Council are negotiating a settlement with the contractor who built the two new cricket pitches we had installed a couple of years ago. At this stage works to entirely replace the cracked pitches will commence in the off season and be ready for the next season.

In the mean time, be aware of the danger and where a helmut. If you feel unsafe batting in the modified layout for any reason, remove yourself from the net.

The update on the rooms redevelopment is as follows:

Council’s facility’s department are in the final stages of creating the detailed plans, from there they go out to tender. Rooms construction must commence before the end of the financial year and it is expected that the rooms will be complete by the start of October 2012.

More information will be published as we are updated on the final plans and inclusions as they are known – expect 4 weeks approx.

Congratulations to Raghava, our ‘Mr Cricket’, whose has just had a little baby girl last night. Mum and ‘Little Miss Cricket’ are both doing well.

Renowned cricket commentator, curator and coach, Ranil Abeynaike passed away at a private hospital in Colombo following a severe heart attack on 21st February.

Ranil was recruited to Seddon in 1990/91 as a player and then as Captain Coach in 1991/92 where he lead the club’s First Eleven team to a North A Premiership which lead to us playing in the VTCA Senior Division the following year.

Ranil was Sri Lanka’s first Test Captain and is regarded as a legend in his home country. It is not hard to understand why given his contribution to cricket over the years. All of the long time Seddon players and members remember him as an extreme gentleman on off the cricket field.

Abeybaike who is a well known cricket personality in Sri Lanka and around the world celebrated his 57th birthday nine days ago.

He was well recognised as an expert of the game by many cricket pundits from around the world.

Our condolences go out to the family and friends of Ranil – he will be sadly missed.

Junior news page updated.

We’ve finally got around to loading up a Junior News Specific page which will list match reports from the weekend’s events. Conditional upon being provided a report by each team manager. To find the latest news – navigate to Juniors/Junior News 2012/12 page.

1st XI vs Altona Roosters Cricket Club

Round 9 provided the 1st XI with the opportunity to take on ladder leaders, Altona Roosters. Winning the toss Seddon decided to have first use of the track and Oldham and T Grant got through the opening spell to reach 0/14. Oldham nicked one on to his pad and was duly caught for the umpire to adjudge him LBW. Weerasinghe and Stevens came and went and Seddon were in a bit of a hole at 3/35. Ferry came out and was positive from the outset and together with the captain, added 38 and all but saw the home side through to the interval. With 2 balls to go, Ferry played all over a straight ball and was out for 10. Van Kruining entered the fray after the interval but was snapped up sharply without adding and Seddon were in familiar territory at 5/73. Kriebardis joined Grant and the pair added 20 before Grant placed a full toss gently to mid wicket and was out for 54. Seddon, whilst occupying the crease were becoming increasingly frustrated with the slow outfield and decided to take some calculated risks. P Grant, Webb and Kriebardis all provided useful contributions, but when Matkovic fell in the 77th over the innings was closed at 135. The consensus was the total was about 20 short.

With 3 overs to play, the Roosters, made it to stumps with no run or loss of a wicket.

Day 2 presented a slightly quicker outfield and a dead, hard wicket. Defending a meagre total was going to require discipline and patience. Seddon started steadily enough but couldn’t make the necessary breaks and Kriebardis eventually broke through, the visitors already had 37 on the board. When P Grant dislodged the captain right on the interval, Altona were 2/61 with a further 38 overs to play. The break provided Seddon with a chance to regroup, however an untidy resumption allowed them to get away again with minimal risk. The re introduction of Markovski saw Seddon make a break. Kriebardis chipped in and combined with a run out, Altona were teetering at 5/91. A missed run out opportunity could’ve dropped the visitors in a hole that may have been too hard to climb out of, but alas it wasn’t to be. A solid partnership, combined with some wayward bowling allowed Altona to reach 134 before a couple of wickets tumbled. However, ultimately the score was passed 7 down. Seddon stuck at the task manfully and did well to take the 10 wickets for 147.

An opportunity lost and some lessons to be learnt. The batting group need to ensure they bat the 80 overs if the side has any hope of making it deep into the finals. The bowling group need to be more disciplined in their approach to line and length bowling.

Tim

2nd XI vs Altona Roosters

3rd XI

4th XI

5th XI vs a number of teams
Sundays January 8 & 15 Rounds 11 & 12: Brunswick & Flemington Colts

Bowling first against Brunswick, Chris Weitzel and Jez each took 2/21 in a score of 8/154. Jamie filled in when he came to watch and top scored with 37 not out. Despite a good start from Jez and Jasper, both with 31, we fell one short, going all out in the second last over for 153.

Bowling first again against Flemington Colts, Liam and John McLaurin each got 3/21, enabling us to have Flemington 8/114 after 36 overs. Our openers got us off to a solid start with Glenn getting 19 and Liam 35. A contribution of 30 from Laurie in the second half of the innings was insufficient to get us over the line and we once again fell victim to losing late wickets due to a slow run rate in the early and middle stages. The final score was 13 short, going all out in the last over for 101. As well as our slow run rate putting pressure on the tailenders, the difference between the two sides was the fielding. They were sharper and less sloppy, converting a couple of half chance runouts and holding their catches. We dropped a few and let through some boundaries that should have been saved.

Sundays January 22 Round 13: Doutta Stars

Neil Greelish took over as captain and immediately become the club’s most successful captain, leading the team to a resounding win over Doutta Stars. Batting first, Blair Larsen top scored with 27 in his first game with the club, getting the side to a modest total of 86. The bowlers finished the task admirably, getting Doutta out for 24 in just over 20 overs. Harsh led the way with 3/9, backed up by Kelvin 2/3 and James 2/5.

Sunday January 29 Round 14: Williamstown CYMS

Bowling first against Williamstown, their opener took to us, assisted by two difficult chances going down. After he retired with a quick 50, we got back into the game taking regular wickets and slowing the scoring rate. The best of the bowlers were James with 2/23 and Kelvin 3/39, both from 9 overs. Sandeep provided good support at the end with 3 wickets, seeing Williamstown on 9/162 after 36 overs. Our batsmen started well but lost wickets regularly and went all out in 24 overs for 76, with James Mitchell’s 38 comprising half the score.

Sunday February 5 Round 15: Flemington

Our first 4 batsmen got us off to a good start – Norm (47) and Neil (19) opened, followed by Liam (11) and Leeki (22). The rest of the team scored 10, having to stay in for the last 3 overs to avoid giving Flemington extra overs to bat. As it turned out they didn’t even need their allocated overs, getting to 3/127 before the game was called off. Leeki was the best of the bowlers with 1/21 from 6 overs, but no bowler was able to meet the required economy rate of 3.2 RPO. We were beaten by a better side, partly due to a player pulling out on the day. Almost every week we lose a player less than 24 hours before the game, which weakens the team and wastes considerable time. We need to field a much stronger team for the next 2 weeks to have a chance of making the finals.

For those members who were associated with the club in the 70′s, please note: Allan McColl past away on Wednesday. Details are limited as news has come to us second hand. We are endeavoring to add more information about Allan McColl’s cricket history at Seddon.  Anyone who has information they would like to publish should send it to seddoncc@autods.com.au