 Bevo Blitzkrieg gets first grade home
Pat Effeney and Alex Campbell in the wickets for fourths and thirds
With a 6, 6, 6, finish Iain Beverley has scored a quick fire 60 not out including 5 sixes to get first grade home against Mosman at Chatswood. Fourth grade were the only other winners as seconds and fifths lose after being in strong positions.
(Iain Beverley acknowledges his supporters after his 60 at Chatswood)
Runs to Steve Colley (66) and James Packman (47) helped our first grade victory, while great bowling performances of 7 for 49 to Pat Effeney and 5 for 32 to Alex Campbell were the highlights of fourths and thirds.
First Grade
What an amazing finish! An Iain Beverley attack of 60 not out off 37 balls has enabled Gordon to take advantage of the well made 66 by Steve Colley and the 4 wickets by Dylan Connell to get them home at Chatswood.
The match started with a 120 over day stretching ahead for both teams after their wash out last weekend and an informal agreement to split the match in half and try and secure a result. Mosman played their part with a declaration of 9 for 248 off 61 overs after Dylan Connell had kept our team in the game with some quality fast bowling of 4 for 76 from his 17 overs. Brendan McDonald also bowled well taking 2 for 47 from his 15 overs of probing leg spin.
Steve Colley smacks a four through mid wicket, Iain Beverley sees if he can catch the 5.45pm service from Chatswood to Central and Dylan set the scene with his 4 wicket haul)
With two wickets lost for 35, a partnership was needed to establish the innings and this was provided by James Packman (47) and Steve Colley (66) when they put on exactly 100 for the third wicket. Steve Colley was in great form scoring all around the wicket and being dismissed with the score at 167 after the unfortunate run out of Reece Bombas. From that point wickets stared to fall at regular intervals and with James Campbell coming to the crease at 8 for 212 and still 37 runs needed, the signs were ominous for a loss.
 Iain Beverley however, had other ideas and he started hitting the ball both over and onto the boundary and before long we needed 15 runs with 3 overs remaining.
Bevo who was facing the left arm wrist spinner Chris Payne decided with all the experience of keeping to Beau Casson for the last three years that he could pick which way he would turn and launched three consecutive sixes into and over the grandstand on the railway side of the oval. With 60 not out off 37 balls suddenly the game was over and first grade showed they can win in tight situations.
(James Kennedy takes another leap against Mosman)
First Grade scores
Gordon 8 for 252 (Steve Colley 66, Iain Beverley 60 not out, James Packman 47) defeated Mosman 9 dec for 248 (Dylan Connell 4 for 76, Brendan McDonald 2 for 47, Steve Colley 1 for 27, James Kennedy 1 for 66)
Second Grade
This was a match that got away on two occasions from the second grade team, when a win should have been the result. After a fast start by Mosman, the second’s bowlers fought back and with Chris Archer picking up 3 wickets and Will Sweeney 2, had the whales 8 for 200 off 53 overs. Another lower order run feast against the seconds however saw Mosman reach 8 for 272 by scoring 72 runs from the last 9 overs before declaring after 62 overs.
 This left a run chase of 272 with 58 overs left in the day. This was still achievable on a good (if slow) wicket, however it would have been better to chase around the 200 mark.
(Justin Avendano pulls another four to the mid wicket boundary)
The second opportunity to win the match came with the opening partnership of 99 between Justin Avendano (68) and Hamish Angus (26) off 19 overs which set up the batting for a run at the 272 needed. From then we lost 8 for 67 before some late hitting from Rob Edwards got us to 196. The wicket did not change all day and this was a very disappointing result from a team of talented cricketers.
Justin batted particularly well with some crisp drives and full blooded pull shots. Justin seemed to have a lot of time playing his shots and just got a little over excited with his shot making and was dismissed. With some patience a really big score is around the corner.
Second Grade Scores
Gordon 196 (Justin Avendano 68, Rob Edwards 32 not out, Hamish Angus 26) were defeated by Mosman 9 dec for 272 (Chris Archer 3 for 45, Will Sweeney 2 for 74, Rob Edwards 1 for 27, Henry Carmichael 1 for 27, Josh Poysden 1 for 54)
(Chris Archer, Will Sweeney and Josh Poysden in action against Mosman)
Third Grade
For thirds to recover from their dismissal for 30 last week, some exceptional bowling was needed to give them a target to chase for an outright victory after being behind on the first innings by 68 runs. The bowlers fought hard all day and Alex Campbell showed he will be challenging his older brother in the years ahead with a fine performance of 5 for 32. Alex bowled with good pace and troubled all of the batsman.
 While he was well supported by Nick Dowsley who took 3 for 21, the Mosman bats played a conservative innings and were eventually out for 171 off 62 overs. No target had been set by Mosman as hoped and Gordon needed 239 runs off 33 overs. To their credit they went at it from the start, however the challenge was too much and we finished on 6 for 139 off 33 overs with Damon Livermore 65 not out.
(Nick Dowsley against Mosman at Killara)
Third Grade scores
Mosman 98 (Alex Campbell 2-9, Ed Howitt 2-20, James Kidd 2-21, Charlie Bangs 1-6, Adam Fleming 1-9, Nick Dowsley 1-15) and 171 (Alex Campbell 5 for 32 Nick Dowsley 3 for 21 Charlie Bangs 1 for 30, Ed Howitt 1 for 45) defeated Gordon 30 and 6 for 139 (Damon Livermore 65 no, Nick Dowsley 23) on first innings
Fourth Grade
The fourths were looking for 10 points from the start after leading on the first innings last weekend and took their overnight score of 4 for 102 quickly to 9 declared for 202 from 19 overs in the first hour or so of play. Anthony Sherman relishing the opportunity to go after runs scoring 41 in quick time.
With a lead of 120, the stags set about trying to dismiss the Mosman team again, however met more resistance than in the first innings. This didn’t stop Pat Effeney from putting in his best performance with the club eventually taking 7 for 49 with his elusive outswing bowling. With wickets hard to get Pat kept coming back for more spells and kept his team in the game. Eventually the Mosman innings finished however they had put together 240, which meant Gordon had just 8 overs to score the required 120 for an outright victory.
(Pat Effeney during his 7 for 49 at Rawson, Anthony Sherman hits out while Dan Lake shows his style)
Fourth grade always love the opportunity to have a swing and reached 2 for 52 off 6 overs before calling it a day. During the final innings helter skelter Anthony Sherman scored his 6000th run for the club and made him the 16th highest run scorer in the 105 year history of the club. This is a good conclusion for Anthony’s retirement at the end of the season.
Six points keeps the fours within striking distance of the final 6 being in 8th position and three points from the sixth side. The big test will be next week when they face St. George who are leading the competition and looking strong.
(The fourths grade slips await their chance from Pat Effeney)
Fourth Grade scores
Gordon 9 dec 202 (Anthony Sherman 41, Hugo Anderson 39, Mitch Kleem 29, Tjaard Tait 29) and 2 for 51 defeated Mosman 82 (Tim Fulton 6-26 off 15.1 overs, Adam Cubbage 2-10, Tjaard Tait 1-11) and 240 (Pat Effeney 7 for 49, Tjaard Tait 1 for 28)
Fifth Grade
Fifths went into this match with a view to holding their second position and securing a spot in the final series. Unfortunately they were unable to achieve the victory and while still in third spot and 8 points ahead of sixth, they face St. George and Sydney University in the final two rounds, which will require some high level cricket to put them in the semis.
 The match seemed to be in hand with a consistent bowling performance that saw Mosman bowled out for 155 with Tim Packman taking the honours with 4 for 23. With a wicket in his first over Matt Todd looked like he would cause havoc like the last match, however it wasn’t to be and he had to settle with 1 wicket for the day.
(Andrew Chapman during his 54)
A collapse of the top order saw the stags slump to 4 for 30; however another good innings from Andrew Chapman (54) got the team back on track and at 5 for 115, the match looked safe. Our luck deserted us from here and we were all out for 126.
Fifth Grade scores
Mosman 155 (Tim Packman 4 for 23, Deva Nirthanakumaran 2 for 45, Tom Cockburn 2 for 17) defeated Gordon 126 (Andrew Chapman 54, Paul Dietz 17) | 
