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Tales from Down Under, January 28
Chorley-based cricket star Luis Reece is currently playing for Sunshine Coast Scorchers in Australia and is sending back weekly reports of his adventures...
Iit's a been a case of more highs and lows during my Australian cricketing adventure.
As I mentioned in last week's column, I was able to back up my recall to the Scorchers 1st XI with a solid bowling performance.
However, things didn't stay that way when it came to batting.
Starting the day off at 25 for 3 the Sunshine Coast team had a lot to do and thanks to some aggressive batting we reached 70 for 3.
However we lost two more wickets but were able to welcome back first class player Ashley Noffke, who recently underwent surgery for skin cancer.
He took the score to 130 for 5 before missing a straight one which brought me to the crease.
I was eager to cement my spot in the top grade and was welcomed by a hostile and in-swinging yorker, which bowled me.
We were bundled out for 180 and then saw our University opponents smash their way to 200 for 2.
Unfortunately I was on the receiving end of this onslaught and saw my six sorry overs go for 55.
I was unsure if I would retain my spot for the following game with Noffke playing once again and soon learnt I was back in the 2nd XI and playing against Valleys.
Spurred on my the disappointment I really threw myself into my training.
We've had some bad weather recently and I suspected the track might be a little bit juicy - which it definitely was.
Luckily we won the toss and bowled and saw the first ball pop off a length over the opening batsman's head!
Poor bowling meant we were quickly under the pump ourselves at 30 for 0 after four overs.
I got brought on to bowl and immediately took 4-4 off three overs as they collapsed to 50-5.
They limped to 90-8 and I was able to claim the last two wickets to give me my first overseas six-wicket haul.
Now to batting on what was a pretty awful pitch.
We lost wickets early and slipped to 30-3 before I came in at No 5.
My partner and I took the score to 70 he was out and I followed soon afterwards for 15.
Thankfully we managed to cross the line to give us our first win in four games.
We're now looking to seal an outright win next week and get us into the finals.
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Weather for Leyland
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 4 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
