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Match

Round 3

Day

1

Date

30th October 2007

 

Andrew Baker

With the rain about late last week the tosses would be crucial on the weekend. Thankfully for us we won 3 out of 4 tosses and the toss that we did lose+ had no real bearing on Saturday’s play. It was prodigals sons Dave Wood and Matt Treloar that stole the show on Saturday scoring 80 and 73 respectively to set up a big total for 3^rd grade, and it was Charlie Leonard, 5-24, and Raoul, 4-22,  that did all the damage in 2^nd grade and Will, 33, that helped us over the line with the bat. In 4^th grade it was “Flash” Gordon Starkey who put us in a strong position, taking 4-14 in the 1^st innings, and in 1’s play was delayed but it was Matt Burton, Michael Kirwan and Ash Vella taking 2 wickets each to leave the match in the balance.

 

1^st Grade Vs South Sydney 6-221

Play was delayed for around 2 hours while Richard Chee-Quee finished his speech from the Premier’s dinner last year. Actually no, we had to wait for Alan Davidson oval to dry out. Once play got under way it was Matt Burto who did all the early damage taking the 1^st 2 wickets and also doing some damage to their opening batsman hitting him 3 times in the area we all know hurts.

 

The match ebbed and flowed with some good partnerships by the bunnies and some good bowling from us. Kirwan removed both Cheeks, bowling Michael with a nice off cutter and removing Richard with a lucky catch to Collo after package popped it up. Ash Vella got a few late ones to have the match evenly balanced. Matt took 2-34, Michael Kirwan 2-17 and Ash 2-24.

  

2^nd Grade 7-92 vs South Sydney 87

Raoul won the toss and had no hesitation in having a bowl on a damp George Parry oval. Charlie Leonard opened the bowling and took 5-24 off 11.4 overs, in conditions that must’ve reminded him of home. Raoul took 4-22 off 9 and these 2 were ably supported by Ijaz 1-19 off 10 and Slim 0-18 off 10.

 

We set about getting the points on day one and it was only really Will who got going hitting 33 before he was out chasing the win. Jamie, 16, and Tim, 13, were the only other batsmen to make double figures on a tough wicket. Barbon, 6*, hitting his 6^th zack of the season, and Charlie 2* resuming next week to try and build a big lead.

 

3^rd Grade 5-329 vs South Sydney 1-20

Burto lost the toss and we were sent in on a soft looking Marrickville oval. This was surprising considering the rabbits only had 8 players. Emmy and Guy got us off to one of the better starts in 3’s getting the score to 66 before Guy skied one and was easily caught at cover for 39. Emmy was next to go for a patient 36 LBW to the spinner with score on 106. Next it was the MT and Woody show. MT smashed the bowling to all parts hitting 12 fours in his 73. Woody was a little more unlucky having to run 72 of his 80 runs. Tony Ross continued his good early season form smashing 34 in quick time. Mitch ended up 19* and it was the skipper who set up an early declaration hitting 34* off 15 balls.

 

We had 11 overs at them and quick wickets are what we needed. We could’ve got off to the perfect start if Burto had’ve taken a catch off the 1^st ball from Pete, but it wasn’t to be. Emmy put down 2 sharp chances in the Gully we definitely ended the day on top with Burto getting a plumb LBW to leave them 1-20.

 

4^th Grade 115 vs South Sydney 67 & 2-39

Another toss won by an eagle skipper and it was a no brainer to have a bowl. By the looks of things all the bowlers got wickets with Croucher, Dewahs, Duhigg, Miller, Jewiss all getting one a piece and Starkey doing the damage with 4-14.

 

The pitch had started to flatten out once we had a bat and it was Matt Wilton that continued his good form hitting 26 and having a certain second grader blowing a top over his batting.

 

We sent them back in and it was Croucher and Duhigg who both picked up scalps to have 10 points ready and waiting to be taken.

 

 

Ask Burto

 

I was recently asked about some of the “legends” I have shared the field with over my years at Auburn. It got me thinking of some of the blokes and their shenanigans over the years & I decided to put together a Top 10 of Auburn players I have spent time with, both on & off the field. So here is the first ever “ Burto’s Legends & Lunatics”, reminiscing some of the people & things that don’t get a run in the official history books. These are in no particular order & all stories printed here are true (at least in my memory).

 

1. Chris Wilkinson (Wilko) – An absolute freak whether batting or fielding.  I met him before Auburn at Baulkham Hills Soccer Club where we played a few matches together. Wilko could have had fun at his parent’s funeral, that’s just the kind of guy he was. Had more weddings than Bake’s has had girlfriends.

 

2. Dave Tribolet – Everyone knows Tribs. I remember my very 1^st match for      Auburn in 3’s over at Bland. For some reason we were one short in the field and Trib’s had to sub field and I thought “Who the hell is this old, bald lunatic?” Now, 14 years later, I still haven’t got an answer to that question. If anyone can’t think of a name for something new they have, just call it the “Dave Tribolet………”, everything else is named after the bloke!!

 

3. Matt Benesmann – Anyone who had anything to do with Auburn Cricket in the early to mid – nineties knows this bloke, and anyone since would have heard the legendary stories. Matt introduced me to $1 drinks at Kicks nightclub, which I think coincided with our 1^st Grade side winning only about 5 games in 2 years. An absolute lunatic who unfortunately gave the game away well before his time. Classic quote – playing on Mona 2, a car screamed past and the guy yelled “Show us ya prawn”, Nathan Rugless has dropped the front of his pants and screamed something back at them. Matt goes “That’s not a prawn, it’s a lobster!”

 

4. Darren O’Brien (Gator) – My 1^st captain at Auburn. Showed me why opening bowlers shouldn’t be captain by bowling a world record number of overs that season and even batting himself above me despite scoring 150 less runs. No wonder we missed the semi’s!! Good bloke though, really couldn’t bat or catch but did get us all cheap fares on the Fairstar that season.

 

5. Mike Wood – You haven’t played competitive cricket until you’ve played with Woody. Ultra competitive and still to this day holds the club record for “Longest throw of an Auburn cricket hat”, just ahead of Ted Suchy, who has Mike covered in “Most dummy spits at Mona Park”. I remember Mike nearly being killed whilst standing in the Dave Tribolet room and Scott Abercrombie has blasted a 6 over mid wicket on Mona 1 that has skimmed off the metal roof, through the open doors and whizzed past Mike’s head.

 

6. Paul Geftakis – Gefty only played about 2 seasons with us but was an absolute nutcase, both on the field & on the circuit. Is probably still banned from Porky’s in the Cross (if it’s still there), for acts that cannot be published here. Could bowl extremely fast (I remember a 24’s match against Baulkham Hills where hit the batsman in the head before the guy had even lifted his bat off the ground) and could hit a ball a mile. Disappeared and was never heard of again in the mid to late nineties.

 

7. Brendan Tarlinton (Tubsy, Tarlo) – An all round top bloke. Was one of the first to fall from grace due to family commitments, but I’ll never forget going to his place for BBQ’s & parties at Plumpton when the piggery was still there, smelt awesome in summer!!! Top cricketer who seemed to suffer the Auburn curse of making 20 or 30 then getting out LBW every week.

 

8. Warren Pepper (Cec) – Cec gets a run here just because he was the out & out craziest person I have ever stepped onto a field with. A classic Cec moment was at Epping Oval when it was probably 38 degrees or so and Cec tore strips off an umpire (or Fat Penguin “C” as I think he put it), then apologised as the “sun was too hot and was frying his brain down at fine leg.” I think he still got a few weeks “holiday”.

 

9. & 10. The Mitchells – Glenn (Dribbles) & Mark (Slobber), most guys would know at least one of these guys. Glenn was mild mannered, deadly with the ball but hopeless with the bat. Mark was one of the loosest individuals I have known but could play the game as good as anyone at the club. 2 more guys who fell victims to Kicks $1 drinks. I remember a Wednesday night when we ended up at Westmead Hospital emergency room getting Glenn stitched up above & below the eye after being king hit in a fight that Mark may (or may not) have started, and getting a call from Mike Wood the next day asking why there was 5 guys in Auburn shirts at Westmead Hospital at 4:30am, you just can’t get away with anything!!!

 

If anyone has any stories from the past they’d like to share, or a Top 5 or 10, email them through to myself or Bakes and we’ll publish them for the laugh, or just to remember some of the good times and people from over the years at Auburn.

 

Burto

 

PLAYER PROFILE

This week’s player profile is our resident Librarian and opening bat Michael Kirwan

Thoughts about Auburn so far? Eccentric and passionate
Why did you choose Auburn? Due to the above
Favourite Auburn player? and why? JA- epitomises the above
Any changes to ned's arvo tea? A lamington does go well with a curried egg sandwich
Word Association
Matt Burton- Tall
Cam Watson- Intense
Libraries- Tranquil
The dewy-decimal system- Operative
Winning- Fun
Losing- F#%*ed
Michael Stevens- English

Most annoying teammate? I love them all
What did you want to be when you grew up? Really good at something
Theme song for your life? 'A Little Less Conversation' Elvis
One rule in cricket you would change? Get rid of leg-byes
Sexiest team mate? The Package
Who do you refuse to shower with? Anyone who isn't nude
Who would you turn gay for? I’m not Fussy

Down to your last 10 bucks how would you spend it? On my wife 

 

CAPTION COMPETITION

A new feature this week will be a caption competition. Try to keep it clean send all responses to either andrewbaker@auburncricket.com or Daniel.burton@mercer.com.au