Number 8

A club Top Ten batting performance, and a fairly reasonable bowling performance.

#8: JOHN MARKHAM – 167n.o. and PAUL THOMAS 7/66. 1st XI. Round 12, 2006/07.

BOONY’s 200th Game
We’re home to Gladdy, our arch-rivals. It’s a BIG game. We know we will be playing them again in March. The fact it’s my 200th game makes me a little more nervous than I usually am.
Gladdy wins the toss and sends us in to bat, and within an hour or 2, that decision seems vindicated as we are 4/67. Gladdy have their tails up as they have just dismissed Gooch & Tuddy for not many. Chops walks to the crease in his usual fashion. Always with purpose. Always with intent. If you could read Chops’ mind, I reckon it’d be, “Ok, *****. Lets see what you’ve got.”
Chops and Shane Lee do what they do best. They just bat. They punish the bad balls & push hard between wickets. Shane-o brings up his 50 but soon departs with the score on a healthy 194. Chops just keeps batting as a few more wickets fall, and then Justy plays one of his cameo’s that we’ve come
to love & appreciate. Together they pile on 90 in no time. After 80 overs, we are 7/354. Chops ends up on 167 not out. This innings has been pure batting brilliance. He’s come a long way from his first night training at Lakes where he didn’t get a bat or bowl. We kept him hungry. Well I think that was the plan anyway.
The following week sees me open the bowling with Gooch. I’m bowling ok but it's Gooch causing carnage from the other end. He has taken the first 5 wickets. I can feel my spell is coming to an end. I then bowl a “Johnny Howard” to Paul Viani which everyone finds amusing. But what I find amusing was that of all the shots P Viani could play to that ball, he decids to late cut it…..My day is done.
There’s no doubt Gooch is the star of the day – 7/66 off 35 overs including 14 maidens. I can’t recall a single bad ball. He has been sharp and deadly accurate. That’s when I realised, this guy was born to bowl.
We win by 178 runs – a resounding victory. We enjoy the victory that night & I promise myself never to forget what Chops & Gooch produced in my 200th game.