Margaret River Hawks hit season opener | Photos

Missing several regular A grade players in Chris McLean and Brad Kelly, and Sri Lankan import Rumesh Silva, the Hawks were undermanned going into the match.

This didn’t dampen any enthusiasm with the club’s resurgence in full swing – club debutantes Shane Joyce and Paul Farmer adding some excitement to the top team. 

New skipper Paul Tognolini lost the toss and the Hawks were in the field first.

Hawk veteran Michael Earl and Grant Garstone opened the bowling and it was Garstone showing the way. 7 overs, none for 19 runs showed he is well suited against the best in the competition.

However it was Farmer taking the first wicket, dismissing Aaron Mott for 15.

Kade Dittmar, at only 14 years of age and after captaining his under 15’s team to victory earlier in the day, only went for 14 from his allotted 4 overs.

However it was soon to be the Matty Kent show.

Kent was back to his best and with nearly career best figures, taking 6 for 25 from 10 overs.

Four were bowled and two caught behind the stumps in a brilliant display of fast bowling. 

The Hawks were set 202 to win and went into their innings confident.

Signs looked promising early, with Joyce, (23), playing the perfect opening batsman’s innings.

Solid early with some nice stroke play once set, however when Stewart was dismissed with the score on 35, a mini collapse occurred with the next 6 wickets falling for only 37 more runs.

Farmer was joined by Kent in the middle and these two put on a great partnership of 35 runs before Kent was dismissed for 19.

Ten runs from Peter Crimp and 23 to Farmer and Joyce were the only other scores of note for the Hawks and were dismissed for 125 runs. However it was the Matt Kent show and with 6 for 25 and 19 runs, he was surely man of the match. 

With some players due back this week, the Hawks will go into an away trip against the Saints full of confidence and excited for what the season holds.

B grade cricket kicked off on Saturday playing Dunsborough under perfect conditions for cricket. Newly elected Captain Maurice Shinnick lost the toss with the Dunsborough captain not hesitating in electing to bat. Opening bowlers Jordan Stanbury (3/39) and James Gannaway (0/27) bowled well with Stanbury attacking the stumps hard. Claiming his first wicket in the third over of the day when Benn Dillon took a good catch at short cover. In his next over he snared another with a miss timed drive edging to Sam Leigh behind the stumps, while wickets fell at one end Gannaway was bowling tight lines to restrict the runs and build pressure. 

The first bowling change came with Aiden Robins (2/32), after having to wait for his boots to be dropped off (thanks Mark!), and Hawks debutante Guy Shipley (0/14) continuing to build pressure. However the skipper had a plan and Shipley was soon replaced by Welsh import Ellie Hopkins. Proving that she can put it to the boys Ellie bowled extremely well taking 1/25. Dillon and John Motterhead got a wicket each with Mathew Cox bowling well in the middle overs without luck. As the Dunsborough batsmen started to accelerate Maurice brought the openers back on with Gannaway terrorising the batsmen with a fine spell of swing bowling. 

Firstly dropping a catch then taking one caught behind but was given not out (when the umpire thought the batsmen had hit the ground), unfortunately that is the game of cricket and sometimes these things happen. Sam Leigh ended up taking three catches with the gloves on and Stanbury and Jude Shinnick two each in the field. Dunsborough posted a good total of 8/234 which would take some chasing. 

Sam Leigh and Maurice Shinnick opened the batting putting on 34 runs with a mixture of hard hitting and deft stroke play before Leigh (10) was caught skying one to many this brought Gannaway to the crease. The right/left combination frustrated the  Dunsborough bowlers leading to some loose bowling. Both batsmen capitalised on this bowling before Gannaway was bowled for 17. This brought another Hawks debutante to the crease in the form of Matthew Cox and he wasn;t going to die wondering. A flurry of big hitting ensued, including a monster six that ended up in the lake. After just 33 balls Cox brought up his 50. Shortly after this Shinnick was dismissed for a well crafted 77 then followed quickly by Cox, Jude Shinnick and Cody Robson both fell cheaply leaving the Hawks in a precarious position of 6/173, still 62 runs in arrears.

Robins and Dillon added some resistance but ultimately the Hawks fell 22 runs shy of the required total. Some impressive performances throughout the game but as the saying goes ‘Catches win matches’ and dropping at least 6 catches was always going to cost the Hawks. With a strong week on the training track the B grade side will look to make amends next week against Yobs in Busselton.

MR 6/109 v Duns 7/89

What an awesome start to a new season. Kade (c) won the toss and decided to bowl first. Wickets where slow with none being taken in the first half. After drinks wickets started falling fast with Kade 2, Malakai 2, Sam, Angus and Anj taking them down. 

Some fantastic batting followed as they took it steady and settled down to give the Hawks a nailbiting ending. Mark was top scorer with 27, Angus 21 (taking the first 6 of the season) Bailey 16 (first time playing with any of the boys),  and Sam 14. 

Man of the match goes to the whole team, the encouragement the boys gave each other was incredible. Looking forward to seeing more of this throughout the season.

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Training with the Margaret River Hawks Cricket Club is on Thursday nights from 4.30pm at the cricket oval behind the recreation centre. All players are welcome, all abilities encouraged and all gear supplied. Call James Gannaway on 0408 899 994 for more.