Three out of five ain’t bad – that’s what the Camden Campbelltown Ghosts will be saying today after the completion of their two day matches against Parramatta in five grades.
The Ghosts prevailed in first, fourth and fifth grades, but just couldn’t do it in seconds and thirds, despite gallant efforts by the members of those two teams.
Add victories by two junior teams and a T20 win by the first grade women’s team and maybe it should be six out of nine ain’t bad.
First grade bowled well on the first day of the match to dismiss Parramatta for 238 runs and started the chase well to be 2/86 at stumps.
Captain Josh Clarke and night watchman Luke Webb (26) started well on day two, taking the score to 3/129 runs before Webb was dismissed.
A solid partnership with Paddison (28) followed and Clarke took the score to 4/192 runs, just 47 runs more needed for victory, with six wickets still in hand for the Ghosts.
The fall of captain Josh Clarke (85) at 5/196 led to a significant change to the match with wickets falling in quick succession.
Before they knew what hit them, the Ghosts had lost nine wickets and still needed another nine runs to win the match.
But a steady hand from rising youngster Jordan Gauci (13 not out) and Hameed Kerkhah snared the winning points, the Ghosts finishing with 9/239.
The six points puts the Ghosts a clear third on the Sydney Grade ladder.
♦ Second grade fought hard to dismiss Parra for 251 runs on day one, but struggled with the bat in reply, being 3/15 at one stage before being dismissed for 143 – still more than 100 runs short of the target.
There were notable contributions from Tyler Edwards (71) and Todd O’Keefe (28).
♦ In third grade the Ghosts bowled very well on day one to dismiss Parra for 192 runs.
The Ghosts thirds were well in control on day two with the score at 7/191, with De Zoysa (51) and Sharma (45) leading the way.
But in an incredible finish, the cricket gods deserted the Ghosts, who lost three wickets for no runs and lose the match.
♦ Fourth grade played a strong game throughout by dismissing Parra for 159 runs, Luke Miner taking 6/35 runs.
The Ghosts batters also performed well allowing the team to declare at 4/160 runs and a first innings win, Hreszcuk (50) lead the way.
Parramatta batted out the day to be 2/180 at end of play.
♦ In the fifth grade clash, the Ghosts struggled with the bat on day one, finishing with 171 thanks to an outstanding 123 runs from Binskin.
Parramatta were well placed in the run chase going to stumps on day one at 4/100, but the Ghosts bowlers stuck to their task and dismissed them 30 runs short of victory.
♦ The Camden Campbelltown Ghosts Poidevin Grey U/21 side played on Sunday against arch rivals Bankstown. Ghosts batted first and scored 232 runs. Bankstown could not keep up the run chase and finished with 162 runs only for another win to Ghosts.
♦ The Ghosts Masters side also had a win on Sunday defending their score off 230 runs.
♦ The women’s senior sides played two T20 matches at Raby oval on Sunday. Second grade, despite posting a scoring a respectable 155 runs, were run down by Parramatta in the 19th over.
In first grade, the Ghosts women bowled well to dismiss Gordon for 115 runs. The run chase had its ups and downs and came down to the final over of 6 balls for 6 runs. The winning runs were hit off the last ball of the day’s play.
♦ Special congratulations to the CDCA Watson Shield U/16 side who won the shield on Sunday by also defeating Bankstown – an outstanding effort by the young Ghosts.
