Bayside U12 Lightning Premiership
Brighton Cricket Club again entered a team to compete in this fun event. Brighton has had a history of success in previous years (2008, 2015 & 2016) in the 14 years this tournament has been running.
The Under 12 A’s were tasked with the duty of representing the club and fielded a pretty good side with some help from Seb Fyfe (12B) filling in and Moe Spencer whilst playing in the 14Bs is still an eligible 12’s player.
The team (pictured left, with their coach) was:
Back l-r: Nicky Robertson(C), Aiden Williams, Sam Fanning, Enzo Anderson, Hugo Dale
Front: Josh Dolan, Nick Gillard, Charlie Landrigan, Seb Fyfe, Kane Langdon & Moe Spencer
The competition was played over 2 qualifying matches with the top 2 best performing teams playing off in the Big Dance. 1st up BCC played against the only team to defeat them so far in the regular season: Ormond. Ormond batted pretty well and finished with 67. No wickets taken by the bowlers however two run-outs happened and overall a decent bowling effort.
After a slow 1st over with the bat, with BCC only scoring 1 run, the openers then set about the task of knocking off the runs. Enter Moe Spencer! 3 sixes and he had to retire. Charlie “Chuck” Landrigan came in at 3 and hit his 1st ball for a 6! Enzo Anderson was steady and retired at 15 and Chuck also retired on 15. Sam Fanning made a well compiled 10 with good support from the Skipper Nicky Robertson and the Tonners saluted by making 2/78 from their 10 overs.
Game 2 saw BCC take on hosts Brighton Union. A very solid bowling effort by BCC restricted Union to a score of 60 however with 9 wides the run chase could have been a lot easier. Better performers were Hugo Dale (normally the regular keeper) who came on and bowled some nice little Off-Spinners taking 2/3 and was also on a hat trick! Some good fielding by the boys completed 3 run-outs to Union and a lot of tears coming off the ground! The boys thought they had this one in the bag before even batting! It always will come back to haunt you if you are too confident.
A tight 1st over saw BCC only get 2. We then lost our 1st wicket with previous innings retiree Enzo out without troubling the scorers. Previous game heroics from Moe Spencer were expected from the BCC faithful and Moe was doing well before playing across the line and was out for 9 – Interesting times ahead.
The middle order was very composed with Sam Fanning making a well compiled 12 before smashing a leg side ball to a fielder on the boundary trying for the big Dorothy Dixer. Chuck Landrigan again played well and was out caught for 14 after trying to loft one over cover. 4/41 off 6 overs. Nicky Robertson and Hugo Dale calmly knocked off the runs and Hugo finished with 16 N.O, Nicky with 5 and Nick Gillard with a cheeky 2 at the finish.
A sigh of relief to all the BCC supporters on the sideline and the boys were through to the big dance against last year’s defending champs – Bentleigh A.N.A. Bentleigh won the toss and elected to bat 1st. A good crowd of 60 odd people were in attendance and junior ambassadors Emma & Ian Hepples made the long trek down to Hurlingham Park to see what would happen in the final.
A phenomenal bowling performance by all the Brighton bowlers kept the opposition to a total of 47 after their allotted 10 overs – an amazing job by the boys. Special mention to Kane Langdon who bowled brilliantly all day but again showed you don’t need to be quick – just accurate and he took 3/2 in his over! Enzo Anderson also chimed in with a little 2/6 and could have been 2/2 if his last ball wasn’t edged past the keeper for 4.
The batting in the final was a very cautious approach by all the batters. After 4 overs we were 3/10. Moe Spencer was the danger man and the opposition umpire sensed this and when Moe shouldered arms to a leg side ball that hit him in his backside the finger was raised quicker than you could blink an eye! A runout to Enzo and then Sam Fanning taking a leaf out of his dad’s batting book “if it’s up it’s got to go” and smashed a drive over the bowlers’ head only to see long off run to his right and dive to take a screamer. Young Fanning disappointed to go out 1st ball but the parents were quite happy with Duck on the menu for dinner!
Then a terrific partnership from Chuck Landrigan and skipper Nicky Robertson saw both boys retire on 15 which left Hugo Dale to clean up and get the winning runs. A tight run chase set up by a brilliant bowling performance saw the Tonners salute. We were helped out with 14 extras from the A.N.A bowlers however a win is a win and credit to our boys – they acquitted themselves brilliantly all day.
Player of the tournament went to Brighton’s Charlie “Chuck” Landrigan who was consistent throughout and a deserved winner – Well done young fella!
Big thanks to Sean & Tim for doing the scoring and also to all parents who allowed their boys to play and give up a Sunday however in the end I think the result for the boys was well worth the sacrifice.
Simon Fanning
12A Coach
