Weekly Update 9th February

Welcome to this week’s Rovers update. Unfortunately, rain played havoc with weekend matches, with several games washed out or disrupted across the grades. Fingers crossed for clearer skies so we can get back to a full round of cricket this coming weekend.

A reminder that tickets for our Rovers 100 Club, the club’s biggest fundraiser of the year, are now on sale. If you haven’t secured your number yet, jump online and grab one before they sell out. Your support makes a huge difference to our club both on and off the field: https://www.roverscc.com.au/rovers-100-club/ 

Go Green!

ALL GRADE RESULTS 

TWOMEY SCHRIBER PROPERTY GROUP 1ST GRADE

Rovers 93 loss to Cassowary Coast 152

RED BERET 2ND GRADE

Washed Out

FGF DEVELOPMENTS 3RD GRADE

Washed Out

3RD GRADE BHUTANESE ROVERS

Rovers won by by 86 runs (DLS Method)
Rovers 4-149 (30 overs) defeated Mareeba 64

HALPIN PARTNERS COLTS (CPL)

Rescheduled

TIER 3 U18 FNQ NATURE TOURS ROVERS V SGS ROVERS

Washed Out

TIER 3 U18 SUPER GLOBAL SERVICES ROVERS

Rovers 4/145 defeated Mareeba 10/120

This week’s adventure began well before the first ball was bowled, with the Rovers convoy tackling the Kuranda Range under scenes that looked suspiciously like the opening credits of a disaster movie. Rain everywhere in Cairns, trees down, roads blocked… Armageddon felt close. Then, just as suddenly, the clouds parted, the sun appeared, and Mareeba reminded everyone why it claims 300 days of sunshine a year. Crisis averted. Get this party started!

Captain Mungus won the toss and elected to bat first, and Thomas and Rocco did a solid job seeing off the new ball. Thomas continued on to make a composed 20 before departing, setting things up nicely. That brought Hugh and late call-up Lucas B together, and what followed was a beauty. Lucas Boozed all his class with an elegant 59*, and the pair stitched together an excellent 83-run partnership, batting with confidence and control while the Mareeba bowlers searched desperately for answers.
Mungus then joined the fun for the final overs, to push the total up to a very healthy 4/145 off 33 overs.

Mareeba’s reply started steadily. Their openers negotiated some genuinely unplayable deliveries, mixed in with the return appearance of last week’s villain, Mr W Ides. They managed to put on 39 before Thomas snaffled a sharp catch off Hugh’s bowling to break the stand.

From there, Mareeba kept the run rate ticking just ahead of the Super Global Services Rovers, staying narrowly in front on the Runrate worm and clearly hoping the circling clouds might intervene. And for a brief moment, it looked possible. The sky darkened, the Mareeba team sprinted for the covers, exactly 11 drops of rain fell… then the clouds remembered they were over Mareeba and promptly disappeared again.

That was the cue for the Rovers bowlers to tighten the screws. Lines sharpened, pressure built, and wickets began to tumble. Some sharp catching and disciplined bowling dragged the game firmly back our way.

Mareeba were eventually bowled out for 120, sealing a strong and well-earned Rovers victory.
Hugh capped off another outstanding all-round performance with 38 runs, a sharp catch, and superb bowling figures of 3/10 off 5 overs. Support came from Mungus (2/10) and Thomas (2/13), while Elijah was outstanding in the field with two catches and finished things off with miserly bowling at the death, conceding 0/7.

Players of the Match:
• Hugh – Runs, wickets, catches… the full package
• Elijah – Safe hands and ice-cold control at the end
Great work boys. Another tough away trip handled brilliantly. Now we look ahead to next week’s return to the Tablelands to take on Atherton… and hopefully see our bowling hit the top of off just a little more often!

TIER 2 U 13 ZARRAFFAS ROVERS

Tier 2 Zarraffa’s Rovers 8-74 lost to Mulgrave 8-111

Rovers won the toss and chose to bat first, but a damp pitch and soggy outfield made scoring a tricky affair.   We cautiously made our way to 2/35 after the first 10 overs, but never really got going with the bat and from there and we were all out for 74.

Mulgrave looked set to cruise to victory, reaching 0/49 at the first drinks break. But just when it seemed they had the game in the bag, Neil stepped up to the crease and, with his first two balls, clean bowled two of Barron’s batters.  Neil finished with 4 wickets (4/3 off 4), rattling Mulgrave’s top order.  Debutant Max chimed in with his first wicket for the club (1/10), leaving Mulgrave wobbling at 5/65.  Despite these efforts, they managed to sneak home, but we certainly made them earn it!

Players of the match went to Max, for claiming a wicket on debut, and Neil, for dragging us right back into contention. Every player showed resilience and persistence – well done!

TIER 2 U 13 WGC ROVERS

Barron River 6/138 v WGC Rovers 147

What a nail biter at my old stomping grounds Smithy High. Batting first Barron River were cruising along at 0/69 off 13 overs and were in total control until Benny decided enough was enough and snared 2 wickets in his first 2 balls to give Rovers the wake up call they needed to get back in the game. Benny finished with 2/16 in a fine bowling spell. Ashton 1/6, Finn 1/8 and Oscar 1/10 chipped in with wickets and Riley 1/9 dismissed their dangerous opening bat to have Barron restricted to a very getable 138.

Ryan also took 2 fantastic catches in the field. We were soon in trouble with bat though,  reeling at 2/7 and at 7/61 with 10 overs remaining still needing a further 78 runs to win, it looked impossible. The heavens then opened up and made the task look even more ridiculous to achieve. Charlie 50*/56 and Aadit 38/46 took the rain as a good omen and began to chase down the total with maturity beyond their years. Charlie smashing a 6 to win the game, with an over to spare. Huge effort by the lads under pressure with no wickets left in the shed. Awesome work also by Benny and Isaak to retire!

Players of the match went to Benny, Aadit, Charlie and Oscar.

TIER 1 U11
AGL PAINTING ROVERS GREEN V ARCHERS BODY CORPORATE ROVERS

An unexpected surprise this morning for the intraclub challenge being able to go ahead at St Andrew’s after a rainy night. A low scoring battle was played out with the long, damp outfield doing the bulk of the fielding work (and turning shots that would have been boundaries at any international ground into singles). The game went down to the final over with both teams still in contention. Once again the spirit of the game was on show as all players did the club proud. Well done to all.

TIER 1 U11
CNW ELECTRICAL ROVERS V ?
Nomads 163 V Cones 128

Given our opponents Norths decided it was a bit wet for cricket (but didn’t tell us!), we made our own fun in contesting the first annual LMFWNC (that’s the “life’s more fun without norths cup” for those of you playing at home).  Some parents dug out the joggers, or in Fred’s case the gumboots, as the Cones headed to the crease.

The bowling was tight, the catching loose and DJ Jennifer ensured we had some great tunes for the match.  The Cones total looked impressive until Hudson and dad Richard opened the batting for the Nomads. Richard’s crafty plan to bat without shoes proved a master stroke as he hammered the Cones around the outfield and set the nomads on the road to victory. Late wickets from secret import William Innes couldn’t quite get the Cones home as Alexander and father James ensued the victory went the Nomads way.  Some great family rivalries and some great family partnerships made for a great morning as the rain for the most part stayed away!