Valley of Peace vs Christchurch Golf Club, 13th Dec 2020

We were greeted to overcast but muggy conditions, with a stunning outfield and a hard but fresh deck. Our opponents for the day were Christchurch Golf Club (CGC) who seem to lift a notch when they get to oppose their former teammate, Tom Music.

Winning the toss we elected to bowl and had Dan Hooper (0-30 off 8) & Rumesh (1-20 off 10) starting off with some tight, challenging bowling. CGC battled hard with some good hitting from Bakermans (19) at the top of the order, and a resolute inning of 24 from Sanders.

House (1-37 off 9), Carter (0-19 off 5) and Levenger (0-11 off 2) all bowled well from the city end while Larter (4-19 off 10) and Frickleton (3-23 off 7) made good inroads from the pavilion end with Music picking up two very good slip catches.

At 80 for 5 in the 30th over VOP had the edge, but were aware that Wisneski was a threat as he continued to step down the wicket and hit strongly against the moving ball.

With an invaluable innings of 48 and a 51 run partnership for the 7th wicket with Reed (12*) Wisneski lifted CGC to a more than competitive total of 165/9 as VOP struggled to tie him down and pick up wickets from the other end.

In reply VOP had a number of starts from Music (11), Carter (10), and Larter (19) with Eathorne anchoring the innings with 18. This unfortunately left too much to do for Rumesh (22) & an injured Hooper at the end as VOP managed 121 all out in reply.

Injuries to Hooper & Levenger, and 3 dropped catches didn’t help our cause but CGC were deserved winners by 44 runs.

As always the game against CGC was a good battle and played in the right spirit.

Many thanks for Messrs Eathorne and Tritschler for hosting us on the day and Mr Polson and his team for the hard work as always on preparing such a great pitch and excellent setting to play cricket in.

Ben Larter
VoP Captain for the Day

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