If you’re going to be sent to play cricket anywhere on a day that’s forecast to be 42 degrees, the beach-side ground at Balmoral is far from the worst options. Even with the early start, the forecast temperatures sent the locals scurrying to shoreside, making parking spots a valuable commodity. The 8:30am toss yielded a favourable result for the Gold team, choosing to bat on a wicket where almost 400 runs were scored on the previous day. And the early signs were promising as Neale Crawford took 8 from the first over. James Taipari wasn’t able to make use of the start, but Yogesh Wanzare took up his usual fidgety method of accumulation. Yogi fell for 12 and with the score on 2-40, the game was at crucial juncture. Enter Alan Xu, looking to make use of the form he showed in the north west. ‘Cindy’ and ‘Taronga’ complimented each other as their experience came to the fore, with the latter getting the former on strike to allow the big man to show his power game.

The score advanced to 96 as Cindy passed 50, but that was as far as he got. Marley Besgrove showed encouraging intent to ensure the scoring didn’t stagnate, but once again fell in the teens. When Ashish Bhat fell, the score read 5-125 with 15 overs in the innings to go. Newcomer Jack Ellery had yet to score in two attempts for the Randy Petes, but a short ball served up on a platter got him under way. While a target of 180 had initially been desired, the mix of Taronga’s experience and Jack’s unconventional power meant that the score soared to 200+ as the Mosman fielders wilted in the searing conditions. Taronga brought up his first 50 for the club with 4 overs to go, and then found his range with some late boundaries. Jack was dismissed for 43 in the final over going for the milestone, but that allowed Jackson Dodd to apply the finishing touches to the innings and take the score to 6-226. Taronga finishing 65* and earning a cold shower after batting for almost 38 overs.

The Mosman openers bravely trod out to open the batting having fielded for 50 overs in the worst of the heat, as the afternoon change brought gale force winds swirling around the oval. Over the course of the afternoon, players witnessed no less than 4 trees toppled by the cyclonic forces. But it was the opening force of Doddy and Charith De Silva that were causing the batsmen problems. At one stage, Doddy had three edges that didn’t go to hand in the over, before Chaz snuck a well-deserved LBW. The other opener fell to the happy knack of Ashish, with the score coincidentally at 2-40. However, Mosman grabbed the game by scruff of the neck after the first drinks with a mix of controlled aggression from the number 3 and agricultural power from the number 4. They took the score to 2-116 after 26 overs… but just as the fielders felt the oppression of the conditions, so were the batsmen after their 50 overs in the field.

Rolling the dice, Chaz was brought back to buy a wicket. And with almost immediate effect, he induced the number 4 into a rank slog that was superbly caught by debutant Jarrod Trueman, who showed admirable composure and skill. Not done there, Chaz also picked up the number 3 with a feather behind to finish with figures of 3-35. From there, front line spinner Thanush Gowda took over; having bowled superbly without any luck, he got his reward by sharply turning one through the gate, before dismissing veteran and former Randwick player Simon Paine with a sharp caught and bowled, finishing with 2-33. From there, Yogi and Doddy came back to turn the screws, and with the balls remaining having caught up to the number of runs required, the Mosman batsmen simply weren’t able to keep up. As he’s done in the last two games, Doddy complemented his tight opening spell with incisive death bowling and the final three wickets to fall to finish with 3-22. Once again, the Gold team can be proud for a consummate team performance where everyone contributed in attritional conditions.

Jeremy Jastrzab (C)