Churchill v Monash cricket match kicks season off for locals
Monday 21 September
It’s that time of year that cricket enthusiasts start to get excited about the upcoming summer season. As part of the pre-season, a Twenty20 match was held on 20 September between local Monash University students and the Churchill Cricket Club.
The Churchill team fielded a range of players from all grades including a couple of strong juniors who enjoy the challenge of matching their skills against senior players.
The Monash team featured students currently studying at the Monash Gippsland campus, this team also consisted of five international students from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India and there was a strong movement to rename themselves the Monash International XI.
Churchill batted first and set a total of 109, with Brad Wright top scoring on 27. Early in the innings John Keiran smashed a massive six and looked set to dominate before some brilliant fielding from Steve Warr saw John run out for 12. The Churchill top order all contributed well and many thought 109 would be enough given that the ground was slow. All of the Monash players had a bowl and contributed well, but Matt Macauley had the best figures with 2/10 off his 4 overs.
Monash responded well however, and post-graduate student Bharat Saraf stole the show with an unbeaten 75 runs. Support for Bharat came from Dale Murphy including a well-timed 6 to help control the Monash innings.
Director of Cricket at Monash University and former captain of the Australian test cricket team Graham Yallop stood in to umpire the match. Graham was also scouting for players to represent Monash University for the Australian University Championships Twenty20 cricket tournament that will be held in Perth in December 2009.
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