The first game against St Paul’s College, Walla Walla on Friday, 2nd of November was played at Xavier 2 oval. It was an interesting day weather wise with both strong winds and a little rain. Xavier won the toss and batted first but lost some early wickets. Joseph Woeckel Hynes and Jordan Croker steadied the innings, Joseph being unfortunately run out on a well deserved 98 and Jordan making 22. Foster Gardiner and Pat Lockwood batted well at the end of the innings to bring the total to 188 off 35 overs. Bailey Hodgson and Will Batrouney opened the bowling and did not give too many runs away keeping everything tight, Bailey with 1/12 and Will 4/10. Riley Semmens and Jordan Rhodes came in first change and both picked up 2 wickets. The fielding was excellent with some sharp catches and a run out to have them all out for 41.
The second game against Billabong High School on Tuesday, 27th of November was a little tougher. It was also played at Xavier 2 oval and the weather was perfect. Billabong won the toss and decided to bat first. The fielding wasn’t the best at times but the opening bowlers, Dawson Fuller and Will Batrouney with great backup by Rory Parnell and Riley Semmens kept the run rate down so low that the opposition had very little overs left to actually hit out and make a good total. Oscar Lyons picked up 4/21 and Dawson Fuller made a spectacular run out with one stump to aim at. Billabong High made 5 for 120 off the 35 overs. Xavier batted after lunch and the opening pair of Joseph Woeckel Hynes and Jordan Croker made a strong start with Joseph making a fine 56 and Jordan 17. Oscar Lyons made a quick 20 and all was looking fine until a quick succession of wickets saw the scoring slow down dramatically (memories of Australia versus Pakistan flooded back). Rory Parnell and Brad Marshal stopped any more wickets being lost and batted very steadily and were able to pass Billabong’s total with 6 overs to spare and only 5 wickets down.
The 15 man squad has worked well together as a team and are looking forward to the finals early next year. Well done boys.