Sharks Lose Nail-Biters

Round 18 saw A Grade have a bye and both B and C Grade lose tight run chases.  

B Grade were at home against Slab Road and fielded first. The old warhorse Ben Harrison, in his last game for the club snared the first 2 wickets before the 3rd wicket partnership took the score to 99.  The introduction of Russell ‘Subway’ Timsar then saw the wickets tumble and the Sharks were on top at 6-130.  Timsar snared his first 5 wicket haul for the club and the game was evenly poised at 9-183 before the 10th wicket added and unbeaten 53 to take the ascendancy.

Facing a tough total of 236, Andrew Barron and Steven Morgan added 35 before Morgan fell. Barron then added 48 with Cam Pereira before the latter was out. Pereira is still denying rumours that the firing up of the barbecue lead to his downfall.  Barron was then joined by Mark Jensen and the Sharks were well placed at 2-158 before Jensen was out and he was soon joined in the pavilion by Kelvin Cooper and Ben Harrison.  Barron was  finally dismissed for a magnificent 124 – consisting of 20 4s and 3 6s. It was a fine solo hand by Barron in an innings where no other batsman passed 20. Some lusty hitting by Andrew Williams gave the Sharks a sniff but they eventually fell 9 runs short.  This is B Grades last game of the season as they have a final round bye.

The C Graders travelled down to Margate to take on the top team. They also fielded first after Margate won the toss and elected to bat.  They got off the best possible start with a wicket in the first over.  However, 2 good partnerships then saw the home team on top with the score 2-121.  Some fine batting aided by some loose bowling eventually saw Margate reach 232 off their 50 overs. Sean Wicks with 2-27 off his 10 overs was the only multiple wicket taker.

In reply, all the batsmen got starts but failed to turn them into big scores. Adam Clydesdale top scored with 34, Sam Kelly made 30, Tony Berry 27, John Smith 26 and Troy King 24.  The game looked gone at 7-170 but Tony Berry and Sean Wicks added 45 to give the C Graders some hope.  28 runs were needed off the final 4 overs but good bowling combined with good field placements saw the Sharks fall 12 runs short.  

Fenwick Murray