It finally cools down the required amount to get cricket up and running again and we get the biggest rainfall in 45 years!  That gave a majority of the Tanunda cricketers yet another weekend off, but a couple of the sides did manage to make their way down the Sturt highway to Gawler.

The B’s headed to South Gawler and had a good day with the willow, ending at 7 for 260.  In the best selection master stroke since Shaun Marsh headed to South Africa, Sam Brooks got plucked from the C’s at the last minute, and played the innings of his life, coming in at 6 and hitting an excellent 94* (first 50 for the lad).  If you’re walking the streets of Tanunda this week and see a glow brighter than the Griswold’s, don’t be concerned, that’s just Tim Brooks – the proudest dad in the town this week. Darren Graetz also had a great day, hitting 71.  Captain Toby Mifflin and Tony Swan both put in solid contributions with the bat also.

A solid bowling performance should see us get the points.  Sam picks up the Tanunda Clubhouse B grade player of the day, and the Mia Pizza senior player of the week.

The C’s took on Gawler Centrals at Xavier, and another solid bowling performance set up a pretty easy win.  The Gawler Tiger variety won the toss and batted and ended up making 119 on a lush, very lush, field. Andy Edwards and Stuart Swan the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets each, youngsters Paul Healy, Kyle Graetz and Bailey Smith each picked up a wicket, and Chris Collins found enough time in between cracking himself up at the top of his bowling mark to pitch in the remaining wicket.  Tanunda had a great day in the field, taking everything that came their way, for most of the blokes anyway…  Special mention to Paul Healy and Andy Edwards with 3 catches each, including a couple of classics.  Thanks to Pete Mernagh for sub fielding – much appreciated by all the boys, boxer shorts on the inside next time is the request from the team for next time.

George Akkerman and Dan Reu made sure there the result was never in doubt, with exceptional running between wickets on their way to a century stand to kick off our innings.  Dan continued his excellent season making an exceptional 70, with the oval being just a tad too small on a number of occasions, and George chipping in with 20.

The chase saw a couple of pieces of history….

Much to the concern of the opposition keeper who went scrambling for a helmet, George, or ‘The Big Show’ he likes to be known as now, pulled out the reverse pull shot for the first time, not once, but over and over and over, and finally found a way to hit a four after all these years (even if he did have to hit the ball twice on that occasion).

The day was also the last time Chris Collins will ever umpire in a game of cricket.  We’re not sure if it was too many lollies in the car on the way to Gawler, the stumps being too high impeding his vision, or the young lad bowling intimidating Chris by the sheer virtue of his relative height, but Chris somehow managed to smile before deciding the last ball can’t end on a wide, and should end with a wicket.  The batsman involved has made contact with the authorities, and a new bi-law has been introduced that allows Chris to be given out ‘just cause’ for the remainder of the season, hopefully the opposition take that on board in the remaining weeks.

Tundarri Sales and Service player of week goes to Dan Reu for another great effort at the top of the innings.

Good luck to all teams actually getting on the park this week – the weather forecast looks promising!