It was blue skies and 32 degrees as Ulladulla Under 12s ventured up the Princes Highway to play 3rd placed North Nowra/Cambewarra in what was a must win game for our semi-final chances.
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With our team significantly strengthened by the inclusion of the experienced Chayce Brown we were quietly confident that we could turn the tables on a competitive first round loss.
Ulladulla won the sixth toss of the season and bowled first in the oppressive conditions. When captain Harrison Fairs took a nice low down catch off the bowling of Ken ‘The Destroyer’ Owens, North Nowra were 2/14 and in trouble. Sadly for us, rep players Harry Wood and Tom Duncan showed their class and piled on the runs.
With a couple of nice run-outs and a couple of beautiful deliveries by Will Kingston and Holly Hussey we dismissed the home side for 143 (one less than the 1st round). Once again extras hurt us badly, 59 in total. You are not going to win too many games with that effort. Solomon Fairs and Ken Owens were best with the ball with 2 wickets each.
When it was our turn to bat, we knew we had to start well and put pressure on the bowlers but North Nowra had a plan and that was to bowl their best bowlers in the first session. It paid dividends with the Dulla reeling at 4/23 with Chayce Brown looking good before being run out for 8.
Harrison Fairs and Leila Pepperall put on another 20 runs for the next wicket before a lapse of concentration saw Pepperall out for 4. Harrison smashed 3 balls to boundaries but with North Nowra putting all their best fielders on the boundary, he struggled to find the gaps.
Stefan Matuschka and Ken Owens especially put on some admirable resistance but eventually we were dismissed in the last over for 91. Man of the Match goes to Stefan Matuschka for battling through the sweltering conditions and a mid-innings injury to come out and defend for his life late in the innings.