SA Churches and Community Cricket Association 2010/11

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When Superbad was given out LBW, Goatboy gave him a loud, profanity-laden send-off, which prompted the umpires to step in an issue a warning to both bowler and captain. Four years prior in the 2006 Adelaide Championships, Goatboy was suspended for 1 match for abusing an umpire and given a 2 match suspended sentence for the 2008 Championships in Melbourne.. Somehow he managed to keep his trap shut in Melbourne, but due to NSW A winning all 5 matches, he probably had no reason to bitch & moan. Unfortunately for him, several highly-audible obscenities flowed from his over-sized gob during the remainder of our innings and the umpires were right onto him.

Apart from Cuzzy's great innings, probably the highlight of our disastrous effort with the bat was a Staffy making his way out into the middle..

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Much to our amusement, Goatboy decided he was gonna play dog-wrangler. It was Goat vs Dog, and it was a no contest.. Dog 1, Goatboy 0.

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Tarcs came out and looked great, but was run out as Cuz tried to pinch the strike off the last ball of an over.

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Cuz bringing up his 50. A rare highlight on a pretty dark day..

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Day 5 dawned and it was the much-awaited clash with Queensland. Ever since my involvement with ACCA National Championships, the South Aussies and Banana Benders have got along famously well, and socialise together often during the week of competition. This Carnival was no different and it was great to catch up with them all.

The day kicked off with the news that Goatboy had been suspended for 3 Carnival matches - 1 match for every Code of Conduct charge he was reported for. Apparently he let rip with another barrage of obscenities at whoever was in the vicinity from the 4 other States and duly announced that he wouldn't be attending any further Carnivals. It will be a great loss to 'Championship cricket...

Here's Hoddo in an all-too-familiar pose against Qld, smacking the first ball to the fence.

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With Superbad resting, Smithy joined Hoddo in the opening spot, but Smithy could only manage 13 before an off-cutter jagged back a long way to rip his off stump out. Cougar MacDonald was back on his feet after some rest and getting wasted with some anti-inflammatories & hardcore pain relief, and slotted into the #3 spot. Hoddo departed for 34, caught at cover after a lazy drive, which brought The Borgasm to the crease, getting his chance to bat in the top order at #4.

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I really thought it was gonna be Cougar's day, as he was hitting the ball really well, and with a quick outfield, the scene was set. Unfortunately he played over a full ball, first ball from the Qld left-arm orthodox spinner Spiers, dragged his back foot slightly and was out stumped.

Here's Cougs earlier in his innings hitting a cracking straight drive for 4.

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Harry came & went pretty quickly, and Cuz came to the crease in his 28th & last Carnival match after 6 National Championships. In a great show of respect & sportmanship, the Qld skipper, Liam Exelby & the entire Queensland team made a point of welcoming him to the crease and wishing him luck. Unfortunately Cuz tickled one behind after just 3 balls and was out for a globe.

To the crease strode our skipper, Dutchy.. Unbeknowns to him, we had stitched him up in consultation with the Queensland boys. Dutchy had racked up scores of 0,0, 2no & 0 in his first 4 innings, so Liam set a 9 man slips cordon to give him a chance to get off the mark.

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It was funny stuff indeed, and Dutchy obliged by smacking the first ball he faced through a bare mid-wicket area to the fence, duly tripling his 2010 Carnival aggregate in the process..

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Tarcs came to the crease and he & Dutchy started to take control, hitting a few fours and looked like building a partnership. Unfortunately, both hit pull shots in the air and were well caught by the Queensland fieldsmen - with Dutchy's dismissal a freakish, left-handed pluck at mid-wicket.

Here's Dutchy being consoled by a Qld player, standing at the crease in shock at what had just transpired..

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Seing as we were not in the hunt to win the title, Day Five was a bit about making sure everyone got a go. So after several pleading text messages from Automaticwicky during the week, we let the Pidge have a bat.

We were hoping he wasn't going to be required, but our paltry effort with the bat ensured he had to kit up and face the music.

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After a comical two ball duck, we were dismissed for a crappy 117..

Pidge took the new ball for the first time during the week, partnering Gulls, who'd taken 9 wickets up until that point, but had bowled beautifully without luck. Unfortunately I was off at a meeting discussing the composition of the All-Australian side at the time, but Pidgey hit the pegs to register his first Carnival pole.

Here he is busting his gut for his side.

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With a few broken-down players at this stage of the week, OB (aka grave digger) kitted up and took the field with the lads, sparking a massive Qld collapse at the hands of Harry (5/38) and Dutchy (2-for).. It's fair to say OB loved every minute of it and was chomping at the bit all week to get out there.

Here he is giving the crowd a wave.

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Harry, in the middle of a fantastic spell of medium pace bowling.

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The boys celebrating Harry's 4th wicket.

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Harry celebrates his 'Michelle' by breaking a stump.

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Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get us over the line, with Queensland getting home with 2 wickets to spare..

In 2002/03 we inaugurated the May McCahon Trophy, which the two sides play for each Carnival, in memory of the great Lyn May (SA) and Brian McCahon (Qld). The tally now stands at 3-2, SA's way. Here is my great mate & legendary Queensland coach Lenny Martin and myself posing with the May McCahon Trophy before the presentation ceremony.

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At the end of the tournament, Western Suburbs took out the 2010 ACCA National Championships and were awarded the AE Lowe Trophy for the first time ever under the guise of Western Suburbs Churches Cricket Union - their previous win was under the name of 'Footscray & Districts' way back in 1954/55.

The Player of the Championships was awarded to Fawad Ahmed, who also jointly shared the bowling aggregate award with Abhideep Toor from NSW B with 18 wickets. Gagandeep (no comments please.. ) Dhillon from NSW B received the batting aggregate trophy with 285 runs, including two breath-taking knocks of 125 & 92. Our very own Jon Smith came 2nd in the batting with 195 runs.

Every National Championships there is an All-Australian side named at the end of the tournament, and at the end of our selection meeting between all 6 team representatives, the following team was named ;

Chris Lloyd (NSW A) - Captain
Jonathan Smith (SA) - Vice-Captain
Muhammad Saeed (WS)
Gagandeep Dhillon (NSW B)
Navdeep Singh (WS)
Daniel Spiers (Qld)
Richard Catlin (WS) - W/k
Fawad Ahmed (WS)
Stephen Derkson (Qld)
Inderjeet Singh (NSW A)
Andrew Clarkson (Southern District)
Abhideep Toor (NSW B)

Here's Smithy with his truly-deserved green baggy cap, having it presented to him by the incomparable Lenny Martin.

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And here's Smithy with the 2008 Player of The Championships, Jeff 'Stinky' Spalding from Queensland.

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The 2010 ACCA All-Australian Team.