A new Adelaide Oval, a few revitalised heart stings in the Aussie team, a new scoreboard and a reason to get to Tanunda oval on a Saturday afternoon… AND SANTA IS COMING TO TANUNDA ON FRIDAY… GET ON BOARD!

There’s also a strong rumour that Mark Hoklas took a hat-trick last week and that failed to make a mention in the chatter – apologies! Not only did Mark grab 4 wickets last week – but 3 of them arrived in successive balls – with the last being an LBW. LBWs in A4’s are hard to get – so not just your normal Hat-trick – well done Mark.

The A’s decided that easy wins are boring and decided that close games are boring with a nail biter taking place at the TCG on Saturday afternoon. Lyndoch have been a much improved side since round one, and the result showed the way… bowling first we held the Dockers to 112, Connor Peacock being the destroyer with 3 for 23, Dylan Abinett and Luke Samain taking 2 each and the Boschen twins and Brett Grocke chipping in with a wicket each. We decided that a close game is indeed a good game, passing the score with 2 wickets remaining. Wayne Akkerman (channeling his inner Jon Farley) opening the bat and spanking an aggressive 36 not out off the 40 overs and captain Pete Mernagh hitting a valuable 23. Great effort Wayne – the win wouldn’t have happened without your dour innings – a worthy winner of the Tundarri Sales and Service player of the week.

The B grade took on their new traditional rival in the Nuri A grade on Sunday afternoon at Nuri (due to a bike ride for a great cause occurring on Saturday), and whilst not bringing home the points, the boys can certainly hold their heads high. Nuri batted first and compiled a competitive 6 for 173, Sam Dunn taking 2 wickets, with Will Loffler, Sam Cox, Tony Swan and Uncle Toby Mifflin each chipping in with one wicket. After losing the President early for a rare LBW, we were in the hunt at 1 for 62, but a steady stream of wickets saw us end our 40 overs at 7 for 103, with young gun Nic Burton top scoring with 42 and Toby making 29. Great to see the B’s fielding 4 players from the Under 16 ranks! Ultimate Engineering MVP goes to Nic for yet another strong senior performance.

The C’s headed on the road trip to the home of the other Magpies. Must be said that Mallala were far from full strength – and we were pretty much the opposite – and great to see 3 young lads from Mallala giving their all to make sure we had a game of cricket – great stuff boys. Batting first (and after a couple of early departures at the top of the innings) we compiled and excellent score on a big oval of 6 for 255. Stuart Swan tried to run Danny Reu out on 99, but thankfully failed with Danny hitting his first hundred for the club, Mark Hoklas deciding personal milestones are not worth it, closing his innings on 49, Stuart and Paul Healy both chipping in with 30’s. Special mentions to Wayne Bishop for a patient knock in a valuable partnership with Paul, and for Chris Collins showing that lots of warming up ensures you watch the last ball of the innings from the non-strikers end without pulling any muscles. In reply Mallala never really were in the hunt, ending their innings on 79. Josh Wells rarely using the green bit with 2 for 4, with all other bowlers taking a wicket a piece. Great to see Wayne Bishop taking on the Aussies new aggressive cricket motto dishing out a terrific send off, and Mark Hoklas calling out ‘bowled him’ when his delivery was still half way to the batsman – he was right… Tanunda Clubhouse MVP and Mia Pizza player of the week goes to Danny Reu – well done on your terrific form at the top of the innings.

Under 16’s played South Gawler in a 25 over game. We won the toss and batted first to make a total of 1/173. Great knock from James Madden (54), Will Loffler (21 not out) and a great captains knock by Sam Dunn with 79 not out. With the ball everyone bowled well, to restrict them to 5/116. As mentioned above, it was great to see 4 of the Under 16’s playing A2’s against Nuri A’s on Sunday. Will Loffler and Sam Dunn both bowling well. James Madden keeping well (one great stumping), and Nic Burton top scoring with 42. Great effort boys – you should be very proud, the club’s future is looking great.

Under 14 blacks batted first against Nuriootpa. They were in trouble early with 4 early wickets, but a 57 run partnership from the Birchard twins gave Nuriootpa a target to chase. The Nuriootpa opening batsman made the runs and ran out comfortable winners. Will Meyer bowled well late in the innings to bag 4 wickets and was on a hat-trick.

The under 14 whites played Gilbert Valley at Tanunda in the first one-day game of the season. The lads bowled reasonably well to restrict Gilbert Valley to 4/108 off their 25 overs with Jackson Gray bowling tightly with 0/2 off his 3 overs, and 2 wickets to Tyson Healy, and one each to Jake Hartigan and Nick Mills. Unfortunately, Tanunda were restricted to 8/52 off their 25 overs with skipper Jake Hartigan top scoring with 20, with the next best being 4. The Amanti best player award went to Jake Hartigan with Tyson Healy receiving the Red Rooster award.

Under 12 blacks travelled to Nuri High on Saturday morning to take on Greenock. Conditions were windy and cool, but that did not bother the kids. Sam Tapscott had the captain duties this week and unfortunately lost the toss, but got to bat first – which he was wrapped with. Blake Dahlitz and Jordan Rosenzweig got us off to a solid start, putting on 19 runs with only 1 wicket lost. Well done boys. Solid efforts by Jaden Graetz (7) and Liam Cook (9) helped guide us on our way to a respectable 5 for 66 at the completion of the innings, against a formidable bowling side. Bowling and fielding was pleasing to watch, it’s great to see the kids continuing to improve every week. Well done to Chloe Rosenzweig, James Roehr and Neeve Reimann for great bowling performances and in the field Spencer Reimann & Jaden Graetz showed the way with great efforts. Well done to all the team for a great all-round effort. Awards this week went to Neeve Reimann and Hayden Spehr, great effort guys and well done.

The under 12 Whites finally got the chance to fence in the whole team…literally at the Sandy Greek oval. With Captain Mitchell Manning exhibiting great sportsmanship by allowing the opposition to bat with only 3 Sandy Creek players present at the time. The best bowling and fielding efforts thus far, with substitute Ben Mernagh (Team Man award) exhibiting great endeavour ably supported by great throwing from Luca Whitelum. However the lads may have been a little over confident with the battings being below par with many throwing their wicket away. MVP was Angus Schild with a great all round game. With the Ashes in town chance the team has the chance to “rest up and work on a total performance” (stern words from the coach 🙂 ).

Be good – Santa’s keeping an eye out…