Congratulations to Cameron Norton who claimed his maiden MPCC five wicket bag on Saturday taking 5 for 22 off 8 overs on Day 2 against Heathcote for the MP Sporting Edge Div.1 1st XI at Hillsborough Domain. Cam's efforts helped scuttle Heathcote for 103 and left the MP side just 15 runs to score for the outright win which they completed by 10 wickets.

  Congratulations also to Jamie "Nana" O'Connor (515) whose typically aggressive innings of 43 off 33 balls for the MP Div.4 side Saturday in a win against Burnside-West at Edgar Mac 1 took him past 500 runs for the season, the 4th time in his MPCC career to date that he has passed the milestone.

CMCA Div.1 One-Day Semi-Final Sunday 21st February ...

  The CMCA Div.1 One-Day Semi-Final will see the MP Sporting Edge Div.1 1st XI up against Halswell this Sunday 21st February at Edgar Mac 1. The match is scheduled to start at 10:30am so come along and support the guys as they look to make the Final against East Chch Shirley the following week.

Match Reports from Saturday 13th February ...

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 1st XI vs Heathcote @ Hillsborough 1 (2-Day)(Win)

  Coming off a strong day 1 performance where we ended with a lead of 2 runs with 20 overs left to bat in our first innings, we wanted to kick on and have a sizeable lead going into the second innings.

  Aaron and Rory were the not out batsmen after day 1. Rory (22) was the first to be dismissed on day 2 adding 8 runs to his tally, caught at midwicket. Jamie came and went without troubling the scorers. Aaron who started the day 39* continued his good form from the previous week and passed 50 on his way to a very well made 74 from 128 balls. Aaron and Ryan (33) put on 60 for the 8^th wicket before both fell in quick succession, followed by Jacob who was unlucky to be strangled down the leg side for a first ball duck. This brings us to one of the highlights of the season! Cam Norton coming out to face a hat-trick ball… It is fair to say that confidence on the sidelines of Cam surviving the ball was not high, but not only did he survive the ball, he pumped it over cow for 4! He ended 4 not out as Sam was run out to be the last man dismissed. We ended up on 243, giving us a lead of 89 runs going into the second innings.

  We opened the bowling with Jacob (10-3-25-2) and Ryan (8-2-21-2), both bowled reasonably well and for the most part were able to restrict Heathcote from scoring freely while picking up a couple of wickets each. Heathcote had decided to hide their better batsmen down the order with Matt House and Ben Cochrane batting at 6 and 7 being the key wickets for us if we were to win the game. Our hero number 11 came on straight after the lunch break buoyed by his newfound form with the bat and bowled one of the spells of the season. Cam picked up both big wickets as well as three others to collect his maiden 5 wicket bag for MPCC finishing with excellent figures of 8-1-22-5. Sam picked up a dubious LBW to end the Heathcote second innings at 103, leaving 15 runs to score to claim victory.

Tom Batty and Michael Thorpe were able to knock the runs off giving us a win by 10 wickets!

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Ryan

MP Sporting Edge Div.1 2nd XI vs East Chch Shirley @ Bishopdale 1 (2-Day)(Loss)

  2s returned to Bishopdale needing to get to 167 to make Easts bat again. We didn't get there. Lost Jaydyn early then Dakesy and Jono dug in for a while. When Dakesy (11 off 90-odd) nicked off, Beattie hung around with Jono for a few overs but was suckered into lobbing up a catch at mid off. Wellingtonian ring-in James Eder got a couple of runs before falling and Jono went out just before lunch after a gritty innings. Sloane and Hipster saw out the last couple of overs. After the break, Sloane hit a couple of nice boundaries, then Chris pushed at a spinning ball to be caught close, and Dave's attempt at a straight push to close out the over backfired when he accidentally middled it straight to mid-off on the full. All out for 137 after something like 66 overs. Easts didn't bat again. Next week's mission: don't soil the bed on day 1. Hopefully, Comet will have players to choose between rather than the usual scramble.

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Dave M

MP Division 4 vs BWU Broncos @ Edgar Mac 1 (Win)

  A windy yet sunny Saturday afternoon at Edgar Mac 1 was the venue for this game. Our 1^st game on our number 1 deck, thanks to some active schedule lobbying (by Bellsy and Patto) with Metro cricket to accommodate our Curry Night plans!

  We got into this game chasing our 9^th win on the trot and Gilly promptly lost the toss (yet again!) and we were put into bat. Ash and Patto opened the innings for us and saw off a few cautious overs before Patto (6) spooned one straight back to bowler. Darren (1) joined Ash but didn’t last too long as he perished to a good sharp catch at mid-off while attempting to clear the infield. In comes Nana and starts off with his usual flourish of drives, hits and smacks that also included a 6 (thanks to the wind) that pushed the score along nicely. Ash (15) managed to get bowled, after multiple attempts to sweep, paddle, thwart the ball to the legside. With the score at 51 for 3, Bellsy joins Nana and eased into his nonchalant drives to the fence. The scoring rate pushes along nicely before Nana (on 43) smacked a full-blooded drive back to the bowler who pouched it using his belly and had to take a few mins break to assess the damage before getting back onto bowl. Gilly walks in to join Bellsy in the middle and gets going with a couple of boundaries before attempting a quick double that finds Bellsy (36) “controversially” short of his ground. Umpire Ash was quite confident in his decision, much to the joy of the opposition. Bro (1) walks in and walks out, courtesy a clumsy hit back to the bowler. Jason joins a now free flowing Gilly and provides the much-needed support to push the score along nicely to 183 before Gilly softly scoops the ball to mid-wicket while attempting a pull after a well made 56 of 45 balls. Jason (14) followed soon after getting out trying to clear the field. Matty (5) and Sam (5) got a few singles away, but we folded up at 196 after 36.3 overs with Mani remaining 1 not-out. Overall a good score to defend.

  The Burnside openers Mike and Kamal walked in looking confident and started off with some brisk boundaries in the first few overs before Mani got Kamal to scoop one to Darren at midwicket with the score on 21. Mani, in his next over, cleans up Mike with a beauty and follows that up with another in-swinger to catch the new batsman Chun plumb in front. Jason kept things really tidy at the other end but was unlucky not to get a breakthrough. Mani’s opening spell had really dented Burnside’s plans, before David and Singh got in and strung a strong partnership to take Burnside to 100+ at drinks, despite a historic 20^th over by Bro. Post the break, Bellsy draws David out of his crease and Gilly whips the bails off in a flash only to draw an emphatic NO from the umpire. A few moments later David walks-off unable to withstand Gilly’s convincing “stump mike” banter about the decision. A couple of balls later Singh perishes to Bellsy trying to hoick one to cow and completely missing the ball only to find his woodwork in disarray. Bro, continuing at the other end, does the unfathomable by claiming his 1^st wicket for the club trapping the new batsman Thomas in front of the stumps. Adam and Sran tried to get the game back on track for Burnside with a useful partnership before Bellsy struck again to get Sran paddle scooping only to find Jason doing a classic one hand pluck at short fine leg. Jason came back on to pick up the wicket of Sam caught by our Sam at mid-wicket and Adam’s stiff resistance ended when Matty cleaned him up with the score on 157. There was too much to do for the last wicket and Burnside ended up with 166 in their 40 handing MPCC a well fought 30 run win.

A good strong win culminating with a delicious Curry Night, courtesy Ash, with the full team in attendance making it a tasty win to cherish!

Highlights: Gillys timely 56 ensured a defendable score. Nana’s 43 got him well past his 500 runs for the season. Bellsy’s 36 with the bat and 3-23 with the ball. Mani's brilliant 3-30.

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Ranjith

MP Division 7 Gold vs MP Division 7 Panthers @ Edgar Mac 2 (Loss)

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MP Division 7 Panthers vs MP Division 7 Gold @ Edgar Mac 2 (Win)

  Winning streak continued for Panthers as they notched up their 5th win on the trot in derby game vs MPCC Gold at Holy Edgar Mac 2. Before the match begun both teams came together for a moments silence to pay our respects to former teammate Chris Hortin and his family after their tragic loss this week.

  Gold won the toss and elected to bat first on windy afternoon. Max and Tom opened innings for Gold. Andy Anderson and Harsha opened Panthers bowling attack. Andy started his spell with back to back maidens bowling in great areas. Max and Tom gave a decent start for Gold scoring 33 runs for the first wicket. Nick replaced Harsha, got hit Six and Four in his first over from Max but took wicket of Tom on the last ball and that was great catch from Jonno at covers. Evan came to bat and Jeet took wicket of Evan in his second over. Richard came to bat at number four was looking in good touch after scoring a boundary but caught at mid-off in Jeet’s bowling. Will Joined Max and both were attacking Panther’s bowlers. They made 50 runs partnership and Gold looking solid after scoring 121 in 30 overs with two set batsmen on crease. Ronnie’s magic started in last quarter of innings took wicket of Max. Max got out at 54 and that was a real good knock. Will got out in Ronnie’s bowling after scoring quick 36 with beautiful shots. Very next ball Ronnie took wicket of Pav with an extraordinary delivery. Jonno (1/19), Jeet (3/17) and Andy (1/9) bowled beautifully in death overs. At one stage Gold was looking to set up target over 170 but extraordinary comeback from Panther’s bowlers restricted Gold for 9/145 in 40 overs. Unlike last game at Walter Park Panther’s fielding standards improved a lot in this game. 

  Chasing a competitive target of 146, birthday boy Louis Stevens playing his first game this year opened with Joel Singer whereas Max and Sam opened Gold’s bowling attack. Gold ain’t got a decent start as Joel hit 3 fours and a mighty six in second over. After adding quick 40 runs for the first wicket, Joel got out caught behind in Sam Gardner’s bowling. That was a good comeback from Sam Gardner after his first over. Sunnie came to bat at number 3 got out early in Max’s bowling. Andy Richards joined Louis, both rotated strike adding 23 runs. Louis was looking in good touch after scoring couple of beautiful shots onside, but got out in David Frost’s bowling after scoring 21 runs. Very soon Panther’s lost their fourth wicket after losing Andy Richards in Willam’s bowling. Losing four wickets for 70 runs before drinks put Gold on driver seat. But Gold’s bowlers failed to trouble new batsmen, Jonathan Abbott and Dean August played responsible innings respecting good balls and punishing bad ones. Their excellent partnership of 76 runs brought Panthers home and that was 5th win in a row for Panthers. Gold’s bowlers Max, Sam, David and Williams got one wicket each and Himanshu took two catches. 

Overall it’s a great day of cricket, derby game is always exciting for both teams, currently winning one game against each other and I wish both teams good luck for the rest of this season.

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Harsha Reddy

MP Cavaliers T20 vs Heathcote Hustlers @ Barnett 1 (Win)

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MP Beverage Brothers Presidents vs Sumner @ Polo 2a (T20 - Loss)

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MP Presidents Gold vs Sumner @ Polo 6a (T20 - Loss)

  President's Day at Hagley with a twist. The advent of 20/20 cricket threw up the challenges of double headers on a park that was near impossible to get a park relatively close to proceedings. MPCC Gold had the first up job of facing off against Sumner on Polo 6a at the designated kick off time of 12:00. Some midweek antics had the batting order drawn up early so no thinking was involved as we were asked to have a bat first (totally didn't hear what the toss result was as was retrieving the beverages)? First ball ended out past the boundary having missed everything and everyone and the second was slammed through cover for the same result. Then it tightened up. Hume and Pickle opening up with the chance to face the most balls possible, failed pretty miserably and Steve was dismissed in the second over second ball faced, Josh Heke putting on the boots for Pressies (possibly first time this year) and bowling his four overs on the trot picking up Millar (6) and Pricey (7) as well for his 4/0/26/3. Sherwood held up the other end throwing down his four over spell for only 17 but no success in the wickets column. We had a good partnership when Flats got to the crease (his first turn out for the season) and combined with Hume. The boys made it to the eleventh over when a dubious run out put Hume on the sideline at 31 (24), but this opened the door for Dearsley to have a hit. Floating around like a bumblebee unable to pick a flower he was buzzing around madly making it hard for the bowlers to get a line and length and he profitted for a while. A mistimed drive accounted for PD (13) unable to lift over Marsh at mid-off from the bowling of Garner, then Costello knocked over Mayo (5). A decent seventh wicket stand by Crimp and Flattery kept the score ticking along until Crimp picked out Thomas (third catch of the game) off Fluff, going for 11. A picket fence ended our innings at 121, GP 3* (3) and Flattery pushing through to an unbeaten 33* (40), holding our innings together.

  From what I heard at the pavillion, this was actually quite a decent score on the day and we should have been quite pleased. Pity Russ and Marsh didn't share our view and put us to the sword. It unfolded like so... Thomas and Marsh opened the batting for Sumner, we had a rotating over by over policy started off by Crimp and PD. We picked up Thomas in the second as he attempted to pump a drive down the ground off Dearsley only to find one of the two boundary riders (Millar) in the way, dismissed for 5. It ended up being the only bright light in the murk that was our bowling attempt. Russell and Marsh being quite brutal down the ground finding the boundary way more that we would have liked and some of our fielding wasn't up to the standard we like to set ourselves, not that we dropped anything, there just was nothing to take within range. Long story short, 122 runs was significantly short of the score we required to head off Sumner that day, Marsh holding his bat for 42* (39) and Russ slamming his 71* off 35 deliveries. We managed to hold out to the 14th over as the two selfish buggers bludgeoned the red ink, not willing to let others in the team contribute...Lol.

Next game coming up,

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Cheers, Pickle.

MP Presidents Gold vs Sydenham Cardinals @ Polo 6a (T20 - Win)

  Second game on the Polo 6, brought over the Cardinals to renew our one sided rivalry on "rubber duckies". I know this time Richie lost the toss but some unusual conversation ended up with us having a bat first anyway (I'm told that's what we wanted to do in the first place). Same batting order as the first game and the script went almost exactly the same. Hume and Pickle lasting to the second over, Steve (7) again removed cheaply by Wazza, Millar in for some fun and giggles gone in the fourth for 13, again Guy pulling the strings. Pricey scooping the first ball for four then bowled a couple of balls later, Piet Barkhuzien scamming a game for the Cards blowing through him. This brought Flats and Hume together again, and, once again a good partnership developed. From 37/3 this pair caressed 54 together before Hume got greedy attempted to plant Winder out of the park, ended up scooping a bit more than intended to give a chance to Matthews at a deep fine mid-on, gone for 41. Dearsley, on this occasion didn't get out of the over, stump tipped back without scoring. Mayo had a reversal of fortune, backing his eye, and, out of his crease or floating the lines decided to boof his way to a decent score. After Brown accounted for Flats, knicking off to Spence for 27, and seeing Crimp being removed for 1 in the same manner (Walker the bowler on the occasion), Mayo stuck it out with Peters to get us to 147 before skying a monster in the final over, falling to the athleticism of one Bert Walker, his innings terminated at 40 (21). Muzz got his first swing of the bat in a long time, but with only two balls left to face, didn't have the time to be effective, Spence picking up his third catch behind the stumps and Winder scooping the bowling award with 4/0/28/4. MPCC Gold finishing the overs with 148/8 and Peters having his second not out, this time 7*.

  A better score second time round, but with the ledger against us probably going to be short with a powerful Cardinal batting line up. Things looked grim after two overs with 32 runs already on the board and a rampant Matthews and Barkhuizen wailing away with the bat. Then the turning of the tide... A strange decision to take on Pickles arm at square leg and a bit of a mix up with the call saw Piet trudging back to the hutch for 9, stumps struck clean. That man called Run Out devastated the top order accounting for both McKay (3) and Yousef (0), score at 37, Matthews bemused at the other end having seen Mayo (also at square leg, but in the next over), find first Hume then Price to assist the removal of the bails. Nemesis Phil Walker added some semblance of discipline to the running, but their partnership was broken via a slower ball onto Matthews bat popping up to Millar at deep mid-on to keep him running to the sideline for 45. Wild joined Walker and cut his way back into the ascendancy pushing the score to 96, losing Phil (11) top edging Millar to Price who effected a great diving catch from keeper. Flats teased Wild into a false shot, Hume accepting the catch, Wild gone for 21. A touch later Winder (10) was caught by Skudz off Millar which turned things back on it's head again. Wazza picking his balls to hit strong and turning over the strike when it wasn't there. Dearsley was brought back and picked up Brown for 2, but next man in Spence hit him out of the attack. Three overs left and the equation read 127/8, Spence and Guy looking comfortable. Crimp bowled almost the perfect over only being put back over his head for the only scoring shot off the six balls, bringing the total to 131/8, two overs left. Daring to breathe Pickle got the penultimate over 1,1,1,1,1,Wicket. Spence frustrated into a rash shot, Mayo accepting the steepler. We thought the most important thing was the batsmen crossing and leaving the super star Bert Walker on strike for the first ball from Crimp. 136/9 one over to go tail to face 12 for the tie... First ball bunted for 1, second missed and third squirted for a single. Fourth ball found the pads of Bert and hurried towards the fine leg boundary only to be intercepted a foot short by a desperate Price, keeping it to two. Bert, obviously annoyed not to have the full runs off the previous ball swung lustily, connected and pumped a straight boundary four to the exasperation of the Merivale boys, four to tie, six to win off the last ball, all the pressure shared by everyone on the field at that time. Ball is bowled, ball is hit, hit quite hard, hit quite straight, not straight enough, Flattery in the way, ball is fielded, ball is thrown, runs are made, not enough though, Cardinals found two runs short of the tie mark, another epic match concluded, MPCC score their first win ever against this opposition... Wazza finishing 20* and Bert 7*.

As Presidents Day after functions are always worth a look both teams made their way to the pavilion to participate in festivities even though neither got a good look at the fabulous raffle prizes, the drinks tasted good and conversation was great...

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Cheers, Pickle

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Saturday 20th February:

• MP Sporting Edge Div.1 1st XI vs Halswell @ Edgar Mac 1 (2-Day)(Day 1)
• MP Sporting Edge Div.1 2nd XI vs Heathcote @ Heathcote 1 (2-Day)(Day 1)
• MP Div.4 vs OBC Team Boon @ Bishopdale 1
• MP Div.7 Panthers vs The Buffaloes @ Barrington 2
• MP Div.7 Gold vs The Wanderers @ Nunweek 1
• MP Beverage Brothers Presidents vs Sydenham Cardinals @ Sydenham 2
• MP Gold Presidents vs Lancaster Park @ Garrick 2
• MP Cavaliers T20 vs OBC Racoons @ Edgar Mac 2

Sporting Edge MPCC Draw for Sunday 21st February:

• MP Sporting Edge Div.1 1st XI vs Halswell @ Edgar Mac 1 (1-Day Semi-Final)(10:30am Start)

Mens Subs for Season 2020/21 … 

Men’s full subs to be $260 for a season if fully paid by 30 November, 2020 or if an AP has been established in writing with the Treasurer by 30 November, 2020. Otherwise the subscription to be increased to $300 for late payment. ($130 for students and team captains, or $170 for late payment).

• MPCC 5-Year Adult Membership … $1100 (To be paid immediately and in full).
• MPCC 10-Year Adult Membership … $2000 (To be paid immediately and in full).

Internet Banking ...

When paying your subs by Internet Banking ...

• The clubs bank account details are:
• Westpac 03 0866 0269318 000
• Merivale Papanui Cricket Club Inc
• When making a transfer please state your full name as a reference.

Facebook ...

Both the Senior and Junior sections of MPCC can be found on Facebook ....

• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Cricket Club
• Click Here for Merivale Papanui Junior Cricket Club
• Be sure to "LIKE" both pages.

If you have any queries send us an email to mpcricket@xtra.co.nz

Article added: Tuesday 16 February 2021