Day 1
Sunshine Coast 3/257 defeated Gold Coast 204
Gold Coast won the toss and chose to bowl first. After losing two early wickets, Josh Brooke and Max Dodunski steadied the ship and went about building a large partnership. Josh batted exceptionally falling 7 runs short of a century. He scored 93 runs—his highest score. Well done. Rory Lang batted next and supported Max well, playing a controlled and confident innings finishing on 36 not out. Batting at 4, Max played a captains knock, batting with patience at the beginning of his innings, showing grit and good leadership as he worked with Josh and Rory to control the game through the middle and end overs. He finished on 101 not out—his fist century. What a way to bring it up. Well done, Max. The boys finished 3/257 off 50 overs.
We started our bowling innings with a wicket in the first—Cooper Maloney bowling the GC opener. A few overs later, Cooper created another chance and an excellent diving catch by Levi Diedricks at backward point gave us our second wicket. Gold Coast scored at a high run rate playing strokes all over the ground, but the breakthrough came via a few great overs by Krystian Hughey, who took 2 quick wickets. Levi, Max, Josh Brooke and Josh Allen put on a spin clinic in the middle overs creating chances and taking wickets consistently. Josh Brooke taking 1 wicket and Josh Allen taking 3. Gold Coast fought back with a strong partnership towards the end getting them within 50 runs of our total, but a wicket to Cooper and a excellent run out by Josh Brooke saw Gold Coast fall 53 runs short.
A great effort by the boys!
Day 2
Scorchers under 13s QJC game vs MSW
We lost the toss and MSW sent us in to bat. Aiden Broomfield and Josh Brooke got us off to a good start until an excellent run out saw Aiden Broomfield a few inches short of the crease. MSW’s spinners came on and bowled very tight. They restricted our scoring opportunities and within a blink of an eye 30 overs were over. Josh Brooke got out on 34 and Rory Lang came in to build an important partnership with Max. Max and Rory batted with intent to score and put pressure on the MSW bowlers, scorning at 6 an over for a good period of time. Rory got out on 33 runs and Max on 84, bringing Cooper Maloney and Krystian Hughey to the crease. Cooper and Krystian batted well, pushing ones and twos in the final overs to get us to a total of 7/203 off our 50 overs.
In typical Cooper Maloney fashion, Coops took a wicket in the first over of the game as the batsmen slashed at a ball outside off and smashed it to gully— Aiden Broomfield palming the ball which ended up landing in the hands of Josh Allen. The MSW opener and number 3 (who both made 100s yesterday) went about building a strong partnership, that was until Levi Diedricks came in and got the breakthrough with a critical stumping by the one and only Josiah Pearce.
MSW were 2/80 needing 123 to win off 30 overs. Enter Josh Brooke and Levi Diedricks who bowled what can only be explained as a top class spell of leg spin bowling. They bowled in a partnership putting pressure on the MSW batsmen. Runs and dried up and wickets starting falling. Levi finishing with 4/25 off 10 overs and Josh Brooke 2/18 off 10 overs. MSW went about rebuilding their innings and started to fight back. Runs started coming quickly until Aiden Broomfield chased one down and got a direct hit from the 30 metre circle and a few overs later Krystian Hughey had an incredible piece of fielding off his own bowling with a direct hit as the batters tried to steal a single. With one wicket in hand, Max gave the ball to Josh Allen and said “wrap it up for us, mate!”.
Josh bowled a slider trapping the batsmen in front… it’s all over. MSW all out for 175… Scorchers win by 28 runs. Special mention goes to William Stewart who put in an incredible effort in the field today. Not only did he field brilliantly, he had a positive attitude and raised the standards for his teammates to follow. Well done, boys
Day 3
Day 3 of the carnival saw us come against a strong and resilient Darling Downs team. We won the toss and elected to bat first. Aiden Broomfield and Josh Brooke weathered some tight fast bowling from the DD openers however shortly after drinks we found ourselves 5/70. Aiden, Max Dodunski and Rory Lang all getting a start but not able to go on with it. Lawson Pohle and Will Stewart batted well in the middle overs—Lawson making a valuable 23 off 70 balls. After a few quick wickets, Will and Cooper Maloney batted valiantly until Will got out for 16. Cooper and Levi Diedricks worked hard together to bat our 50 overs helping us to a competitive total of 9/157. Cooper finished on 38 not out.
Cooper Maloney and Krystian Hughey opened the bowling with Cooper getting a wicket early in the innings. The DD batsmen played patient cricket defending the good balls and working the ball around as the went about building a partnership. Our bowlers toiled away looking to build pressure and create chances. Oscar Rose and Rory Lang bowled well without reward. Josh Allen bowled a great spell of leg spin finishing with 2/21 off 7 overs, as did Levi Diedricks who finished with 1/20 off 7 overs. Our pressure and awareness in the field was phenomenal with direct hit run outs by Rory Lang (X2), Josh Allen, and Josiah Pearce, which kept us in the game, however, DD passed our score with 4 overs to go and finished the day 9/180.
A tough loss but something we will bounce back from. Well done, boys.
Day 4
In an exciting semi-final clash, we took on the BEARS. We bowled first and the BEARS openers started well, going at 6 runs an over in the first power play. The breakthrough came when young speedstar Oscar Rose got the opener out snicking off—his first wicket in rep cricket. Oscar bowled brilliantly, finishing on 2/15 off 5 overs. BEARS batted well, running singles and taking advantage of our, at times, loose bowling. Their captain lead with a stunning innings of 107 and helped his team to 6/271 after 50 overs. Josh Allen bowled well with no luck bowling 10 overs getting 0/47. Levi Diedricks lead the spinners taking 3/31 off 6 overs. All three wickets were fantastic stumpings by the big man, Josiah Pearce.
With a big total to chase, Aiden Broomfield went about the task the with poise and class. The BEARS breakthrough came just after drinks as Josh chipped one to point, finishing on 21. Aiden and Josiah Pearce batted well together, belting the BEARS all over the park for 7-8 overs until JP got a seed that jagged back and took the top of middle. JP finishing on 21. Captain, Max Dodunski, came to the crease and batted well, when a mix up between the wickets saw Aiden run out for 65. Aiden’s innings was nothing but class. This kid can seriously bat. Shortly after Max was stumped on 23 and Rory Lang and Lawson Pohle went about rebuilding our innings. We were 4 wickets down by drinks at the 34th over with Rory and Lawson at the crease. The boys needed 8 runs an over to win the game. Unfortunately, we lost 4/5 runs in 3 overs as BEARS produced some quality bowling and fielding efforts that saw us on the ropes. Credit goes to Will Stewart and Levi Diedricks who fought hard for a solid last wicket partnership, but unfortunately we fell short with Will getting bowled with a few overs to go. He finished on 21. Scorchers all out for 179.
Today was not our day, but we show up tomorrow and aim for our third win in five games. The boys have played incredibly well this carnival, and with one more day to go, spirits are high.
Day 5 Final Round
Under 13 QJC Sunshine Coast vs Brisbane North
We lost the toss and was sent out to field. Our opening bowlers Cooper Maloney and Rory Lang had Brisbane North in trouble early with multiple LBW appeals turned down and edges through the slips cordon until Rory got the breakthrough catching the BN openers edge—Aiden Broomfield taking an excellent catch in gully. The BN skipper and their no. 3 built a good partnership and wickets were hard to come by. Our bowlers toiled away creating chances and, unfortunately, a few dropped catches and missed run outs saw BN pile on the runs. Their skipper retired on 100 as they reached 4/250 off 40 overs. Josh Brooke the pick on the bowlers with 2/47 off 7 overs.
Brookey and Aiden went about the run chase with confidence. They blasted the BN bowlers all over the park and at drinks we were 1/70. Aiden ended up with 35 runs and Josh with 24. We lost wickets regularly in the middle order and by the second drinks break we were 7/107. We were on the ropes, big time, but a 48 run partnership from Cooper Maloney and Will Stewart gave us some hope. But we were running out of time. Coops got out for 27 and Will for 22. Josh Allen batted excellently with a few overs to go and left nothing in the tank finishing on 14 not out, while the spin king, Levi Diedricks played his role running sharply between the wickets finished on 0 not out. Scorchers finishing the game 9/172.
Although this carnival started well, we have some encouraging lessons to take from the losses we had. On day two we defeated MSW who went on to win the carnival and we shared some incredible experiences. Thank you Sunshine Coast Cricket, QJC, and the mighty Sunshine Coast Scorchers. We placed 4th and are keen to come back next year and do even better.
