The opening round of the Sydney Cricket Association season against the Eastern Suburbs Dolphins belonged to newly appointed Ghosts captain Joshua Clarke, writes Jason Ellsmore in his first report:
The young skipper guided the locals around the number one Raby ground for all 100 overs of the round one limited overs match.
Losing the toss on a slow Raby wicket under an inclement sky, Clarke watched his opening bowlers Scott Coyte and Tom Rogers take three wickets each before the Ghosts restricted the visitors to 7/244.
A second wicket partnership from Easts of 100 runs was the only point in the game that the visitors looked likely to take control of the match.
Throughout the Eastern Suburbs innings the Ghosts had suffered setbacks, losing two of their bowlers – Luke Webb and Abdul Kherkhah – to hand injuries. These were sustained fielding off their own bowling.
The afternoon session belonged to Clarke. He batted from the first ball to the last placing him in the game for the whole match and creating a Campbelltown Camden DCC record of the highest score by a captain on debut. Clarke was unbeaten on 140 runs when the Ghosts ran down the visitors’ score with four balls to spare.
The skipper was focused right throughout his chanceless innings. He worked the Dolphin bowlers to all parts of the ground and when given the chance he ruthlessly punished them to the large Raby boundary.
The recently selected NSW player Ryan Gibson, who joined Clarke when Damien Mortimer fell for 18 and the score at 34, looked to start his season in similar fashion to last year before he was caught for 39. The remaining three Ghosts batsmen to take the crease simply supported Clarke.
♦ The Ghosts second grade game was a battle from start to finish and again a young Ghosts captain on debut led his team from the front.
Dan Constable posted 74 runs of his teams’ total as the Ghosts scrambled their way to 174 runs before being dismissed two balls short of the allocated 50 overs. Constable was well supported by his bowlers.
Mitchell McGrath bowled superbly, finishing with 3/30 while Josh Dunning bowled tightly in taking 2/26 from his allocated 10 overs. Young spinner Jordan Browne also bowled well on Waverley Oval, completing his 10 overs with figures of 2/25.
The Ghosts defeated Eastern Suburbs by 23 runs after rolling them for 152.
♦ In third grade the Ghosts young side were defeated by a strong Easts team fairly convincingly. In a reduced overs match, the Ghosts total of 8/118 was surpassed in the 29th over by the visitors who lost four wickets in the process. In his first game for the Ghosts, Jarrod Colliss opened his season for the locals with a well compiled 48 runs.
♦ The fourth grade match at Randwick was abandoned before a ball was bowled.
♦ On Raby #3 after a delayed start due to the wet conditions, the Ghosts fifth grade were sent in after losing the toss. In the 45 overs a side reduced affair, Nick Appleton (69 runs) and Cameron Binskin (71 runs) provided the Ghosts bowlers with a respectable target of 5/195.
Veteran Roscoe Ray took 4 for 18 off 10 overs to shatter the Easts top order and extend his all time club bowling record to 377 wickets.
