Wednesday Div 1 (2005)

The Sultans got off to a flyer in their first game for season 05, under the new leadership of Dan Howes. Long time buddies the Chugs went in to bat first and were contained to -9. The Sultans went on to record their first website scorecard of 2005, posting 63 and taking all four skins. You can view the scorecard here. Interestingly, the Sultans also delivered a website scorecard in game one of 2004, posting the exact same score of 63, dismissing the King Browns for -26.

Round two of season 2005 saw the Sultans continue their form of the first game, exhibiting a solid all round performance. Posting 121 batting first, the Ball Terrors were knocked out for -51 with the Sultans making the most of opportunities in the field. Get the scorecard here.

A game against relatively unkown quantity "The Twist Tops" saw the Sultans almost come undone. Off to a good start batting first, late wickets saw the Sultans post a respectable 90. The Twist Tops came out swinging and almost managed to get over the line with a late charge. The Twist Tops required three from the final ball of the match, but only managed to bunt the ball straight down the pitch, and were run out attempting to run out the required runs. Struth that's a bit of a tongue twister.

Another close one, this time against old enemy The Generals. The Generals batted first and struggled at times, managing to post a target of 42 for the Sultans. Chasing down 42 against quality opposition was never going to be easy, and the going was tough early on. The Generals kept the first three pairs to low scores, with the final pair requiring 17 for victory. Some spectacular batting from final pair Greg Gillam and Young Start Matt Deighton saw the Sultans get over the line by 8 runs, maintaining the Sultans unbeaten record in 2005.

Leppers rocked up to play some cricket and got off to a great start with their first pair posting 40. We did well to fight back, a sensational over by skipper Howesy, including a Hat-Trick, providing the necessary inspiration. We let our guard down again in the final pair, allowing them to post 76, a few more than we would have liked to chase down. Fortunately our batting was on song with all four pairs contributing to the final score of 120, seeing us comfortably over the line.

Our second meeting against Ball Terrors for 2005 was off to a great start, some sharp fielding in the final pair ensuring we only had to chase a small target of 12. Sultans first pair went out with all guns firing, scoring a sensational 52 despite some ugly "incidents". The remaining pairs all contributed, sending the Sultans to a total of 142 and our 6th win on the trot.

Not our best performance in the field, we let the Generals get away from us early. We did well to contain their final two pairs, but in the end we were chasing just a few too many. Fortunately we managed to sneak 3 skins out of the game, taking some sting out of the loss.

A return to winning form with a victory over the King Browns. We batted fairly well for a total of 106. We didn't field or bowl to the best of our ability, but to the King Browns credit they put the bad balls away and really took it to us with some big hitting in the third pair. With the final pair requiring 27 for victory we rallied, a few wickets lead to a few more and we kept their final pair in the negative. A good result leading into next weeks game against 2004 runners up the Van Wilders.

Our batting really let us down in what we expected to be the toughest game of the season so far. A low score of 36 was always going to be tough to defend, but we gave it a real crack. Some inspirational work with the ball by Howesy and Gilly kept us in the game, and the scores were tied at the end of the VW's third pair. Unfortunately we were unable to continue the fall of wickets and VW's got over us by 25 runs in our first encounter of the season.

Batting first, we struggled with the bat, giving away too many easy wickets and only managing to post a total of 51. Whilst not a huge score, it was at least defendable. Twist Tops got off to a good start, and after the first pair we knew we would have to turn it on if we were to be a chance. We managed to do just that, keeping the middle two pairs in the red. Three wickets in quick succession to end the 12th over put us in the box seat with their final pair requiring 32 runs to seal the deal. We must have felt like we had done enough, because we sat back while their final pair went beserk, allowing them to defend the last two balls of the game for a relatively comfortable victory.

After going down two games in a row, we burst back onto the scene in style with an emphatic win over the Leppers. A slow start was worrying early, but the following three pairs saw us to a decent total of 88. It was one of those nights in the field where everything just went right - with everything hitting the stumps. A wicket off the final ball ensured a website scorecard.

Sweet Revenge. Playing with seven men this game was always going to be a tough one, against our favourite opposition. The pre-match confusion as to who was batting first seemed to put the VW's off their game plan, as all but the first pair struggled for runs. Our bowling and fielding were both on song as we took plenty of wickets to ensure we only had to chase a low score of 30. A consistent batting effort saw all pairs contribute to the score, as we reeled in the runs and went on to win with a comfortable 75.

Batting first, Sultans made a respectable 102. The first two Middie's pairs batted very well to secure two skins and a sniff at the halfway mark. Thankfully we turned it on in the third to ensure we won at least one skin for the game. Good to win, yet dissapointing to give away three skins.

Vinny and Jas batted first, and got us off to a flyer, a couple of sevens in their fourth over lifting them to a score of 28. Dan and Deights moved the total to 50, with the subsequent pairs poking it around for a handful. 65 was a touch and go score to defend against quality opposition, so we had to make sure we were on our game. It was starting to get a little worrying when Dan and Deights (again!) bowled consecutive negative overs to help us keep their third pair to -10. Some early wickets in the final pair gave us a sniff at a website scorecard, and a wicket off the final ball saw the Twist Tops finish on -1. Highlight of the match was Browny #2's massive over, forever etched in Sultans history along with the fourth website scorecard for season 2005.

The Leppers batted quite well for their 85, hardly giving us an opportunity in the field. There weren't many chances for run-outs and we were unable to contain their third pair who managed to pick the gaps extremely well. Our batting was up to the task, and with our opening pair making half their score, the result was never in doubt.

Another memorable (forgettable?) game against our old foe. A full strength Generals caught an undermanned Sultans outfit off-guard and jumped us early with a 48 run opening pair. We fought back gallantly, but the Generals managed to post a significant total of 107. We never really looked likely until an unlikely cameo from prize recruit Deights including two sevens batting in the final pair got us within two runs, with one ball remaining. Lady luck wasn't on our side, the bat couldn't find the ball, and the resulting stumping saw us go down by 6 runs.

With a week off to contemplate what could have been against the Generals, we expected to come out swinging and get back on track against the King Browns. A disastrous second skin and some quality fielding by the opposition saw us enter the field to defend a tiny total of 37. We turned it on in the field, winning the first three skins and feeling confident we could defend the 17 required by the final pair. The 13th over went for nought, leaving the King Browns needing 17 off three overs. Not one more wicket was to fall, as their fourth pair belted us all over the park to win a free drink, the skin, and the game.

Generals again. The perfect opportunity for revenge from our heartbreaking 6 run loss just a few weeks ago. Preventing them from cracking triple figures by restricting their last pair to zero kept us in the game. A negative opening partnership made a Sultans victory unlikely, and we never really looked likely after that.

Tonight we welcomed back Scotty and jumped back into the winners circle with style. We batted well with the middle pairs providing the bulk of the runs in our competitive total of 82. Our fielding efforts got off to a spectacular start as the first two overs went for a combined total of around 40 runs. With Scotty leading from the front though it was always going to be an unlikely victory for the Van Wilders, as we turned it right on in the field to keep the first pairs score to 40. We then proceeded to win the remaining three skins, as the Van Wilders score hovered around 40 for the rest of the match.

Once again we took our time to switch on in the field, allowing King Browns first pair a fairly comfortable 33. We subsequently buckled down and got our game on, doing most things right to ensure we only had to chase a moderate total of 52. Particularly pleasing was our bowling effort to their players known to go the tonk against us (think back to game 21), a reminder to us of what we are capable of when playing to our potential. Sultans first two pairs batted positively, and a 10 run penalty for an undisiplined act by the fielding side saw us chasing a reduced total of 42. Our remaining two pairs didn't punish the opposition, but did enough to see us over the line by 12 runs.

The Leppers have surprised us a few times with their batting this season, so we knew we had to get on top early if we were to keep them to a low score. Scotty got us going VERY early, taking 4 wickets including 2 clean bowled in the first over of the match. This set a precedent for bowling and we turned in possibly our best bowling performance of the season, with the stumps being knocked over multiple times throughout the innings. With the bowlers on the mark, the going was fairly easy for our fielders who siezed almost every opportunity to hold the Leppers to a total of just 19. Scott and Chenz got us flying early with the bat, with Jas and Deights following in similar fashion. Our final two pairs also contributed nicely to see us home by 99 runs.

The prelim to the semi! The last week of the home and away season saw the Sultans taking on the Generals just one week before they were scheduled to play in the first semi final. The old fellas batted well and got away from us as we struggled to maintain line and length. We then capitulated with the bat to hand the Generals a 90 run win and a massive confidence boost entering the finals.

What a way to bounce back. Just one week after being embarrassed, last night the boot was well and truly on the other foot. With the bowling johnny-on-the-spot, wickets came thick and fast, and we took 21 wickets for the innings to keep the Generals to just 7 runs off their 16 overs. Chasing down 7 runs was never going to be hard, that is, until our third pair coughed up a handful of wickets to give Generals a faint sniff. Despite this slight hiccup, we cruised on to win by 70 runs and earn a 6th consecutive grand final appearance.

In the other semi, Van Wilders made short work of King Browns before knocking the Generals out of the finals race in the preliminary final, earning themselves a spot in Sundays grand final. For the second year running, the grand final will be contested by the Sultans and Van Wilders.