Brown Brown's at Bower Park

The latest draw of the 4A grade saw the Neuf rostered to play at the home of Otautahi Rugby against New Brighton Gold. As one could imagine it was not the most idyllic of places to play, combined with the fact we were to play on an artificial pitch, something the Neuf has not done since it dominated teams at Burnside Park many seasons ago. We felt it necessary then to purchase a couple of big red suitcases of Brown Brown's to get into the vibe of the place.

The day also saw the return of another stalwart in Kyle Rennie pulling on the colour for the SNCC. Having beat NB Gold in the first round we knew if we could get some good runs on the board we would have a good chance of winning again. This time however they had a new bowler who some of the lads had been told the night before could bowl in excess of 130kmph. He soon accounted for two top order wickets, but Cameron and Shaun Knapp set about dispatching a few balls to the boundary. This resistance was short lived as another couple of men fell and was up to Cameron and Tom McRae to be the rocks in the middle order. A valiant half century and a few starts by the lower order and tail saw the Neuf get through to 202/9.

The team felt once again that we had fallen a bit short in the runs department. The bowling effort did not start the best and were on the end of a bit of tap. But an inspired yet slightly intoxicated bowling change saw Spackman take a much needed wicket. Unfortunately that would be about as much in the game as we would get. Having one of the more potent bowling attacks in the grade, we struggled to get any penetration on the artificial pitch. We had a chance when their top batsmen hit a lolly of a catch to Luke at short mid-wicket which he butchered, from then on the heads went down and so did a few more beers as we plunged in the end to a fairly hefty defeat as their top batsmen hit a six to win the game and get a century in the process.

Only three weeks to go in the anniversary season for the SNCC, so anyone who was thinking about playing a game before the end of the season better get in quick!

M. Mace