Two very strong line ups have been announced for what should be a dice cricket match for the ages
Both Riding Mill and the Cricket Library Podcast XI have announced very strong line ups to close out what has been a memorable virtual tour of Australia.
The tour began a month ago with a memorable showpiece encounter at virtual Burrabadine with the tourists coming out on top. Since then, Riding Mill have been very impressive with wins against Wagga Wagga RSL Bulldogs, Westmeadows, Parkdale and Bayswater-Morley.
Riding Mill team manager and brain child of the virtual tour Brian Watson felt the fans wanted something special to wrap things up before the Mill lads get stuck into their local cricket competitions coming out of lockdown. After some discussions with Cricket Library Podcast host Matt Ellis, the grand finale will now take place in Virtual Hong Kong later this week in what should be an absolute show stopper.
Riding Mill will not only have Brian Watson back in the line up, as reported earlier, they have been bolstered by the inclusions of former England Internationals Mark Butcher and Adam Hollioake. Other key inclusions are Dave Cox who had a magnificent tour leading the run scorers list with 246 @ 35.14 to go alongside his 6 wickets at 13.83. Aly Hall will skipper the side and will have a big role to play with both bat and ball in Hong Kong.
The Cricket Library Podcast XI is again a mix of marquee players and devoted listeners of the podcast. Some notable inclusions are Gus Worland the Cricket Tragic himself who will open the batting. Captain of the Brazil women’s team Roberta Moretti Avery come into the line up at number 3 with former Hong Kong captain Babar Hyatt another big inclusion in the top order.
Nina Stevens will again skipper the side with author of Mindful Cricket and a man who has dismissed IVA Richards, Graham Winter will bring the mental edge that may just prove the difference between the two sides.
It would not be a showpiece event without a bit of a rock star feel and the inclusions of Marty Rhone and Andrew Ellis are sure to bring a smile to fans around the world.
All in all it promises to be the perfect finish to what has been a memorable tour.
You can follow along all of the action from 6am EST on Thursday Morning in Australia and 9pm GMT if the UK with scores updated at the end of each over on the @CricketLibrary twitter feed.
In this exclusive update of the Riding Mill dice cricket virtual tour of Australia, Robbie Mackinlay and Matt Ellis provide an overview of the action as well as preview what promises to be an epic encounter in virtual Hong Kong between Riding Mill and The Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI.
Stay tuned for the official team announcements in the lead up to the game.
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In a string of good fortune Riding Mill skipper Andy Watson again won the toss and opted to send the hosts in their highly anticipated clash with Parkdale Cricket Club at the magnificent virtual Gerry Green Reserve.
The Dukes dice made an immediate impact with Iain Longstaff snaring a catch behind the stumps off a ball that Ben Smith got to just nip away enough, finding the edge of Geoff Crosby’s bat to have the hosts reeling at 1-0.
Things got worse for Parkdale CC who are celebrating their 100th anniversary when Lance Mallinson cleaned house removing captain Mia Perrin for 15 out to a neat catch by Ali Raza. This was followed up by the dismissals of Reid who was caught behind for 2 and Murray who was stumped the following ball by Iain Longstaff leaving Parkdale reeling at 4-23.
Meanwhile Ashish Harsolia was chipping away building a handy partnership with Chris Wilkie. Cam Longstaff then brought about a double breakthrough with Wilkie stumped for 24 off 7 and next ball removing Ryan O’Connor out to a sharp chance taken by Riding Mill skipper Andy Watson for 0. At 6-59 it appeared as though Riding Mill would rip through the remaining batters.
Harsolia had other ideas mounting some strong resistance with Antony McNeil blasting 27 off 7 before being bowled by a peach from Steve Kent. Liam James had Harsolia trapped in front for 48 off just 15 deliveries but at 8-130, Parkdale were certainly on track to post a formidable total.
Jade Johnson & Hunter Woodruff continued to build the total before Iain Longstaff collected his 3rd stumping of the innings when Woodruff departed off the bowling of Dave Cox for 20 off 7. In the quest for a big finish in the final over James Seeary was the last to go, LBW for 8 off 3 leaving Jade Johnson stranded on 15 not out.
159 was a very competitive total considering the hosts were on the rack early at 4-24.
The new dice dominated early but Parkdale recovered to make a very respectable 159 off 9.4 overs
What looked like a competitive total looked even better when James Seeary made some early inroads knocking over Dickson LBW for 8 followed by an almost identical delivery first up to Liam James that nipped back and had him trapped in front for 0. The carnage continued when Steve Kent was sent packing after hitting a boundary first ball only to get a thick edge on the next ball to be caught in the gully by Darcy Murray. At 3-12 there were some worrying signs early for the visitors.
Things got worse before they got better when Dave Cox was bowled by Jade Johnson for 4 putting Parkdale well on top with the score at 4-16. Iain Longstaff and Ali Raza commenced a rescue mission putting together a solid partnership before Raza was out to a good catch by Chris Wilkie off the bowling of Ryan O’Connor for 29 off 10. Chris Wilkie then chimed in with the ball claiming two wickets with his first two deliveries knocking over Iain Longstaff for 28 off 10 and bowling Cam Longstaff first ball for 0. Riding Mill were now 7-85 and in serious danger of getting bowled out.
Late inclusion to the touring party Joel Marks had other ideas constructing a crucial innings with a mix of power and precision. Skipper Andy Watson made a little cameo with 18 off 6 before Reid knocked him over with a magnificent delivery. At 8-119 you had the feeling that Parkdale would soon finish things off.
However, Joel Marks stuck to the task bringing up a memorable half century at a crucial time and with 6 runs required off the final over, Lance Mallinson wasted no time in bringing up the victory hitting a four and a six to send the Riding Mill camp into fits of jubilation.
Joel Marks unbeaten half century sees the visitors home in nail biting run chase
Riding Mill now have the long virtual flight to Perth where they will be preparing for their contest with Bayswater-Morley who should provide some strong opposition for the tourists.
The tour will then stop over in virtual Hong Kong on return to the UK with Riding Mill taking on the Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI. The Riding Mill XI has been bolstered by the announcement that team manager Brian Watson has been declared fit and will take his place in the side alongside Mark Butcher and Adam Hollioake. Joining them will be Steve Kent, Iain Longstaff, Scott Dickson and Kev Frazer who were nominated by St Kelvin’s Old Boys to take their place in the XI.
In news post match today, we can reveal it has been announced that Joel Marks and Dave Cox have been nominated by Parkdale CC to take a highly sought after place in the line up as well. We are hearing whispers that there will be some strong inclusions in the Cricket Library Podcast XI who will join captain Nina Stevens and Marty Rhone who have already been announced in the side.
Both Riding Mill and Parkdale haven named strong line ups for their highly anticipated dice cricket fixture which is scheduled for the virtual Gerry Green Reserve at 6am Thursday in Australia and 9pm in the UK.
Riding Mill are looking to bounce back after their most disappointing performance of the tour so far while there is little known about the dice cricket credentials of the Parkdale Cricket Club who are celebrating their 100th anniversary this summer.
Two very strong line ups set to do battle in what should be a game to remember
It is the final game of the Victorian leg of the virtual tour which started at Burrabadine in NSW last month before heading to Dubbo, Wagga Wagga and Sydney. There have been mixed fortunes for the visitors who now have four wins and four losses on the tour and looking for a strong finish with remaining games against Parkdale in Victoria, Bayswater-Morley in Perth and of course the final game of the tour in virtual Hong Kong against the Cricket Library Podcast Invitational XI.
We are looking forward to bringing you all of the action via the @cricketlibrary on twitter.
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St Kevin’s Old Boys (SKOB) have produced the most dominant display we have seen on the Riding Mill Virtual Tour of Australia with a crushing 7 wicket win at the virtual Olney Oval in the magnificent Yarra Bend Complex.
After winning the toss and bowling in their last fixture, skipper Andy Watson had a change in tactics electing to bat first on what looked to be a good wicket for dice Cricket. This looked to be a positive move when despite losing Burns LWB for 2 to one that nipped back in from Andrew Smale, the score had raced to 1-19.
Pat Turnbull then applied more pressure for the home side removing the in form Dave Cox who was out to a good catch by Jack Marshall for 9 and then bowling Steve Kent with an absolute peach for 11. While the run rate was still looking solid, certainly losing three wickets in the first two overs was not part of the plan for Riding Mill.
When Tom Norris bowled Aly Hall for 0 things were looking gloomy for Riding Mill and this was compounded further when Andrew Fernon took a smart catch to remove Iain Longstaff for 11 off the bowling of Jack Marshall.
The carnage continued when Fernon took the ball finishing with 3-8 after having the dangerous Scott Dickson caught behind for 21 off 9, Cam Longstaff stumped by Brebner-Griffin for 4 and producing a beauty to bowl Kev Frazer for 1.
The tail did not wag with Sam Browne claiming Joel Marks plumb in front for 6 and skipper Andy Watson out to another neat piece of work behind the stumps from Brebner-Griffin who had the bails off in a flash completing a smart stumping.
Incredibly Riding Mill, who’s previous lowest score on the tour was more than double this total, were licking their wounds all out for 66 after just 5.3 overs.
Riding Mill needed to re-group immediately which they did when Scott Dickson claimed a sharp chance behind the stumps to remove SKOB skipper Nicholas Trapani for 2 off the bowling of Ben Smith.
Runs were still flowing though despite Watson trapping Gheller in front for 0, SKOB were still very much on top with Brebner-Griffin and Turnbull putting together a solid partnership.
Kev Frazer took one of the better virtual caught and bowled chances you will ever imagine to remove Turnbull for 25 off 7 but the damage had been done.
Brebner-Griffin finished off the job hitting consecutive sixes and a three off Cam Longstaff to finish on 42 not out to go with his two stumpings and a catch.
A seven wicket win had been secured and Riding Mill left to head back to the drawing board before their virtual tour continues during the week against Parkdale before heading to Perth next weekend.
Recently Matt Ellis caught up with Ryan Harris for the Cricket Library Podcast. Ryan shared just how much winning the Sheffield Shield with QLD meant to him.
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