Dawborn century inspires the 1s to victory

ROUND 10/09

Sunday January 18, 2026

FIRST XI

OLD SCOTCH 1XI 3/183 (38.3)

def. OLD WESLEY 181 (40)

S. Dawborn 104*, S. Goodwill 30, W. Clark 3/52, N. Sparks 2/26

After a turbulent morning with some last minute selection headaches, a new look 1st XI side travelled to St Kilda Rd to take on Old Wesley. Even with 3 players making their 1st XI debut for this season and another 2 returning from the 2nd XI we were still confident and riding high from our last few performances. Old Wesley won the toss and elected to bat, with Clark and Sparks yet again trusted with the new ball, we were hoping for a similar output to the previous week’s efforts. Yet again, it didn’t take long for Old Scotch to strike with Clark rattling the stumps in the 3rd over before a sharp caught and bowled dismissing the dangerous W King gave us 2 in an over. 2 overs later Clark struck again with yet another caught and bowled and we had Welsey 3/25. Wesley would begin to build a partnership for the 4th wicket, but tight and patient bowling kept their scoring limited. Chaz would eventually break through in the 25th after a 70 run stand. Some more patient bowling and quality fielding saw us get the 5th in the 30th after Nick Sparks delivered some sharp fielding off his own bowling to snag a run out. Old Wesley’s #5 R Obrien continued to bat well and with some assistance from the other end, he would eventually reach a well-made century in the last over. This left Old Wesley 7/181 after their 40. Nick Sparks picked up a couple wickets at the back end to go along with his run-out to end up on 2/26.

With 5 of our regular top 6 unavailable, there was much debate as to who would open the batting with Dawbs. After some mid-week threats by Stickers, he twisted the skipper’s arm and let him get out there at the top. This would prove fruitful, as Stickers and Dawbs got us off to a fast start and another strong opening stand before Sam Goodwill (30) was eventually dismissed in the 13th over after a 68-run stand with Dawbs. With Sennitt joining Dawbs, the scoring continued to tick over, until we would lose our 2nd wicket soon after drinks and a 3rd in the 27th. Old Wesley had resorted to mostly spin and on a dry surface, batting became difficult. However, with Dawborn still at the crease and making this tricky wicket look like a road we were still extremely confident. James Sparks would join Dawbs at the crease at 3/115 and the pair looked confident right away. Dawborn continuing his flourish stroke play blasting boundaries all over the park kept the score flowing and the required runs shrinking. With Sparks slowing down at the other end, Dawborn had to continue his dominant way. What this allowed was for Dawbs to edge closer and closer to the 3 figures…. With 5 overs to go, Dawborn needed 11 for the century and we only needed 18 to win, the directive was clear, Jim Sparks was not allowed to score anymore. He would follow instructions and block out overs and chew up deliveries. With a huge 6 in the 36th over, Dawbs sat nervously on 97 and knew it was just one clean strike from both the hundred and the victory. The sidelines are nervously seated, cameras are out as we watch and film every delivery, but Dawbs wasn’t in any rush. Just a single in the 37th over and another single in the 38th had us all on the sides falling off our seats in angst as we waited to see what would happen. As the 39th over began, we needed 4 runs, Dawbs needed 1 and he was on strike. Then the moment happened, a strong drive to mid off and a quick single brought up a special moment. Our powerful, flashy and loyal opening batsmen brought up his 2nd century for the club! A typical Dawborn innings, 9 fours and 6 SIXES! A Terrific innings and a joy to watch. He would end the innings in style, bringing up the winning runs with another boundary and walking off with an unbeaten century!

— Will Clark (1XI Captain)

SECOND XI

OLD SCOTCH 2XI 8/166 (39.3)

def. NORTH BALWYN 165 (40)

T. Fish 72, T. Hucker 23*, W. Easton 3/29, J. Stavris 2/26

A game against North Balwyn now beckoned for the 2XI, one that we were all excited for. The loss of Mitch Sennitt on game day to the bad guys was massive but we were determined to put on a good showing nonetheless. The excitement was heightened by the addition of frogbox, clearly NB heard John Stavris was in town and in a rich vein of form.

Winning the toss and bowling first, we welcomed back Tom Hucker to open the bowling, with Easton from the other end. A passive first 5 ensued, with the batting irritating Gance who politely inquired as to whether they “played any other sports”. The first breakthrough was found by Truck with an absolute seed to dismiss their opener, before self proclaimed screamer from 2s debutant Hasker off the bowling of Easton dismissed their number 3. Callaghan came into the attack and trapped the other opener leg before, much to the dismay of the NB scorer but exciting for Fish who was excited to see some “proper cricket”. John Stavris was then brought into the attack to raucous applause from the many spectators excited to see a masterclass and weren’t they treated to it, John picking up 2 wickets, one with a screamer from Easton back with the flight and then bouncing someone out just before the drinks break. A good partnership from NB after the break had some in the field stretched to breaking point, Gance particularly was upset with new batsmen constantly marking centre, “it’s still there” he said. However a wicket from Fish kept the ball rolling, and solid death sets from Easton and Hucker as well as a wicket for Callaghan kept NB to 165 all out.

With 166 to get, and an unfortunate injury to Callaghan meaning he was unable to bat, new opening combination Fish and Dethridge looked to put pressure straight back on the bowlers, the score racing to 28 before Dethridge chipped one to cover. Murph was dismissed soon after, and at 2-31 we were in a bit of trouble. Smith at 4 provided some safety for us, however it was short lived with an attempted heave over the leg side resulting in his dismissal. Gance then partnered Fish and looked in control of the run chase, particularly Fish who was striking the ball incredibly well, getting us to a controlling 3-94 at drinks. A poor shot from Gance, and a tough 11 ball duck for Schilling had NB well and truely back in the game, however Hasker attempted to wrestle back some momentum, hitting a couple of sixes including a monster doozy over cow. Fish was unfortunately dismissed for an incredibly well made 72 which brought the in-form Stavris to the crease, comfortably reassuring us that nobody else would have to bat and “not to worry about it” as he strode to the crease. Unfortunately he had his stumps rearranged for 4, which he says “should have been 6” if not for some dodgy leg byes. This brought Truck to the crease, who has an aversion to batting in the nets but looked calm at the crease. Hasker was dismissed which left us with Easton and Hucker to bring us home. With 10 to get, NB felt safe having no deep cover to Truck as there was “no way he was playing a cover drive”, which was followed by 2 crisp drives to the cover fence followed by a single to get himself back on strike for the last over. 2 dots had the punters slightly concerned, but some bat on ball and good running got us home with 3 balls to spare in a thriller, winning by just 2 wickets.

A good win considering the loss of both the number 3 and 4 on game day and a number of regular players out of the lineup. A game at the Albert now awaits us.

— Andrew Callaghan (2XI Captain)

THIRD XI

OLD SCOTCH 3XI 6/197 (40)

def. WHITEFRIARS 106 (36.3)

C. Warner 71*, M. Griffiths 70, B. McMahon 4/18, J. Fyfe 2/4

Looking to continue our win streak we journeyed out to Whitefriars for a scenic tree change. Winning the toss we elected to bat on used grassy and crumbly pitch. Griffiths and Edney got us rolling early, punishing anything wide for boundaries and working singles. Edney departed for 10 and 3rds debutant Charlie Warner entered. Warner was scratchy early going aerially narrowly missing fielders but soon found his groove and formed a valuable partnership with Griffiths to the tune of 107 runs. Griffo was dismissed for 70 in the 34th over trying to up the run rate as we had many wickets in the shed, he was followed by Bennett who went cheaply - bowled trying to access the boundary over square and fine leg. Justin Baumgarten showed his class with a handy 20 off 9 deliveries with 4 boundaries and Ferguson and Hocking were dismissed for 2 and 0 in the last over. Warner was left unbeaten on 71* from 91 deliveries after a fantastic innings especially considering the pitch conditions. At the conclusion of our innings we had scored 197 for the loss of 6 wickets with Griff and Warner playing outstanding games.

After having seen what the pitch had to offer from our batting innings we knew that there was a lot of variable bounce as well as spin and that scoring off slower bowling was difficult. Sparks who was making his club debut took the new rock and offered great pace yet struggled to find his rhythm and consistency with the lefty righty opening batsmen combo. Ben McMahon (4/18) took the ball from the opposing end and had been licking his lips waiting for the lefty to get on strike, McMahon was landing them perfectly and we knew a wicket was imminent - what we didn’t anticipate was the destruction he would cause - 2 LBWs, 2 Caught of his bowling and a run out involvement saw Ben help remove 5 of the top 6 batsmen. There was one important wicket that was left to get - the competition leading run scorer. Strong (0/27) and Baumgarten (0/21) had an off day and were getting punished by said batsmen so we decided spin to win was the way to go with Hocking (2/10) and Mcleish (1/16) with ball in hand. Hocking was bowling phenomenally, landing everything in good spots challenging the batsmen's defence and got a beautiful wicket bowled and a stumping courtesy of tidy glovework from Ferguson. Mcleish got the big wicket of the league leading runscorer and Fyfey was on clean up duty - struggling with his run up he muttered “oh shit,” as he reached the popping crease realising he had butchered his run up yet still elected to bowl the delivery rather than start again. Fyfe (2/4) took a great caught and bowled to end the game.

Whitefriars had been bowled out for 106 taking us to 2nd on the ladder with a game in hand. With our rescheduled game to be played Saturday of the Australia Day long weekend we have a big opportunity to go to the top of the table if we can defeat MCC

— Nic Bennett (3XI Captain)

FOURTH XI

OLD SCOTCH 4XI 9/153 (38.5)

def. OLD CAREY 9/149 (40)

N. Bruce 27 & 1/5, D. Jhajj 26*, G. Strong 4/17 & 22*, W. Bracegirdle 1/8, T. Lindholm 1/9

Riding high after two straight wins, the boys came into this week full of confidence and keen to continue the momentum against Carey. We won the toss and elected to bowl first, a decision largely influenced by the rising heat - and one that paid off immediately.

Tom Lindholm (1/9) and Charlie Smith (0/15) set the tone early with a tight opening spell, which was only built upon by George Strong (4/17), who tore through the top order and very nearly found himself on a hat-trick. Deep Jhajj (0/8) backed things up superbly, and before long Carey were 4/37 and looking very shaky. With 11 bowlers at our disposal, short, sharp spells were the key to beating the heat. Will Bracegirdle (1/8) - fast becoming a regular wicket-taker - struck next to have Carey 5/61, bowling well in tandem with Jack Ross (0/17) and Bailey Balot (0/17). Hector Wild (0/7) added some serious pace that we’ve been missing in recent weeks, and when a breakthrough was needed it was Eddie Shearer (1/14) who delivered, making it 6/106. From there, the innings was wrapped up nicely by James Fish (1/15) and Nick Bruce (1/5) as Carey were restricted to 9/149, a strong all-round bowling effort.

Chasing 150, we sent in our big-hitting opening pair to get things moving. Nick Bruce (27) did just that, launching three sixes - including a massive 95-metre straight drive - while Jack Ross (8) rotated the strike well to keep the scoreboard ticking. What followed were season-best contributions from the middle order. James Fish (13) continued to trademark his cover drive, looking more and more like Michael Clarke each week. Eddie Shearer (22) carried on his rich vein of form, and Josh Richards (16) struck the ball cleanly over the infield, collecting three boundaries. At 5/95 in the 21st over, we looked well in control.

Then, in true 4th XI fashion, chaos struck. Four wickets fell for just 10 runs, and suddenly we were 9/105 in the 26th over, staring down the barrel of an unlikely defeat.

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Deep Jhajj and George Strong dug in with remarkable composure, taking no unnecessary risks, running hard, and picking the gaps beautifully. The pair put together an unforgettable 48-run last-wicket partnership, getting us over the line with just seven balls remaining - one of the great escapes and easily the most memorable win many of us will experience.

A true 4th XI classic: 11 players bowling, towering sixes, career and season-high scores, a 4-for-10 collapse, and heroic tail-end batting. Congratulations to everyone involved for being part of an absolute thriller.

We now sit just one win away from finals contention, with a huge home clash against top-of-the-table Old Camberwell coming up next week.

— Tom Lindholm (4XI Captain)

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