week where daylight robbery of 2 points took place, the twos were back at the flattest pitch in Melbourne to play Old Haileybury, with their skipper obviously having never played at the ground and winning the toss and sending us in with a tinge of green on top. We knew it would play flat and also knew we needed a good score with our deep batting line-up.

Sam Dethridge and Charlie Schilling opened, with Schilling being provided feedback from the opening bowler but still managing to find the fence with some nice shots, and new opening partner Dethridge looking in good touch, tidy on defence but putting the bad balls away. Schilling fell for a well-made 24, with the opening bowler helpfully informing him of the whereabouts of the changerooms, and Murphy joined Dethridge at the crease, putting on an important 40. Murphy then spooned one back to the bowler, and Dethridge found an edge, for a clean 40, with the 2 quick wickets leaving Callaghan and Sparks out there. A partnership was crucial, and Sparks started slowly, comfortably blocking the full tosses back to the slow leg spinner, insisting he “has a good wrong’un”, but a decent partnership ensued. Unfortunately Sparks fell to one of those dreaded full tosses, bringing Tom Loveridge to the crease. Another 30 run partnership between Callaghan and Loveridge followed, with both finding the boundary and running hard between the wickets. Callaghan departed for 42 leaving Loveridge and Fish out there, who combined in aggressive fashion, really moving the score along and putting on another 70. Fish was caught at Square leg for 36, bringing Gance to the crease, who was managing to “middle the ball off the bottom edge” but ran smartly, until the last ball where Loveridge cleverly protected the red ink and Gance was run out for 10. A cleanly struck 42* off just 31 balls from TL the highlight of the innings, with the boys setting 7-237 off their allotted 40 overs.

With a strong total to bowl at, Will Easton, determined to prove he was in fact the most aerobically fit on the team got the new ball with Tom Loveridge. Unfortunately, the opening batters of OH got on top of us, finding the boundary and capitalising on some loose bowling. Easton provided the breakthrough in the 7th over, caught behind which stemmed the flow somewhat, with Fish coming into the attack and really slowing the pace down, so much so OH felt the need to check the powerplay rules, cleverly letting us know we had our allotted 4 out through the middle overs which was handy. Despite the slowish run rate, the number 3 for OH looked particularly tidy “hardly surprising considering he plays Saturday cricket” said Fish. Callaghan and Fish looked to provide the breakthrough, but it was Fish who surprised the batsmen after drinks with a perfectly legal chest high beamer well caught by Easto at short fine. A slower partnership ensued, with Murphy, Callaghan and Fish all helping to put the brakes on, Fish finishing with a tidy 1-34 off his 8 sets, Callaghan with 2-38 and Murphy 0-10 off 3. Wickets continued to tumble, with a good fielding display particularly from Dethridge who continued his strong game with 3 catches and a run out to go with his first innings runs. Gance bowled particularly well at the death, with him and TL finishing the game, the 2s winning by 8 runs.

A good performance against a handy side leading in to the clubs first triple header next week, with the 2s looking to end the year on a high note.

— Andrew Callaghan (2XI Captain)

T H I R D X I

OLD SCOTCH 3XI 8/163 (25)

vs. MCC 0/10 (3.2)

MATCH ABANDONED

N.Bennett 62*, M.Winneke 42, H.Parsons 0/5 J. Fyfe 0/5

After another washout, the third eleven were very excited to be playing at The Albert in a special Saturday fixture, winning the toss we elected to bat. WIth showers around we struggled to start punctually removing and replacing the covers more than 5 times with a pre-match agreement that once an innings initiated if the covers had to be reapplied the game would end in a draw due to premier cricket to be played on the same pitch a day later. The game initiated at 2pm and was reduced to 25 overs each. Tom Fish (6) and Kelly (8) opened and looked aggressive early, targeting the short boundary toward St Kilda road; however, both struggled to get going both being dismissed cheaply. A similar story for Hugh Hasker (7) and Max Bodon (2) after 5.1 we were looking shaky at 4-28. Mike Winneke and Nic Bennett manage to stem the flow of wickets with Mike striking beautifully maintaining a strong run rate whilst Bennett aimed to rotate the strike. Drinks were taken after the 14 over and we were sitting at 4-98. Shortly after drinks Winneke was dismissed for 42 snicking off. Baumgarten (12) was very valuable in rotating the strike and running hard between the wickets. Bennett managed to crack 50 and made the most of some questionable field placements hitting a ramp/ paddle scoop hybrid shot down to the vacant fine leg area much to the boys amusement in the pavilion. The innings ended with Scotch scoring 163 with Bennett not out on 62.

The bowling inning was short lived with Parsons and Fyfe opening, however the onset of a cool change brought some rain along with it causing the covers to come on and the game to be called a draw. A disappointing end to a promising game.

We look to next week for a difficult fixture against Whitefriars on the Meares.

— Nic Bennett (3XI Captain)

F O U R T H X I

OLD SCOTCH 4XI 76 (25.2)

def. by OLD CAMBERWELL 4/77 (15.4)

N. Bruce 45, B. Balot 11, T. Lindholm 3/24, J. Ross 1/14

After a beautiful 20°C sunny day, it finally looked like the OSCC 4XI would be playing their first home game of the year. The wicket looked like a road, and after winning the toss we chose to bat first with Eddie Shearer and Nick Bruce opening.

Unfortunately, Eddie was out early, dismissed LBW to a spinner, and the wickets continued to tumble. Angus Tickner and Josh Richards followed quickly, leaving us 3/5 after only a few overs. James Fish came in with a freshly knocked-in bat and was creaming them through cover, but was eventually caught at silly mid-off, a rare sight for 4s cricket, leaving us 4/27 and desperate for runs. We sent in last week’s hero Sammy Marinakis, but he couldn’t repeat his efforts and was dismissed early. Bailey Balot steadied things with a solid 11, but after his dismissal, the remaining wickets fell in quick succession — Ned Lindholm, Jack Ross, and Tom Lindholm all out shortly after. George Strong came in last and remained unbeaten on 0.

Throughout the innings, Nick Bruce was the standout, seemingly batting with each of the other 10 teammates to make a fantastic 45. Without his hard-hitting attitude, we could have been bowled out for even less. We finished all out for 76 off 25.2 overs, leaving a small total to defend. Huge praise to Brucey for carrying the innings.

With the ball, Tom Lindholm and Jack Ross opened, and despite some questionable umpiring, we managed to have Camberwell at 4/35 and looking like we might have a game on our hands. George Strong and Ned Lindholm came in to bowl, but the new batsmen decided to take charge, hitting big shots and cruising Camberwell to 4/77, ending the match.

Another shout-out to Josh Richards behind the stumps, who continues to impress with two tidy catches this week.

Next week we head to Beaumaris to take on MCC, a tough matchup, but we’ll be looking to chase our first win before a few weeks’ break for summer.

— Tom Lindholm (4XI Captain)

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