After one postponement and one cancellation, Gunnislake’s return to Division 5 East finally got underway with a trip to Holsworthy. After a lot of overnight rain the dreaded cancellation hovered over our heads. But great work from the home team got the wicket to a place where play could be considered. Water was still rising up through the ground at 1pm and the decision was made to go for a 2pm 32 overs a side start.
With two late dropouts we found ourselves down to 9, but gladly took youngster Gavin Cockrell from the home team and the 11 was finally secured with Sammie Dawe agreeing to play and in doing so becoming the first lady to ever play in a competitive match for the club. Holsworthy won the toss and Gunnislake were asked to bat first.
Out strolled Mr Invincible from last season, AKA Adam Emmerson, and new opening partner Simon Beare. Adam took a quick single, bringing Simon on strike, alas on his first ball he got a ball that stuck in the wicket and hit it straight to the fielder in the covers. So it was 1 for 1 after one over. Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah was around slightly longer but the recovery really began when Kevin Beare entered the fray and batted sensibly in support of Adam and they managed to move the score along to 70 in the next 10 overs before Kevin got one that frankly never bounced and he was on his way back bowled for 11. Such are the joys of soft damp early season pitches! Sadly, drinks affected Adam’s concentration as the first ball after them he softly chipped the ball to mid-off but not before an excellent 60. (To Adam, batting is like riding a bike, once you know you never forget)
What came next were one of the many reasons we won this game. At the wicket were Jake Beare and Lee Roberts and between them they took control of the batting and added 42 runs in the next 6 overs. Jake was making the most of despatching balls aimed down the leg side and got a very nice 16 off 23, showing his father how it should e done and Lee managed an excellent 27 off 32 including 2 fours and a six. So in the end off our 32 overs and being put into bat on a shall we say dampish wicket we amassed a very credible 156 for 8.
After the tea break Holsworthy’s openers Lyndon and Tai traversed the outfield to the square to face the new opening bowling combination of Lee Roberts and Simon Beare, who bowled their 8 overs straight through with great success. At halfway Holsworthy were 51 for 6, (Beare 2-27, Roberts 4-24), ably assisted by five catches. The required run rate was increasing and the only thorn in the side was Lyndon Piper who was batting beautifully and had got himself to 35. Victory for Gunnislake seemed a certainty, but Pipe was having none of it. Eighth wicket down he was joined by Adam Lovejoy at the wicket, and they proceeded to make hay adding a 50 partnership in the next 8 overs with Lyndon picking up his scoring rate rather handsomely. But the support was not quite there and when the last man was run out Piper was left stranded on 91 not out with Holsworthy 24 runs short.
Gunnislake had a first victory under their belt as we look to consolidate and push on in the higher division.
Gunnislake 156 – 8 (Emmerson 60, Holsworthy 132 all out (L Piper 91no, L Roberts 4-24,) Gunnislake (18 points) beat Holsworthy (points) by 24 runs.