Day 1

The day started off overcast and humid at Landsborough with the boys all arriving keen to play. Scorchers won the toss and chose to send Wide Bay in to bat. An impressive display of bowling had Wide Bay bowled out after 45.1 overs.

Gayle, along with the help of some of the parents, put on a great lunch with tables all set up for the players to all sit down and eat. Thank you Gayle! We appreciate the hard work you put into these carnivals.

The boys then headed back to have a compulsory “lay flat out” (which previous players that Don has coached will be well aware of). There was a bit of giggling going on before the opening batsmen got padded up and faced some throw downs.

The batters then steadily put on the runs, each one playing their role in the team until they reached their target to win.

Thank you to all the parents for helping out with setting up, helping where required, scoring, canteen and packing up. It is so good to see what a great team we have!

Day 2

What a hot and humid day! The boys arrived early at Glasshouse for their game against Bears Gold. The toss was won by our team and we chose to bat. After a slow start, the runs started to build to a defendable position of 150 after 50 overs.

The Glasshouse Cricket Club did a wonderful job of feeding so many players within a short period of time. It was such a welcome relief to sit in air conditioning whilst we all ate lunch. 

The boys were a bit excited this time about having a lay down before we went in to field. Such a funny site to see them all laying down quietly before Don got them all back up for warm up drills.

The Bears quickly put on the runs before some bowling changes slowed them down a little. Unfortunately, our fielding was not up to its usual standard with numerous catching opportunities missed. The Bears reached their target to win by the 31st over.

Thank you to Glasshouse for hosting us and all the parents in our team for helping out today.

Day 3

Most of the team arrived early, ready to have a look at the wicket at Nambour Field 2 for our game against Brisbane North Maroon.

We won the toss and chose to bat. Runs started out slow and then built faster throughout the morning. We set a run score of 134 for Brisbane to chase down.

Nambour put on a great lunch and then the boys went and had a lay down in the shade of the trees. After that it was straight into warm up.

The boys bowled a lot better than yesterday with Brisbane taking some time to get momentum. The boys created a lot of chances, but unfortunately our fielding let us down with numerous dropped catches. Brisbane reached their target to win on 40.1 overs. 

The boys are enjoying having Don coaching and guiding through the carnival with his extensive knowledge of cricket.

Day 4

We all arrived at Landsborough well aware that this was going to be the most challenging day of the week against MSW. Don started the day discussing fielding from the previous day and encouraged them all.

The toss was won by MSW and they chose to bat. Our whole team came together and supported each other in the field and our bowling was fantastic. At end of 50 overs, MSW was 7/234, leaving us the highest run score of the carnival to chase down.

A few of the parents from our team helped out Gayle by preparing lunches for the players and coaching staff. We also had parents assisting with square leg umpire during our innings. Thank you to everyone who stepped up and helped out. We appreciate it!

After lunch we went in to bat. The bowling from MSW was outstanding and wickets started to fall fast. We were bowled out after 35.4 overs. 

We are so proud of the effort that the boys put in today. They dug deep and tried their best, but the calibre of bowling from MSW was just too good.

Day 5

Finals Day! The boys were excited and ready for a well matched game against Gold Coast. They arrived early at Glasshouse for a wicket and field inspection. Don quickly got them organised and warming up. We lost the toss and Gold Coast chose to bat.

Bowling and fielding was really good today getting the initial fast run rate down after 9 overs. All of the boys worked well as a team and really supported each other and it was so enjoyable for all the parents to watch. Gold Coast were 6/185 after 40 overs.

Glasshouse Cricket Club volunteers had their work cut out for them today feeding 6 teams all at once, but the appeared to handle it with ease. Thank you to everyone at Glasshouse for helping and putting on such a fantastic lunch. We appreciate the hard work and effort that this takes.

After lunch we got straight into getting our batsmen warmed up before we started again. The boys batted really well, all doing their part to steadily build the runs. The end of the match was extremely exciting as the boys tried to reach their target, but unfortunately we were only able to get to 10/178, just eight runs off winning. Such a huge effort and we are so proud of all the boys. 

Overall, the boys really enjoyed the week and learnt a lot from Don Bambling. He is truly a legend and we were very fortunate that he coached the boys and passed on some of his extensive cricket knowledge. 

Thank you to each of the host clubs for looking after all of us. 

I would also like to thank our teams parents. They were fantastic is helping setup each day, filling up our water bottles and container with ice and water, canteen/lunch help at Landsborough, scoring, square leg umpire and packing up. This certainly made it easier with everyone pitching in. 

I wish everyone well in their club cricket for the remainder of the season and hope to see you all back next year.