Cricket: PJH One-Day Trophy (RP/results)

[Gruenberg]

Article posted on the GruenCric website.

Enchante's record best nearly not enough

A tight final over from Tchokoman Warax sealed a six run victory in a high scoring thriller to give Gruenberg a crucial 1-0 lead in the PJH Trophy final series against Apox. 642 runs changed hands between the teams, 184 of them from the bat of Benny Enchante, who at his imperious best crunched the highest innings by a Gruenberger batsman in ODIs with his third hundred of the series taking Gruenberg to 324. Hitting a record 23 fours and 5 sixes, he shared a 109 run stand for the fourth wicket off Kakuwat Gezzalqin, who hit a slow paced 39 off 79 on his return to the side, and then 88 with Warax, whose 47 off 36 was if anything even more punishing than Enchante's before reeling off 28 runs in 12 balls at the end. He was run out by Kelly Crookshaw but left the field having carved his name into the annals once more.

Apox's bowling crumbled. Metrophanes, who removed both openers to reduce Gruenberg to 21-2, finished with figures of 2-87, while Swizzard's 2-71 was flattered by the late wickets of lower order batsmen hitting out. But, everyone knows, as good as Gruenberg are at batting, they are also world leaders in abysmal death bowling. Truly abysmal. And so it was that Apox launched an improbable challenge on the forbidding target of 325. They began positively, Hughes leading a brisk opening stand of 68 with 36 off 30 before trying to stretch a second run and being run out by a powerful throw from iiPriyuff Uglaxx and smart keeping by Kahunk Uvaevaluvae.

Uvaevaluvae's dextrous gloves were busy, accounting for two stumpings, but not before Brigham (58 off 74) and Watt (32 off 41) had built a solid base. Once they had seen off Lemonzesty Yowoax, who with 1-43 off 10 was the one bowler to maintain economy on the belting pitch, the middle order then upping the run rate. But Walters (50 off 47), al Menzes (44 off 40) and Crookshaw (39 off 26) all got out, none going on to make the big score the chase demanded. That left Orbiton (31* off 29) with too much to do, and Warax stepped up to bowl a tight final over: with fifteen needed, the first disappeared for four, but thereafter only single were on offer, and he yorked Dhawa with the fourth to leave the final result in no doubt.

Despite Enchante's devastating showing, concerns remain for Gruenberg. They have not had a solid opening stand all series, their seamers were too expensive - Wuffan's 72 off 10 overs and golden duck mean he will lose his place to iiFobo Yumbucket for the next game - and they dropped chances in the field, as well as failing to hit the stumps as Apox scrambled crucial singles. If the series continues to be a case of fine margins, their lack of late bowling and reliance on a few core players could prove costly.

Team for next game(s)

1. Pitkin Deisler
2. Azzawozzawoowizzbitz Telliflikkiflarknon
3. Ruttup Izaizakanorb
4. Benny Enchante*
5. Kakuwat Gezzalqin
6. Eightyseven Otterbiscuits
7. Tchokokoman Warax
8. Kahunk Uvaevaluvae+
9. Lemonzesty Yowoax
10. iiPriyuff Uglaxx
11. iiFobo Yumbucket

[Liventia]

Matchday 11
Matchday 11: Bowl Final (5th place match):
Island Cricket Arena, Schimpol:
Chelta 236/7 (37.4 overs)
Wray 232/8 (50 overs)
Chelta won by three wickets

Plate Final (3rd place match):
NCE Oval, City Centre:
Liventia 281/9 (50 overs)
Farlandria 121 (35.3 overs)
Liventia won by 160 runs

Trophy Final:
Park Central Oval, Orean:
Gruenberg 343/8 (50 overs)
Apox 228/9 (50 overs)
Gruenberg won by 115 runs; Gruenberg leads series 2–0

[Gruenberg]

Article posted on the GruenCric website.

All round performance clinches Trophy

Gruenberg claimed a decisive 2-0 lead in the final series of the PJH Trophy to earn their first international silverware since winning the Liventian Quadrangular Series, crushing Apox by 115 runs at Orean. Stand-in stand-in captain Benny Enchante led the victorious team from the field after a match that had in truth lost all competitive shape several hours earlier. Chasing a mammoth 344, Apox's openers posted a bright run-a-ball stand of 59, but once Hughes fell for 36 off 29, the only Apox batsman to match the necessary pace, feathering a leg-side strangle off Azzawozzawoowizzbitz Telliflikkiflarknon, the innings crumbled, and with the rate climbing over 10, then 12, then to impossible heights, Gruenberger flags and inflatable goats were having in the crowd long before the close, though Apox's final pair added an unbeaten 32 to ensure all 50 overs were batted.

It was an act of forlorn stubbornness. Apox had been chasing the game since Enchante arrived at the crease at 73-2. The experiment of opening with Telliflikkiflarknon failed, managing a scratchy 13 off 19 before tamely swatting Vernon to mid-on, while batting down the order did not help Eightyseven Otterbiscuits recover his form, reverse sweeping a couple of boundaries before inside edging a cut off Swizzard onto his off stump for 19 from 11. But Deisler stroked a fluent fifty, while Enchante, coming off 184 in the previous game, broke another record, with the fastest fifty by a Gruenberg batsman, blasting six sixes in a 17-ball fury. Though he failed to kick on, Crookshaw taking a leading edge after he had made 59 from 28, he had moved the innings into gear.

Thereafter came an unstoppable procession of runs. Kakuwat Gezzalqin showed his best form of the tournament with a hard-run 54 off 56 containing only four boundaries, Kahunk Uvaevaluvae top scored with 72 off 85, and then Tchokoman Warax threatened to break Enchante's new record in the same game, falling on his 14th ball trying to hit a six to move from 45 to his fifty. The supremely goat-enabled total of 343-8 saw Vernon dispatched for 2-87 and Swizzard 1-74, though al Menzes bowled 10 tight overs for just 39 runs. It was an ominous sign: spin.

When it was Gruenberg's turn, spin indeed reigned supreme. On a pitch that had just seen 343 runs in 50 overs, Lemonzesty Yowoax returned 3-35 from 10 overs, while Otterbiscuits took another two wickets to continue to buy himself time to right his batting, and Enchante went for just 26 off 7. With the seamers doing a capable job, a predictable late wobble notwithstanding, they limited Apox to just 228, Brigham's 41 the top score and Dhawa's late order 36 off 37 the only show of real hitting as the middle order crumbled.

With the final game a dead rubber, Gruenberg may shake up their team, though it was confirmed that Enchante would continue to lead them, and that Zovarifnay would stand down as stand-in captain at the end of the series. With Enchante not considered a long term option, the biggest mystery now remains who will take over the captaincy long term with so few players assured of their place, but Uvaevaluvae's batting performance today must have advanced his credentials while a run of scores will see Deisler emerge as a strong contender.

[Liventia]

Matchday 12
Trophy Final:
Park Central Oval, Orean:
Gruenberg 276/9 (50 overs)
Apox 226/8 (50 overs)
Gruenberg won by 50 runs; PJH One-Day Trophy final series won 3–0

[Gruenberg]

Article posted on the GruenCric website.

Tame conclusion wraps up series sweep

Gruenberg eased to a 50 run and a 3-0 greenwash of the PJH Trophy series. With the series already decided, Gruenberg rested its frontline seamers iiPriyuff Uglaxx and Azzawozzawoowizzbitz Telliflikkiflarknon, giving games to iiFobo Yumbucket and Xxuddu Gguddu, who made the most of the opportunity with 4-29 and 44* off 18 respectively. Experimenting with the batting order - Ruttup Izaizakanorb's pained 26 off 39 did little to solve the opening dilemma, Tchokoman Warax wasted his chance at Number 3 after swiping three sixes en route to 20 off 23, and Eightyseven Otterbiscuits looked more comfortable at Number 6, hitting a crisp 26 off 36 before being well caught by Vernon off Swizzard - and fielding a second choice attack, Gruenberg still beat a dispirited Apox side to claim their second piece of ODI hardware.

On a green tinged pitch, stand-in captain Benny Enchante spent the toss stuffing his face with cream eclairs, perhaps influencing his bizarre decision to bat first. Vernon caused mayhem in a fierce opening spell that belied the game's dead rubber status, accounting for Pitkin Deisler, Warax, and Enchante himself, all caught behind the wicket. When Otterbiscuits slashed to the Apox captain, Gruenberg were 91-5 and had the least inspiring batting partnership possible at the crease in Kakuwat Gezzalqin and Kahunk Uvaevaluvae. The two steady accumulators bedded down and navigated the seamers, then accelerated against the spinners. Gezzalqin's 69 from 91 was a typically understated affair, though Uvaevaluvae showed more invention, eventually reaching a run-a-ball 63 before Metrophanes ripped out his leg stump trying a bizarre double-reverse-paddle-scoop.

The runs in the last two matches have sured up the position of the Gruenberg stumper. Once considered a batting liability, Uvaevaluvae will now challenge for the permanent wicketkeeping spot in all three formats and has even been considered a potential captain as one of the few alternatives to Enchante assured of his place. Gezzalqin meanwhile continues to be Gruenberg's answer to Chamara Silva, Luke Wright, Peter Fulton, Rohit Sharma, Imran Farhat, and every other player who continues to get picked to the bemusement of their own fan base. Yet he was provided much needed solidity in a middle order hopelessly dependent on Enchante's mercurial, pastry-dependent moods.

Gguddu, who had a poor tournament and was probably played more out of pity, managed to keep himself in the frame for ongoing selection by finally firing with the bat. Once considered a middle order allrounder he came in at 9 below o'Po'o'To'o'So'o Bant, with an average dwindling into the single figures, but quickly got up and running, striking three fours in his first ten balls, and then ending the innings by taking three consecutive sixes off the final three balls. It boosted an average total to a good one, and a chase of 277 proved beyond Apox's batting.

The pitch offered little for Gruenberg's spinners - Lemonzesty Yowoax's 0-41 saw him fail to even bowl out his quota, and the only wicket to spin came from Enchante's part-time off-spin, trapping Watt LBW after a patient 51 off 89. But Yumbucket's slingy left arm action - inspiring memories of fellow Gelzien iiPhiat Thillow, who helped Gruenberg to their World T20 title - proved hard to handle on the seaming surface, clean bowling Brigham in the first over and Walters in his second spell, then returning at the death to pick up Metrophanes and Swizzard in the final over. His 4-29 was the best return by a Gelzien in ODIs, and raised questions over whether he is a better prospect than Uglaxx for the white ball format.

Apox's middle order made a game effort but lost al Menzes, whose fluent 42 off 48 was probably the best innings of the day, and Orbiton (18 off 21) to needless run-outs. That left too much for Crookshaw, and although 71* off 72 was a fine return on a difficult pitch, it still left Apox far short. For the second time, they stubbornly batted out their 50 overs, but the result had already been long concluded. Gruenberg's players left the field in jubilation, and after recording a message for team sponsor Capra Cola ("the great cola with the taste of goat") celebrated with the Trophy before boarding a flight home. Yowoax, with 21 wickets at 17, was unofficially named player of the tournament by the GCB, but they also confirmed that despite his success, Enchante will not be considered a long-term captain for Gruenberg, and the search will resume for a replacement in ODIs pending Sprantothan Juffwump's return.