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Tales from Down Under, November 26
Chorley-based cricket star Luis Reece is currently playing for Sunshine Coast Scorchers in Australia and is sending back weekly reports of his adventures...
After a successful start to the season the Sunshine Coast Scorchers are going through a similar blip to the Australian Test team at the moment.
We played against a team called Sandgate Redcliffe at home on the Saturday and after being put in the field on what was certain to be a seriously hot day it's fair to say the pitch looked a real belter.
It took a while to get a breakthrough but the visitors never took control by scoring quickly.
I also bowled my longest ever bowling spell, nine overs on the bounce, and it was a good test of the fitness.
However I seemed to pass that test recording figures of 2-25 off 13.
We ended the first day with the opponents at 260 for 8.
We came back the following Saturday with the mindset of bowling them out quickly and then go about our run chase.
The plan started off well, we were able to bowl them out quickly for 270.
Getting off to a good start we reached 40 before the first wicket fell, which brought me to the crease, however my stay was once again short when hesitation brought to me being run out.
Wickets continued to fall as we were bowled out a long way short of our target, ending our winning streak. The players were disappointed by our batting performance.
The following day saw us play a one day game against University of Brisbane, which we needed to win in order to keep us in a good position in the league.
Storms had come in on Saturday night, with a lot of rain falling.
The morning of the game saw me doing something I didn't think I would over in sunny Australia, ground work, removing water from the ground.
Eventually play got under way in a reduced match of 30 overs.
Winning the toss we put them into bat, however we weren't expecting the following as Uni posted a massive total of 250 off 30 overs.
Queensland-contracted batsman Martin Love (74) and Michael Buchanan (88) shared a brutal 152-run partnership.
Buchanan faced just 45 balls while former Test player Love scored at almost a run a ball.
In the circumstances my figures of 1-22 off five overs were quite respectable.
We needed a good start in order to be in with a chance.
Unfortunately wickets fell quickly as we soon found ourselves 67-7 when I came to the crease.
With no chance to win the game my partner and I decided to stay positive and play our shots and we doubled the score to finish on
132-7.
From a personal point of view it was nice to finish on 33 not out although it takes away from the fact it was a bad weekend which the boys are really looking forward to putting right next week.
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Weather for Leyland
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
