Second Grade

Lions staying in the hunt

Launceston vs. George Town at George Town

A young lions side made the trip to George Town and were greeted with a green wicket and were sent into bat. When Miller went for 5 and Lynch for 15 and Fryett for 2 Launceston found themselves under the pump at 3/54. A well made 45 from opener Bennett steadied the ship but then he went nicking off to Badam. Launceston needed a partnership and a 42 run stand from Laskey (20) and Humphries put as again right back in the match. And some interesting stroke play from the tail and a more conventional method from Humphries (65) pushed the score up over 200 before being dismissed for 211 with Davie getting the best of the figures with 4/43.

Bowen and Tulich got our bowlers off to a perfect start with Bowen bowling Freeman first ball of the day and Tulich getting Luck well caught a mid on by Humphries. When Frasier and Fryett struck in consecutive balls the lions were well on top at 4/59. A 5^thwicket partnership between Crane and Badam of 79 again put the game back in the balance but when Manktelow got Badam caught for 26 and Humphries got Crane the next ball caught well on the boundary by Gray for 37 the game was again the lions to lose and when Humphries took two wickets in an over and Bowen only needing 3 balls in his over to clean up the last two wickets and dismiss George Town for 149. Bowen and Humphries were the best of the bowlers collecting 3 wickets a piece.    

Launceston vs. Mowbray at N T C A

On a sunny day and on a good looking batting track Mowbray won the toss and elected to bat. Bowen started well for the lions snaring Clark LBW for 5. The joy was short lived for the Lions as the runs continued to flow despite wickets to Francombe, Gray and Fryett. Mowbray were cruising at 5/132 and were looking untroubled until Brewer struck with consecutive balls which included Jordan for 39. Bowen and Tulich then made short work of the tail dismissing Mowbray for 159. Bowen with 3 wickets was the best of the bowlers.

The lions chase never got off the ground with top for of Kamboj (4), Humphries (7), Fryett (3) and Manktelow (9) all failing to get to double figures. When Brewer (11) and O’Shea (4) went in consecutive balls when the score was 51 and despite some good later order hitting the lions were never in the hunt being dismissed 97. Barnes was the pick of the bowlers for Mowbray with 2/13.  

Brad Fryett - Second Grade Captain     

Second Grade Round 3

For the 3rd round of the 2nd grade season, Launceston met rivals South Launceston at the NTCA ground. The game promised to be a decent battle with both sides matching up fairly evenly, despite South having a couple more experienced players than the Lions. The NTCA wicket was a belter and the weather conditions perfect. South won the toss and made no hesitation in asking Launceston to bowl first. Bowen opened the attack again and almost immediately picked up one of the openers. After this, South scored quickly and despite losing another two wickets in the session, were 3/110 at lunch. The next session saw South continue to bat positively and at tea were 6/230. Launceston knew they had to come out firing after tea and bowl South out without too much more damage done. This plan wasn’t put into action, however, and South went on to score an imposing 6/339 before declaring with 30 minutes left until stumps. The pick of the bowlers was easily James Bowen who bowled with great control and swing (3/39 of 18). The rest of the bowlers bowled well in patches but couldn't maintain consistently good lines and lengths. Kingston and Fryett opened together again with 6 overs from Trent Smith and Donaldson to negotiate. Fryett fell to Smith plum LBW however Kingston and Brewer managed to survive a testing spell and at stumps were 1/10.

Due to rain through the week, the pitch was a bit greener and offered the South bowlers a bit more on the second day. Brewer nicked a jagging ball from Donaldson early on before Kingston (24) and Pykecroft (15) combined for a 40 run partnership. Both fell with 3 runs and it was then up to Laskey (21) and Edmunds (46) to right the ship. Both batted well and put on another 40 runs together, but weren’t able to make their good starts into big innings. Cashion (46*) and Manktelow (30) both batted positively to help get our total to within striking distance of the follow on score but we were eventually bowled out for 215. Considering how young the side is the fact that we batted for around 2 and half sessions against testing bowling was pleasing. This effort ensured that we were no chance of losing the game outright. With an hour left to play, South decided to have another bat. Kingston asked for a firey, energetic last hour and got it. At stumps, South were reeling at 4/35.  Another positive to take out of an otherwise comprehensive loss.

The Algernon Findlay Shield

The Algernon Finlay shield is awarded to the 2^nd Grade premiership team. The competition is made up of both one-day and two-day games. The 2^nd Grade team of the 1990’s won 5 straight premierships. The last premiership came in the 2007-08 season.

Premierships: