Representative Cricket... a grade below

Round 2 of the 2010 Super League, and Weston Blast were looking for more players, and Popped Collars players were again the target of the "selectors". Brad this week made his debut, joining 1-match vetrans Xavier and Andy. But this week their services were required in division 3 - one level below what the boys played last week.

And what a difference one grade made!

Division 2 seemed a competition that truly involved the most skilled of players from the various cricket centres. Both the Weston and Goulburn team involved in last weeks matches were composed of players that even the best of the Popped Collars would have (or did) only just have the skills to be competitive - and the Lyneham team on the court next door (of which I know most of the players) would have been even better than both of us.

Division 3 was... well... laughable. Quite literally as far as I was concerned; I spent a lot of time between balls chuckling at the goings on. Both the Weston team we were playing for and the Kambah team we were playing against would have been (or were) better off having even the weakest of the Popped Collars players on board. The overall quality of the game was below what we experience every week in the standard Monday night competition.

Brad's concerns about his bowling were irrelevant as he continually beat the bat and picked up wickets. Andy was bowling too quick for anyone to get onto properly. Mis-fields went by without concern or comment, as it was the norm. Brad and Xavier put on a partnership of 69 without ever getting above about 2nd gear.

Weston won the game, but if the match was representative of the rest of the grade, the Popped Collars could take them all down and win this competition any day.