Macca: On pitch that looks like a long and winding road to Istanbul
Livingstone Building Rosetown Rogues’ Andrew “Macca” Macpherson scored 36 not-out against Cambridge in Sunday golden oldies cricket.
Winning the toss was vital to the outcome of this game, with the cards drawn and with elder statesman Bill Harris drawing the captain’s card, the toss was done and lost.
With the Cambridge pitch looking like the main highway into Istanbul with no grass, a little bit of rolled mud and fine shingle stones in the base, Cambridge decided to bat on it first.
The bounce of the ball was very uneven but if you bowled a bad ball it was duly dispatched to the outer acorn areas surrounding the park.
The Rogues bowlers of the day were Gavin “Chats” Chatfield 3/8 and Pete Lawry 2/30.
Other bowlers to feature were Harris 1/19, Te Oti Kaihe 1/14 and Mike Naylor with 1/21.
The biggest highlights for the fielding team were the magnificent catch and brilliant run out executed by Peter Clark.
All said Cambridge amassed a formidable total 216/9.
Macca and Chats opened the batting but with the ball doing funny things Chats was caught behind for just one run and the Rogues knew it was going to be tough.
With wickets falling the Rogues were 14/2 off six overs.
Macca and Kaihe came together for the third wicket and put on a 40 run partnership before Macca had to retire.
Kaihe also had to retire and the Rogues were still at 88/2 off 21 overs with a lot of work to do.
The pressure came on and with contributions from Wolfe (16) and John Bernau (11) the Rogues were in trouble at 125/9 off 30 overs.
With Macca and Kaihe back into bat again and needing to score 12 runs per over the game came to an end after a Cambridge fielder took the catch of the day on the boundary to dismiss Kaihe for 32 and the Rogues for 134/10.
Rosetown Rogues’ next game is on April 2 against Masterton’s Parkvale Puffers in Taupo¯.