A BATTLE of wills may be looming at Macquarie Cricket Club, with off-spinner Dan Medway adamant his match-winning haul of 4-86 against CYMS on Saturday was a one-off.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Blues skipper Keiran Brien may have a different idea though after Medway played a crucial role in helping the side to a 38-run win over the Cougars in a tight affair at Lady Cutler 2.
Defending their day one score of 7-312, Macquarie would have been confident of their chances heading into Saturday but they were made to work hard as CYMS piled on 276 in reply.
Medway's four-wicket haul in his first game of the season came as a shock to the man himself, with his 22-over spell an even greater surprise.
"I told the boys that I'd fill in at some stages if I was available and they were short," Medway said.
"I thought being day two I might just be able to help in the field and maybe bowl a couple of overs if 'KB' needed me to.
"The first couple of overs the ball came out alright so he kept bowling me. I was pretty sore on Saturday night and I'd say I'll be sore for a couple more days yet.
"I think it will be a one-off thing for me. Things ramp up with basketball after Christmas so I don't think I'll play too much more cricket unless they're really short on numbers."
At various stages on Saturday, CYMS looked capable of chasing down Macquarie's target, which had been set up by a Jason Green ton seven days prior.
Opener Stuart Naden made 51 and combined with first drop Matt Ellis (43) for a 78-run second-wicket stand that ended with the score on 97.
Harry Brennan then made a solid 54 before chopping on off Medway's bowling, leaving the score at 5-198 with 23 overs remaining in the day.
A mini-collapse saw the score move to 7-217 before Nick Guthrie (40) combined with Yogi Chawla (29) for a quickfire 51-run partnership that ended when Guthrie, who had hit four sixes, attempted to go long again and holed out off the bowling of Justin Gavin (2-32).
Chawla fell soon after, and with CYMS only having 10 available players the match wrapped up at the fall of the ninth wicket.
"It was good to help the boys to a win. The other results around the grounds made it a pretty crucial game for us and it capped off a winning end to the season because our second grade, third grade and Twenty20 sides all had wins as well," Medway said.
"In the end we were probably pretty lucky they only had 10 players but we were able to just get wickets at key times."
