Round 8 the last game before the Christmas break was Coburg at Coburg, we won the toss and decided to bat. The outfield was very lush and a touch slow but the wicket looked good to bat on early. Jarrod Martignago and Taylor Tatterson got us off to a flyer once again as the boys put on about 100 for the first wicket stand setting the game up beautifully for us. Taylor dismissed for 35 and Jarrod not long after for a very well played 73. Lachie McKenna came to the crease with some real intent as he smashed the ball to all parts of the ground. Lachie eventually dismissed for 51 as Declan O’Brien once again made another contribution with the bat. We went past the 200 mark as we looked to get as many as we could, so we were able to swing the willow a bit. Ending up with we felt was a very competitive score of 244 off our 45 overs.

We were always going to have to bowl and field well, as Coburg had a couple of very classy top order players. We did just that, and Lachie McKenna got us going with the big wicket of Aaron Ayre in the 4th over. Coburg looked to attack early and take us on as they were successful in periods of the power play, we stuck to what we know and continued to wear them down. Harry Lumsden took the other big wicket of Aaron Shellie as he looked extremely dangerous with the bat, from there we were able to take wickets pretty consistently as Sam Hope, Dan Schuppan, Sonny Mandalika, Harry Lumsden and Jakson Knight all successful in taking wickets for the day. We ever eventually dismissed Coburg for 148 in the 37th over in a pretty convincing win, Sonny 3/30, Don 2/33, Sam 2/13 were the pick of the bowlers.

We were able to bowl and field back at our very best which went a long way towards us winning the game with a pretty good all round performance. We take a break now over Christmas, and we look to come back super refreshed in the new year and ready for a big second half of the year. Round 9 will be our biggest test this year as we host 2nd place Kew at home.