Grand Final day! ver1.0

Hard to get everyone with their finger up at the same time...

Woolley claimed this was no 'white power' salute...

..he also claimed he was just trying to help when he groped Dunko upside down..

..There were reports of this man throwing darts at the Ray Inskip Memorial Shield...

..Which this bloke found quite amusing...

..But not as amusing as when this bloke showed up at the celebrations...

It was the showdown for 08/09 and the Bemboka boys took the trip down to Pambula to front the minor premiers on their home turf. Just a few weeks previous, the Bemboka lads had dominated the Pambula team at the same venue and had some confidence coming in to the decider. With the twin threat of Glen and Southam in the top order, and just about everyone else showing form with the bat at various times during the season, it was without hesitation that we batted first following another genius toss call of tails.

McLoskey and Dunko strode to the crease and Sohaki Charky threw a few down at the stone cottage end. Threw three overs down without Dunko scoring actually, where as at the other end, Mcloskey had play some punishing shots before catching a leading edge just as he was set to explode like a wet dream. The dream soon ended for Dunko too He matched McLoskey's 6 and then was snapped up by a bit of a speccy in the slips off the chucker.

It was time then for the middle order to stand up in the face of the failure of the gun openers. the old saying of score 50 and we win was echoed in Davo and Jimmy's ears by the captain and more than 120 runs later it was realised- Jimmy with anither imperious 80 odd and Davo with 60 odd which really steadied the ship and took the game by the scruff of the neck. The boys played shots everywhere, and played them very well. Mick Boyne was hit out of the attack, Davo played some absolute classic cover drives and Jimmy used his power game to effect. It really was pretty to watch.

Barney was next, and he fell to the evil leg spinner, trying to hit him straight (again), but he won't have to worry about him again next year.

Maz came in to steady the ship and got a nice yorker chucked down at him by SoChucky. Dangerman out too.

Donnie, Bretto and Kamaldo hit valuable late order runs- Motty didn't, but stayed in swinging wildly anyway, and the boys ended with a respectable 239 from the 40 overs.

A quick nervous bite to eat, a quick nervous visit to the loo for some and off we went in to the field, keen not to repeat the looseness we showed against Wyndum that gave them a bit of a sniff in their chase.

And loose the boys were not. A couple of sharp chances in the gully from McLoskey and Dunko, a nice grab from Kamaldo, and a general sharpness that had been there for most of the late season was back for the 200 or so of the Bemboka supporters to behold. In fact it was Maz who topped off his day with probably the only missed chance- only a half chance at that. It did come off the captain's bowling though...

Mick and Donnie bowled well and straight- only offering any runs square of the wicket where some typically B grade shots were played. The only one to really dent the score for Pambula was Wrighty, who was suffering from arthritis, but managed to survive a plumb LB shout, that was adjudged to be going under from the ticketed umpire. At least we survived the two games without any shockers- maybe they save that for A grade...

McLoskey and Motty bowled straight and full- Motty doing more with the ball than a genital acrobat- and there was more of that to come later!

In the end it was the Bemboka boys who wore Pambula boys down- 180odd off their 40 odd overs was the best they could do, and it was a 50 run win for us.

A couple of formalities later and the gravy train departed for the Bemboka Sport and Social club and then onto a party at the showground where the Braves recruited a goalie, some tent sabotaging occurred, some male nudity/bonding took place, some face biting, cake throwing, karoke and a few other shenanagans to wrap up the season. Pez soldiered on as only Pez could emerging from a little power nap in Maz's car to launch himself straight onto the dance floor!

A great win for the lads. A few weeks ago the season really was looking shaky, and we stood up got our heads down and started smashing it. Should be a good night at the preso too, with Bemboka's sister club and mate's from Tathra pulling a wombat out of the hat v Eden and taking the shield. Empty trophy cabinent for Eden then:)

Some astute recruiting for next year- chilli, Wayno etc and Bemboka will be putting it to the A graders.

Goooooooooooooooooo Bemboka!

PS sorry for the tardy blog posts over the last couple of weeks. Hopefully my successors on this virtual newspaper will do better!

We whyn in Windham!

(above)Pez decided to turn to prayer for a catch to be held..

(above)Jimmy got so cocky he started to bat with one hand...

(above)Barney's eye was so good he started the 'no look' defence...

(above)Despite analysis, the hairy man's action could not be faulted...

(above)In the only sprint race of the day, it was Jimmy by a nose...

Editors note- (abusive)Jimmy worked out that if you click on the pics, you get the bigger version. Just hit the 'back'arrow to get back to the blog...

In a day that everything, it was the team with everything that went home for the day with a smile on their face from the Bush view Oval at Wundim on the weekend.
A spate of sledging, boundaries, amazing (not) fielding, centurions, 5 wicket hauls and the best clubhouse this side of the SCG all punctuated a warm breezy day in Wyhundim.

Winning the toss (as he does), Dunko quickly elected to bat, looking forward to throwing the bat around with city boy Mcloskey for a few overs. It was more like a few balls, as Mcloskey was deceived by a slower ball which he spooned to cover. Bugger. The big man looked good too, punching the low full toss the ball before straight back past the bowler.

It was then time for Winydhum nominated 'dangerman' Mazza to bring his pink grip to the crease to do battle. A quick short ball which he played manfully into the deck and he realised he was in a contest. He got the same ball the last ball of the following over and hooked for 4 (off the edge over the keeper's head), which showed the short stuff would not work against him. Not for long anyway- he managed to stick one into the air shortly after and was out, which left Winum in a bouyant mood- one of the dangerous O'Reilly brothers had been dismissed!

Not so long after it was the older O'Reilly on his way after a slippery edge from a late cut and a jag of a catch from the old keeper. Jimmy and Barney were left with the 'get 50 and we win' instructions from the departing batsman.

And indeed they did. a 147 run partnership all but broke the back of the Whyn dim team. Temporarily bouyed by the dismissal of the two defined dangermen, the middle order fired like an Ak 47 all about the over, leaving more than one of the onlooking ducks nervous for their safety. With 9 boundaries in 10 scoring shots at one point, Jimmy was at his century scoring best- giving them nawt to give them the impression they might take him out. 88 runs in boundaries speaks for itself really. Great going nig!

Barney was great in his support, getting to his weekly average, then doubling it with some dominating stroke play and planty of easy singles to turn the strike over. Magic in the middle order, and the Windium Shaman/KADAITJA man was no where to be seen.

While this was going on, Bemboka fielding machine, wizard, Enegizer Bunny and general motivational guru (Google Anthony Robbins), Dave Allen was doing his best to gather enough evidence to have one Wyn dum opening bowler thrown out of the game forever for an action worse that Maz's in the nets. Hard to time fast action snaps on a diggy camera eh, Sherlock? He did get some snaps of some pretty ordinary looking shots from the Bemboka batting wizards though:)

The fireworks concluded with 16 off 2 balls from Dinnie, 7 off 3 from Kamaldo and a solid 15 from the tall timber of Kenny T(close relation of Sax maestro Kanny G).

At 261, the boys could be forgiven for thinking they were set up better than the winudm changerooms. Forgiven indeed- it was not our greatest day out in the field- our bowlers were frustrated by our butter fingers as we dropped more than Motty's dropped his shorts in the last 6 weeks! Tim said that if his petrol prices dropped as much as our fielders, he'd be paying us to take it away! Best thing about the whole dropsie thing is that we still won! Catches can win them, but they certainly can also loose matches and we were good enough, despite our bowlers not being at their peak and the frightenly scary short boundaries.

Even scarier was the scrub over the bank to retrieve the ball- apparently Bega lost two of their C graders down there looking for a lost ball. Never found again...

As our frustration rose, so did the confidence of the Wyhudim (what sort of a town name is that anyway?), 'batsmen. So much so that they were keen to point out to the Bemboka fielders how good they were. Mcloskey pointed out that they couldn't hit the ball off the middle, Jimmy-the team's batting tutor was in fine form telling them how their technique could be improved. Corporal Cantankerous (KT) did his best to also tell them they were no good, but didn't go into technique, prefering character assination. You can get away with shit like that when you're 7feet tall and 124kg.

Despite some heads dipping due to our catching, no one was letting off- Mick bowled out 2-27 in another inspired spell. Donnie and Motty were quick and got a wicket each. KT bowled a bit up and down and had 23 catches dropped from his bowling (at last count) and Dunko almost gave them the game with his first over.

But then it was cometh the hour, cometh the man as the bloke they call McLoskey was called to the crease and tossed the ball. The man who is second only to Woolley in terms of Woollyness rubbed the pill a few times, tweaked his field and set about..... (To Be continued)

Bit like a mini series this blog sometimes- but I had to give yu something to read before I go to work;)

Bring on Saturday!

oh when the saints!

the iron cordon stood fast yet again on the weekend...

Editors note: Sorry for the delays in updating the blog- Bemboka Home Improvements desperately trying to clear the backlog of work currently...

It was business as usual on the weekend- Dunko winning the toss, one 50 meaning we had the game wrapped up, our chuckers throwing them down as accurately as A jamie glen tax return and a fine display in the field. 6 in a row now. Hot to trot baby!

It was Maz and Dunko who trotted out to take on the Whyndam throwing attack, and take them on they did. At 69 ( what a great number to joke about), Dunko tickled one behind from their tweaker and walked. At this stage Maz had done the bulk of the scoring, sitting pretty on 15.
Davo came and went- Maz deciding he wanted to be the senior batsman by running him out after they shook hands mid pitch. Maz then had to go on to make enough runs for them both!

And make them he did! After bringing up his first 50 from 392 balls, he looked dangerously close to making it a ton when he opened his shoulders with 4 balls remaining in the innings. Despite pleas from Maz to bowl 15 more overs so he could get from 86 to 100, Whyndam politely declined and 86 no was to be the big man's coup de grace with the bat (for now).
A few of the boys threw some quick scores in the teens (no joke there) and topped the score up to 220. About 93 too many as it turned out...

Bemboka's very own hairy gorilla and Donnie 'pie chucker' Canby took the new pill and with woolley swearing his way though his spell at knob's not being able to put an edge on his hand grenades, and donnie throwing his wry grins down the pitch as he scared the pants off the Whyndam top order..

Motty came on throwing his tight line down before the 'Two Skippies' Kenty and Dunko came on for their fun. Both had Hat Trick Opportunities this week- at this rate there will be 3 bowlers on Hat Trick balls this week in the semi. Unfortunately both lads missed out- not for want of a mighty shout from Dunko (not backed up by his teammates), for an LB that was going over. The old Medium paced leggie almost coming up with the goods:)

The boys again were as one in the field, looking like the Tulgeen Work Crew (now known as Bemboka Home Improvements), but playing like cricketing demons. Mr Helpful, Dave Allen was exposed after the match as having a leather fetish- Bronnie refuses to dress up like Cher, so Davo gets his kicks by fielding and getting his hands on the little red gold nugget at every opportunity. We'll miss him this week, but he'll be there filing a report for Today Tonight and Anna Curen exposing chuckers in the FSCCA B Grade competition. Probably be dressed in camo with a massive zoom lense camera hiding in the whyndam scrub...


In the end, the game finished at 8.45 after we chucked 32 overs down. An early finish really.

All gets serious proper this week- we meet at 11 at the pub to head for the bush and do the job on Whyndam again and give ourselves the best chance of playing on the newly renovated Bemboka CC turf! Bit of pressure on the boys returning from the big city- and Pez who has pushed Davo out this week with his great performances.

Go Bemboka!

We go to second*-Make that third- got a bit excited there!

Bretto, Barney and Motty thought they'd keep the nudie cricket related activities up...

It was not as hot as the last few weeks, but the cricket was red hot at the Bemboka Lords View Oval on the weekend. We actually won a toss by default (they lost), so we got to bat first. not a common thing lately.

Out we went, and Bretto and Dunko started promisingly (again), only for Dunko to be struck down (again), trying something different. Bretto tried a leading edge, which wasn't so different, and Dave(a little late and previously demoted to give him time to relax), went out to D(umb) Bell- giving him his only wicket for the day.

Barney-stricken with his 9th flu for the year, was sluggish, but kept the ship afloat with Maz until he tried a pull shot which only went up and was caught. Mick came and went and collected the yellow duck fr his efforts- a shame for our resident man gorilla who has been smashing them about in the nets. Might have to keep it on the deck this week big man.

Maz then produced one of the most spectacular dismissals of the year, showing a nice shoulder arms flourish to a ball that sent his off stump cartwheeling towards slips. Won't be leaving too many more of them close to the stumps this year, will ya? The bowler did produce some useful off cutters to KT in the following overs, so maybe it didn't pitch on line. Maybe.

At 6-56, we were up the shitter a bit really, but it was time for the verry long Bemboka B grade batting lineup to step up. Showing the more fancied names how to do it, KT, Bobby, Motty Donnie, with his highest score of the year and a few cracking boundaries, and Pez put on another 114 for the last 4 wickets- 2 of the partnerships (9th and 10th wicket), being the best of the season. It's all about partnerships, regardless of what number you bat, so lets focus on that for the next few weeks till finals.

After breaking the spirit of the young and slightly undermanned Eden side with his Bat, Donnie made them jump and sent another tight opening spell down, setting the boys up for the win. He found the willing hands of Capitain Adreneline, Davo who took a very sharp skewed drive. 1 for 0. Motty took up at the other end, with our man Woolley on UN Peace Keeping duties, and kept things as tight as Bretto's abs (see previous post), conceding bugger all runs and he made a magic play when he probably had one of the Eden batsmen stranded with a direct hit early too. As Davo pointed out, the Square Leg umpire was admiring the clouds up in the sky at the time though, so shook his head.


Donnie struck twice more with Pez being golden hands for the day, taking a great running back over the shoulder catch which had us all jumping for joy. Magic Mick Woolley came back on, and after giving away4 runs in his first 3, also kept things as tight as a gnats coit, beating the edge and finishing with 1-18. Donnie did the damage today though- 3-11 off 5 tight and quick overs. He got his revenge on Belly, knocking him over comprehensively!

Maz chimed in after an astute fielding change when he popped out from behing the S.L umpy and ripped a wild return into Barney who almost lost his arm reaching to catch it before taking off the bails. Dunko rated himself a good chance of getting the run out even if it went past, the poor bastard was so far down the pitch. Handy wicket and result of some great pressure from the tight team game we're playing:)

Again, the boys were as sharp as a Gillette razor in the field again, and speaking of sharp, Maz was quick to grab the ball when Motty finished his spell and god bless him, he needed to make up from letting that ball go that bowled him. Skippy is now his nickname as he went on (along with KT) to clean up the tail, and denied Pez a bowl in the process. Maz finished with 2-7 from 2 and KT with 2-9 from 3 and was spot on the mark as he was last week. The bowling really does look good at the moment!

Far South Coast Cricket B Grade One Day Competition
Team	P	W	L	D	Total
Pambula	17	13	3	2	89
Wyndham	16	11	5	2	79
Bemboka	17	9	7	2	**67
Eden	17	9	8	1	66
Merimbula	15	6	8	4	60
Kameruka	16	7	10	1	**54
Tathra	16	6	11	1	51
Bega Angledale	16	2	14	1	*30

Off to Pambula next week. be nice to knock over the runaway competition leaders before the finals. Look forward to more tales from the Bemboka Incredibly Georgeous Sports Nude Action Group (BSNAG)this week.

See you at training. Morning sessions this week.

Go Bemboka!

End of season Pool Party!

Bretto was packing heat all night...

To celebrate Valentines day last week,the lads finished up at the Bemboka Sports and Social club and headed to party central, namely Drakes backyard for some summer frolicking. Those who weren't there were dissapointed, the ladies that were there were dissapointed (the boys said it was pretty cold), and some spouses waiting at home for some Valentines day fun were VERY dissapointed.

Motty was later found eating a bun at the pie shop the next day and found his phone in a bun when he dropped it into the dough mix. Works fine, but the sound is a bit doughy(groan).

Anyways, those who didn't receive a phone call from Thai Massage professional (happy endings his specialty), Dave 'Ming Lee' Allen, should feel jilted, as the author of this piece felt as though he was there for 10 seconds before his battery went dead during his midnight wake up call:)

All up, a magnificent bonding session had by all. Photos should adorn next years Cricket Club Calendar- sure to sell like hotcakes when the airbrushing is complete!

Go Bemboka!

Not a foot wrong at Kammy..

Tears flowed Saturday night, but no one could find the cathedral...

The boys took the dirt road (no pun intended), to Kammy on the weekend, looking to consolidate a place in the top 4 for this week at least. With the top 3 to come in our last 4 games, it will be a run to the finals more exciting than drawing on a pissed bloke with a marker pen.

Dunko took and promptly lost the toss. Not an important one this week, but it's wearing a bit thin. Out we went with Master opening bowler Silverback Woolley coming up the hill to start. He would end up taking 4 for the day, which should have been 5, but for a slight error in judgement by the umpy on a caught behind. Being the batsman that it was, no one was surprised not to see him walk, but he was reminded of that an over later which he was slightly offended about. Walkers have a clean conscience..

in the field, the boys were impeccable. KT, riding high after a morning visit to the Beach and a ring he presented to Robin, grabbed everything that came thru in the air. Bobby grabbed both of his chances, Donnie bowled straight and fast, Motty went for far less runs than dunko normally does from one over. Dunko, bucking his form at training even took a catch in the gully, which was kept strong all game to support the really accurate bowling.

So, well before luch time, KT led the boys from the field with his match ball and his chest out, Bretto and Dunko already scheming to make the runs without loosing a wicket.

25 balls into his innings, Dunko was useless enough to get bowled around his legs, with Bretto seeing them big and large at the other end. Davo came on out and made a fairly swift 12 before calling a quick single to fine leg and was run out by a direct hit that bounced twice. Most agreed that he was the only one in the team who wouldn't have made the run at a canter...

In the end, it was Bretto's day with the bat. He made up for his opening partner by hitting his first 50 for the year and did it pretty well too!

A big up for Pez and Kevo who made the trip down from Canberra to make sure we played with a full team. Thanks a lot boys- you've stepped in at some really importnant times this year and never let us down.

A fond farewell to latter season batting hero Jimmy G (see headline pic) , who will start work at Canberra's answer to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Won't be long before the man is running the show no doubt.

Speaking of leavers, Maz took leave to Canberra for the weekend. Be good to have hime back next week, but that didn't stop most of the boys making fun of what he might be up to on Saturday...

Eden next week. We have the top three to play in the last 4 games, so we couldn't ask for better conditioning if we make the finals series. They knocked over Merimbula on the weekend, and Tathra lost, so a little bit of breathing space for a game. Beating Eden would work a treat!

Far South Coast Cricket B Grade One Day Competition
Team	P	W	L	D	Total
Pambula	16	13	2	2	88
Wyndham	16	10	5	2	73
Eden	16	9	7	1	65
Bemboka	16	8	7	2	**61
Kameruka	16	7	9	1	*54
Merimbula	14	5	8	4	54
Tathra	16	5	11	1	45
Bega Angledale	16	2	14	1	30

I'll add the table when it's released later today..

Go Bemboka!

no heroes in the heat v tathra:(

Similiar to the feeling of those dropped catches...

Off we went to sunny Bega on the weekend, to brave the heat and the Tathra unpredicatbles. Dunko stepped in to lose the toss on the teams' behalf which really set the scene for the day.

Out we went, and early wickets were the order of the day. A couple of Mick Wooley specials (9) also flashing past the edge, which as always Mick was keen to politely point out to the batsmen. Our boy from the south really has made the new ball his own, and it's good to see.

Whould have made a differencehad the senior players hold their catches too. Dunko was first cab off the rank. Burohp on single figures smacked the ball at a very catchable height to his left and it was left rolling about on the grass. 'hurried onto me' was the piss poor excuse. chance one. Next over, Dunko made one of those odd field changes, only to see Burohp smack the ball straight at Jimmy- this time same result. Jimmy said I was only doing what you did O'Reilly. He didn't say that hurling the ball at the stumps and donating 4 overthrows made him feel better, but it made Dunko feel great.

Bretto did the job with the ball, Barney donated the gloves to Maz and rolled his arm over,we had a wicket which the umpy didn't agree with and the kid didn't walk- we'll keep and eye out for him in the future. Easier to walk and pretend you're a good bloke than to know everyone on the oppostion will think you're a cheat forever? Kenty bowled a couple of their hackers, but was struck down by the heat. Standing two feet closer to the sun takes it's toll on a man. It was a tough day in the field with 10 blokes, but everyone except the two knobs who dropped catches put in well and did their best for the team.

Tathra did quite well in the end to get to 188. The boys had the job ahead....

A new look opening partnership which included team funnyman Bretto and the wristy Dunko strode to the wicket to start the long haul. Not quite as large a run chase as the week before, but probably a greater task with only 9 wickets in hand.. Surprisingly by the time the jovial Bretto tucked his bat under his arm and headed for the showers, the boys had cruised to 46, only 2 short of the best opening stand of the year.
Maz was next to enter- his older brother reassuring him that if he rotated the strike, he'd hit the boundaries. Didn't take long for that plan to fail as Dunko was trapped in front and given the bad news by big Kenny at the other end.

Jimmy and Davo came and went, Maz looking on dissaprovingly at the other end as the senior batsman on the day. Just not the boys day, Dave copped a hideous gash under the eye from a brief violent fracas with the Tathra keeper left him feeling bloody and bruised. Jimmy simply wanted to give himself an uppercut after he got out.

Barney joined Maz and made his regular handy contribution, 29 this week, but with Maz ticking along like a time bomb with a flat battery at the other end, he would surely get his 50- provided there was another 90 overs remaining. Al and Bobby came out to try to push the total along and gained some valuable experience. Al going too hard and Bobby forced to go too slow due to the tight Tathra bowling. Keeping the score ticking over is the key lads. And keep the ball on the deck until you can hit it way over the fence Al. Next time.

Hope still bloomed though, with experienced pair KT and Mick(with a dinged up hand) remaining for the last wicket stand. 14 was the best the boys could do with the tight bowling, but a pretty fair effort for the bloody hot day when some tosser lost the toss and we had to field in the hottest part of the day..

I think we need to keep winning from here!

Far South Coast Cricket B Grade One Day Competition Team P W L D Total Pambula 15 12 2 2 82 Wyndham 15 9 5 2 67 Eden 15 8 7 1 59 Bemboka 15 7 7 2 **55 Kameruka 15 7 8 1 *53 Merimbula 13 5 7 4 53 Tathra 15 5 10 1 44 Bega Angledale 15 2 13 1 29

5 games to go and it could come down to the wire! Jimmy and Mcloskey leave us this weekend, so we need to chase players and we need to make the four so Dan and Jimmy don't end the season in tears.

Dave made the valid point after the game that we haven't lost a game this year when one of us has made fifty, which has to be the goal of everyone who walks out with a bat this year. There isn't anyone who hasn't made a fifty in the squad, so one a game is a must!

Well, at least we didn't have to fill in the scoresheet as winners for the day:)

Kammy this weekend- keeping the ball on the ground will see us knock up a solid total after we win the toss. we will win the toss.