Pacific put in an excellent all round performance to complete the double over Headstone. It was built not only around an imperious 94* from Kurt Rademaker but also thanks to the strength in depth of the bowling & the quality all round fielding display lead by Adrian Duthie behind the stumps & Sammy Purcell with a brilliant run out.

However, pre match preparations were disrupted with the news that James Gleadow had been hospitalised following an altercation with a sight-screen – luckily Shayne Rees was able to step into the breach. But that was the last set back & with conditions at 30 degrees centigrade, Captain Nigel Wilkinson, did not need to think twice about batting first when he won the toss.

 

A quick opening spell from Willis impressed as a nervy Peter Hollman still struggling to find form but with his dismissal on 22 bringing Kurt Rademaker to the crease & despite a difficult chance put down by Willis at mid off, Kurt played shots all round the ground for his 78 ball innings – unfortunately once his able support from Adrian Duthie (24), Sammy Purcell (22) but especially Jon Webley (39) who put on 77 for the 4th wicket & took the score towards a defendable total. It was a shame that Kurt couldn’t notch his century as the lower order either got out or couldn’t rotate the strike sufficiently, but Kurt was content, as was Captain Nigel Wilkinson.

After tea, Shayne Rees & James Smith made immediate impressions & dismissed the opening Ford brothers to bring the score to 27-2 although Smith seemed rusty & Jon Webley replaced him. However, at 20 overs, the tone had changed completely Willis (again) impressing with bat & Shah had taken the score to 111-2, exactly half the target & still 8 wickets in hand.

The drinks break gave Wilkinson a chance to chat to his lieutenants & a defensive strategy was employed. Lead by himself & John Baglivi, who have over 1200 wickets between them, the squeeze was put on, & the run rate slowly but surely slowed down & the required rate went up thanks to excellent support in the field & behind the stumps. John Baglivi’s superb line was eventually rewarded as danger man Willis (68), who scored a hundred in the match last season, thin edged & was caught by Duthie for John’s 700th Pacific wicket. Following John’s excellent spell (8-1-25-1), he was replaced by the returning James Smith who was far more comfortable coming in from the Pavilion end. Headstone now found the rate required of 8 an over too difficult to sustain & with Jon Brown‘s straight medium quick bowling replacing Wilkinson, wickets continued to fall once Shah was bowled by Smith. 171-4 in the 31st only going up to 197-8 in the 40th & final.

Afterwards the delighted pair Captain Nigel Wilkinson & John Baglivi said “Can I get you a beer?”.

Nigel has implemented his selection procedure consequently, & magnanimously, Shayne has stood down citing crime against accountancy or some such etc

XI:- John Hill, Peter Hollman, Sammy Purcell, Kurt Rademaker, Nigel Wilkinson*, Jon Brown, Shayne Rees, James Smith, Jon Webley, Adrian Duthie+, & John Baglivi.

Pacific v Parkfield and Headstone CC

Pacific innings  R  M  B  4  6 Adrian Duthie   c Everett b Jamal   24  44  32  3  0   Peter Hollman   lbw b Willis   7  25  27  0  0   Kurt Rademaker   not out    94  145  78  11  3   Sammy Purcell   lbw b Shepherd   22  45  48  2  0   Jon Webley   b Willis   39  50  46  6  0   John Hill   run out    1  2  3  0  0   John Baglivi   b Willis   4  5  4  1  0   Shayne Rees   b Willis   4  5  3  0  0   Nigel Wilkinson   not out    2  14  7  0  0   Jon Brown   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0   James Smith   did not bat    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 10, lb 5, w 8, nb 4) 27      TOTAL (40.0 Overs) 221-7

Fall of wickets:  1-22 [Hollman] , 2-52 [Duthie] , 3-112 [Purcell] , 4-189 [Webley] , 5-192 [Hill] , 6-200 [Baglivi] , 7-206 [Rees]

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Willis   8  0  27  4    Morris   8  0  39  1    Patel   3  0  19  0    Jamal   4  1  11  1    Shepherd   8  0  57  1    Lane   8  1  42  1    G Ford   1  0  8  1

Parkfield and Headstone CC innings  R  M  B  4  6 P Ford   c Baglivi b Smith   0  0  0  0  0   G Ford   b Rees   10  0  0  1  0   M Shah   b Smith   63  0  0  7  0   R Willis   c Duthie b Baglivi   68  0  0  8  3   Jamal   not out    22  0  0  1  1   K Everett   b Smith   4  0  0  1  0   S Norris   c Duthie b Brown   1  0  0  0  0   N Patel   run out Purcell    0  0  0  0  0   A Alleyne   b Brown   0  0  0  0  0   D Sheppard   did not bat    4  0  0  0  0   S Vorali   absent    0  0  0  0  0    Extras (b 7, lb 3, w 12, nb 3) 25      TOTAL (40.0 Overs) 197-8

Fall of wickets:  1-10 [P Ford] , 2-27 [G Ford] , 3-157 [R Willis] , 4-164 [K Everett] , 5-171 [S Norris] , 6-174 [M Shah] , 7-174 [N Patel] , 8-179 [A Alleyne]

Bowling  O  M  R  W    Shayne Rees   8  2  38  1    James Smith   7  0  20  3    Jon Webley   7  0  47  0    John Baglivi   8  1  25  1    Nigel Wilkinson   5  0  31  0    Jon Brown   5  0  26  2