After a thrilling tie in Rd1, the Wolves lined up at Home against Gellibrand on a humid day to play on a belter of a wicket on Oval 2.

We welcomed two debutants in Josie Paterson and Megan Knight, who took their caps from veteran/friend Stacey Ansell and Club Captain/husband Jakson Knight respectively.

Gellibrand won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a couple of players fill in from their Division 1 Ladies team and it was a challenge playing against them.

The Lighthouses got off to a flyer with 15 off the first 2 overs, before Captain Beckett provided the first breakthrough.

The first half was hard going for us, but Sam Davies, Josie, Mel, and Meg soldiered on. Steph McDevitt was the pick of the bowlers in the first half and bowled a brilliant first over (including a jaffa to clean bowl Gellibrand’s 4 bat). But, despite our best efforts, the runs kept flowing and it looked like the game would get away from us. 2/61 at the halfway point and The Lighthouses’ big guns were still in the game.

But the Wolves did not give up. The bowling and fielding in the second half was outstanding and we held Gellibrand to 116.

Rose Beckett’s second spell of 3ov 1md 0/5 was something special to watch and she was very unlucky not to take a few wickets.

Special mention to Stephanie McDevitt who had to step up and keep wickets for the first time ever for half the innings. Rockets showed great team spirit and energy wearing the gauntlets.

So the Wolves had a very manageable 117 to chase off 20 overs, but unfortunately we had a tough start. Gellibrand’s two opening bowlers tore through our top order and we were reduced to 5/13 after 4ov.

Yet again, the Wolves did not give up. Resident run machine Sarah Grouios, quiet achiever Steph McDevitt and debutant Megan Knight stopped the rot and strung some great partnerships together. Again, for such an inexperienced team, the skills and fight were fantastic to watch.

Unfortunately 117 was a bridge too far and after Megs was unluckily caught off the back of her bat, we were bowled out in 15.4ov for 95. Your correspondent was/is absolutely certain that if we batted our entire 20ov, we would’ve won.

The Ladies nearly pulled off a heist and improved massively from Rd1. One of the many peculiarities of cricket, is that you can play better and get worse results. The process, however is always more important than the result. We will take heart from this performance and come back better.

Thank you to the many volunteers and the iconic Stephen Jamieson for scoring the game for us.

Standout bowlers:
Rose Beckett – 4ov 1md 0/11
Amanda Beckett – 2ov 1/9
Stephanie McDevitt – 2ov 1/4
Megan Knight – 3ov 0/19

Standout batters:
Sarah Grouios – 18* off 31 balls
Stephanie McDevitt – 15 off 30 balls
Megan Knight – 8 off 25 balls

We have 3 weeks off to rest some sore bodies, practice smart in the nets and come back on 9 November to take on Hoppers Crossing

Coach Sonny