CH: Season 8 Grand Final Review

Fungus · Sep 16, 2009

CricSim Herald

Another season, another choke as the 'Rays takes out the BS Final.
By DG Speirs

So another Bannerman Shield season has come to a close, and for the first time in a couple of seasons, the grand final itself was a little underwhelming given previous results. Obviously it would be hard to top the excitement of the 1-wicket and 2 run margins of the previous two grand finals, but the absolute blow-out that we saw was completely unexpected, particularly when the victor was unquestionably the underdog of the two sides.

On the batting side of things, at least one of Vago, Downpipes, Gemmell or Davis were bound to fire in this match, and when both Vago and Downpipes did so for the Stingrays, and both Gemmell and.Davis were relatively quiet for the opposition, the Cyclones were fighting an uphill battle. With the platform already set and the knowledge that the match was timeless, the likes of Hornby and even Fung were able to come out to the pitch in a relaxed mindset, and managed to capitalise on the tired and pressured Cyclones bowlers. On the other hand, Masters and Gonzalez were on the back foot from the outset of their innings, coming out to face a bowling attack that was brimming with confidence and intent.

The key difference though was the quality of proven fast bowlers, ones who have shown in the past that they can handle the added pressure of finals matches. The similarities between the two attacks are quite evident, both sides have an experienced quick bowler (Man and Green), ably supported by two of the highest quality all-rounders (Tyson and Johns), along with two relatively new faces (Farnsworth and Laing), and just to cap things off you have the best two spinners in the game (Wilson and King). Dig a little deeper though and you can see the difference in class at the highest level between some of these players, particularly the opening bowlers.

For the Stingrays, the obvious leaders of the attack are Man and Tyson, and both were on their game in the final. Between them in their first bowling innings the two removed the top 4 batsmen for under a hundred runs, which will go a long way towards winning any final. These two now average a brilliant figure of just over 23 in finals fixtures, with Tysonâ€™s 23.16 just shading Manâ€™s 23.22, although the latter has 32 wickets compared to Tysonâ€™s 19. Comparatively, for the Cyclones openers of Green and Johns, the figures arenâ€™t so bright. In fact for Johns they are downright awful, with a paltry 5 wickets coming at an average of 81.6. Greenâ€™s stats are a more respectable 19 at 34.26, but that is obviously nowhere near the figures of Tyson and Man, and given the relative equality of the support bowlers, in hindsight this was always going to come back and bite the Cyclones hard.

In his victory speech, Stingrays president and captain Ged King opened with a glowing review of his star opening batsman, "Vago's performance cannot be under-stated. He kept us in the game with his 80 in the first innings and took it completely away from the Cyclones in the second innings." King also took time to empathise with the Cyclones, and also take a small look at the difficulties he could face next season. "It's tough for the Cyclones to come to the final two seasons in a row and lose. Having said that, the amount of effort it took us to put this team together cannot be under-stated and we deserve this title as much as anyone. It'll be tough for us next season with Tyson, C Man and possibly Downpipes departing, but I'm confident in our developing players to fill the void along with our new recruits. That's for next season though. Right now we need to just concentrate on what we've achieved."

Also interviewed after the match was Cyclones batsman BJ Gemmell, who managed to take aim at his bowlers, along with indulging his own self-importance and taking a parting shot at his soon to be former club, all in three short sentences. â€œOur bowlers got shown up, and once again the Cyclones showed what they really are. And that is nothing when I don't dominate. I'm not looking forward to seeing the Cyclones come last without me.â€ Could these words fuel a new feud between the Gamblers and the Cyclones next season, or will Wilson and King continue to battle it out? Either way the new season is sure to be as eagerly anticipated as ever.
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Speirz · Sep 16, 2009

Came in here expecting to read a new article.

Instead it's mine, ****.

Fungus · Sep 16, 2009

Speirz said: ↑

Came in here expecting to read a new article.

Instead it's mine, ****.
Click to expand...

LOL. You should've known from the title...

Speirz · Sep 16, 2009

Fungus said: ↑

LOL. You should've known from the title...
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Forgot that I wrote it itbt.

MASTERS · Sep 16, 2009

HOPEFULLY, next season we are on the winning side

Colesy · Sep 16, 2009

Lacks talk of BL Hornby

Freddy · Sep 16, 2009

Colesy said: ↑

Lacks talk of BL Hornby
Click to expand...

BL....

Colesy · Sep 16, 2009

HIGHlarious.

Boobidy · Sep 16, 2009

Good read.

Ged · Sep 16, 2009

Boobidy said: ↑

Good read.
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Jimmeh.

Boobidy · Sep 16, 2009

We got em both...

BigDougy · Sep 16, 2009

Nice write up. Hopefully we will have the same writeup again next season.

Farny · Sep 20, 2009

"The obvious leaders of the attack are Man and Tyson"? Suck a cock <_<.

Spinksy · Sep 20, 2009

Nice write up...

stupersteve03 · Sep 20, 2009

Well written, great subject.

Shri · Sep 20, 2009

Farny said: ↑

"The obvious leaders of the attack are Man and Tyson"? Suck a cock <_<.
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Looks like the holiday didn`t go well.

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CH: Season 8 Grand Final Review

Fungus K Fung

Speirz DG Speirs

Fungus K Fung

Speirz DG Speirs

MASTERS S Masters

Colesy BL Hornby

Freddy MJ Johns

Colesy BL Hornby

Boobidy BJ Gemmell

Ged GEC King

Boobidy BJ Gemmell

BigDougy DG Dafter

Farny AP Farnsworth

Spinksy N Spinks

stupersteve03 SJ Cambridge

Shri G Shriram

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CH: Season 8 Grand Final Review

Fungus K Fung

Speirz DG Speirs

Fungus K Fung

Speirz DG Speirs

MASTERS S Masters

Colesy BL Hornby

Freddy MJ Johns

Colesy BL Hornby

Boobidy BJ Gemmell

Ged GEC King

Boobidy BJ Gemmell

BigDougy DG Dafter

Farny AP Farnsworth

Spinksy N Spinks

stupersteve03 SJ Cambridge

Shri G Shriram

Share This Page

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