Hamilton Musicians United First XI - MUSOS

What a wonderful evening of Cricket. A absolute scorcher at Glenview Park saw Hoof Hearted bat first. Their opening partnership got off like a rocket. Boundaries flowed freely. The Musos needed to break that pair. The Skip had his chances but alas dropped three catches before finally snaffling one off Marcus' bowling. He returned the favour catching one off Oaks' bowling. Mike cleaned one out and Oaks took the fourth, his second, on the final ball of the innings. Catches win matches and six drops didn't help th Musos as the HH headed to 163 for 4.

The Musos openers ticked away accumulating runs in the 2nd innings. Oaks got out caught and Mike managed a solid 30 retirement. Khanin came and went, Marcus scored freely and John having rushed in from a 30 minute drive was out for one off his second ball. Small swings saw the run rate slip away and the Musos went down having only accumulated 116 for nine off their twenty overs. Marcus awarded Ivan the man of the match for showing up and keeping, bowling and batting still nursing a sore back. On ya Ivan! Another great evening was had and the chaps left happy as the glory lies in the game.

The new cricket year finally arrived after the Christmas break, and the Musos strode confidently onto the pitch, older, wiser and thicker around the girth. Their opponents seeking to best them were the Undateables, whose physical shortcomings were amplified by the Musos Adonis like good looks. That opening aesthetic advantage was soon shown on the pitch, as the Musos bowled tightly. Wides were their primary source of scoring, as a passing shower eroded the bowlers previous sense of control. Wickets were few, with John's sharp caught and bowled only bested by KP's spectacular one handed grab in the slips off Marcus. A strong overall bowling effort meant an under par 138 was required for victory.

In response the Musos openers busied themselves with the chase, scoring freely until Paul 'Elephant Man' Oakley was bowled around his legs for 22. Mike Lee followed soon after for 23, but the platform had been laid for new recruit John to hit a retiring 30, and then Marcus and KP to hit the winning runs with overs to spare.

KP was awarded Player of the Day for his catch and tomahawk like hurl of the bat, while the other teams in the competition were put on notice like Greenland, that the Musos mean business in 2026.

Two weeks of cancelled games due to the rain and this coming week is a bye week. The Musos are ready for cricket, may the cricket gods shine upon us.
In the rain at Steele, we were there, KBL were not!

Wednesday saw a long awaited reunion between the Musos and the Lumee Spuds. It's been a few seasons since our paths had crossed in the regular league. The Musos opted to field the first innings. The slower paced spin attack opened well KP took a couple of sharp wickets. Adam was in on the action and catches in the deep stuck. The over of the game was delivered by Marcus Cricketus who bowled a 2 wickets maiden. The Spuds etched out a respectable 119 leving the Musos a run a ball to claim victory.

A slow and steady approach was again taken by the openers Oaks and Mike. The required run rate was kept in check by the number of wides the Spuds bowled. Definitely the highest scoring factor of the game. As such it was with little effort and just the loss of 3 wickets, the Musos smashed the Spuds with five overs remaining. The MoM was awarded by Shane to Mark for his outstanding over with the ball.