LINKS   home   results & fixtures   stats   honours board   gallery	2006 MATCH REPORTS & NEWS 14/08/06 Bellevue round off D Mains series in style... Bellevue wrapped up the D Mains series with another win last night, courtesy of a finely-judged run chase. The mastermind, as always, was the indefatigable John Kelly, who clinically ran out two members of his own team* who he felt were not quite up with the run rate, before perishing himself to an 'interesting' LBW decision. Stephen Fairfield and Luke Porteous (making his debut for Bellevue) were unavailable for comment last night. Obed, returning to the team after a lengthy absence, impressed with the bat, cracking a wristy 25 not out, after a pacy but wayward bowling spell had ended with figures of 0-26 off 3 overs. Liddell continued his excellent bowling form, finding some swing and taking 1 wicket, and Porteous Snr, playing his first game for Bellevue since before some of our younger upstarts were born (well, almost), eked out 2 wickets in a fine display of off spin. Liddell also starred at the end, scoring an all-run 4 to win the game. Clearly it wasn't one of the older generation batting with him at the time. In fact it was young Parks, another wicket-taker from the first innings, making himself useful with the bat again. I'Anson's improving form continued too, with a couple of big sixes in his innings of 15. So not much change in the bowling charts, but Kelly and Hamilton are now neck and neck for the batting prize, if indeed there is one. * Kellly strongly refutes the allegations, and has launched a stinging attack on the author of this article, describing it as "News of the World" style reporting. My lawyers will be in touch, John ;-) 20/06/06 Bellevue get quick revenge... Monday's rematch against Informatics featured a couple of newcomers to the Bellevue team, the welcome return of an old stager, and the welcome return to form of the skipper... Costley won the toss yet again and opted to field, which gave us an early opportunity to attempt to break our own world record for number of wides bowled in a 20 over game (we got quite close). Jamie and Stevie (the old stager, playing his first game for a year) opened the bowling, and both bowled well, Steve being his usual miserly self in terms of runs conceded. Since Steve last played for us he has of course, got married, and new wife LB was there cheering him on, adding a touch of well-wrapped-up glamour on the boundary. Naturally Kath, Laura and Jennifer were looking very glamorous as well.. anyway, back to the cricket. The bowling went somewhat downhill after Liddell and Davidson had bowled out, with newboy Kevin threatening John H's previously-undisputed position as chief-wide-bowler, but Costley looked dangerous, and was rewarded with 2 wickets, as was our other debutant Ranald. Informatics were restricted to 96 in the end, and it could have been less had we held all our catches and taken all the run-out opportunities. Speaking of run-outs, special mention must be made of I'Anson's stupefying direct hit from the deep, deep third man region. Definitely a champagne moment. Hamilton and Smith got our reply off to a decent start, John lofting and driving his way to 18 before being bowled. Liddell contributed a useful 11 before being flummoxed by one of the two legspinners bowling in tandem. One of the leggies had the distinct advantage of bowling with a setting sun behind him, but that notwithstanding, turned the ball a long way and was unlucky to end up with only 2 wickets. At 45-6 things were looking a bit shaky, but Costley soon found top gear, crashing 5 boundaries on his way to early retirement at 26 not out, and Quinn and Mitchell nurdled the winning runs with 3 overs to spare. So, John's 18 takes him into top place in the batting charts, with Costley sidling up behind Robbo in the top 5... competition is hotting up for the batting trophy.. Once again you can read Informatics' account of the evening here, where John is described as a "dangerous looking opener". I'm serious. Scorecard is nowhere to be found as the novelty of typing the whole jolly thing in has finally worn off. Thanks once again to the travelling support, which grows in number and vocal encouragement by the week. Next match is probably a game against E=MCC sometime in July. Ma–ana... 06/06/06 Informatics edge out depleted Bellevue side... Monday night saw Bellevue go down fighting against Informatics at Peffermill. Shorn of their leading runscorer, the evergreen John Kelly, and two players short, they nonetheless forced a decent Informatics side into the last over before Vinay struck Robson back over his head for four to wrap things up with two balls to spare. Earlier, Bellevue once again relied on big contributions from one or two batsmen, notably John Hamilton, who finished on a Bellevue (all-time?!) career best of 38 not out. Robson was also striking the ball well, and skipper Costley finally found some runs, and the middle of the bat, before being well caught on the boundary. You can read Informatics' account of the evening here. Thanks to the travelling support/scorers/refreshments-provider. Next match is the return against Informatics, on 19 June, with no venue fixed as yet. Please let John H know your availability for this one asap. Cheers... PS Paul Friend gets his picture up for finally making himself available and for being an all-round comic genius. Parks will soon be getting his picture up for not paying his match fee... (again) 22/05/06 Game against Holy Cross rained off too... Weather goes 2-1 up 15/05/06 Game against E=MCC rained off First fixture of the season lost to the weather... next game against Holy Cross at Arboretum on 22/05/06 08/05/06 Bellevue edge out D Mains to go one up in series A typical gritty innings from John Kelly, and a top performance by young Matthew Parks on debut, saw Bellevue squeeze home by 2 runs against old foes D Mains. 38 unbeaten runs from the old stager, plus a useful knock of 19 from John Hamilton and a great cameo from Matthew, eventually pushed Bellevue's total up to 102. D Mains' reply was steady and always up with the rate, but somehow they fell just short and finished on a round 100. Credit to Parks again for some fine bowling. Another player making his Bellevue debut - Henry Martin - also bowled well, and deserved more than his solitary wicket. Ian Mitchell chipped in with a couple of wickets in a nervy last over, and apart from some iffy catching, the fielding was generally reasonable, considering it was the first game of the season... New skipper Costley will be looking for improvements in all departments before next week!