PATRONS CUP 2023
Due to illness, I had to contact my friend, Hugh Jampton to attend the 2023 Patrons Cup. This is the report that he submitted. Please remember he is a Pom and his language is different from ours.
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The phone rang at 7.42, it was Crooky, he sounded as rough as a $2 Bali Wine. Hughy, do me a favour will you, go to Leederville and do me a report on the Patrons, there's a C note innit for you. Games start at one-ish and the final is at 4.30ish. “Who’s innit” I asked. “Quinns and three others” he answered.
I powered up my laptop, and my trusty Windows 95 came to life. After an hour of studying the form guide, it was obvious that it was pointless putting a quid on Quinns. Only a fool would bet against them. Quinns Rocks are top of the A grade, they average 250 runs every time they cross the white line, and that’s without Bunny Warren or Kev Adair. They were to play C grades big hitters West Coast in the Semi-Finals. In theory, West Coast didn’t have a chance, however, they have two players who can make anyone look silly. Glen Gillette-Payne can amass a score as quickly as anyone in the association and Harry Blanch is one of the most under-rated batsmen in any grade. They had a chance, but it was very slim.
As I pulled into the almost full car park I could see a game going on to the east of the ground. That must be the Kingsley v Sorrento game. Sorrento Duncraig were here and in desperate need of some success. These two clubs were giants of the game only a few years ago, but difficult times have been on their shirttails recently. After 30 minutes or so I gave up on the entertainment trail, it was like watching paint dry so I decided to move on. Kingsley had made 149 and Sorrento was struggling to get the ball off the square. The Vikings had some class acts in their team and were hot favourites, but Kingsley defended their score well and got over the line easily enough. It was good to see a couple of the stalwarts on show, but not even Kyle Moger or Stuart Legg were going to get in the way of the Quinns Rocks juggernaut.
After a pie and a pint, I settled down to watch the end of the other game. Quinns were going to win this one, it was just a case of by how many. The Stingrays are the limited over specialists for the past couple of years, however, they have always won from the back, this year they are front and centre. They glided to 251-6 off 20 overs and made it look easy. I was fascinated with the huge scoreboard that had Luke Taylor make 95 runs. As far as I could see it was his brother that was smashing all the 6’s. It didn’t seem to matter though, but without looking back on Frogbox, I can assure everyone that Duncan Taylor made at least 95 in the semie-final.
Ultimately the difference in class stood out, but West Coast should be proud of their effort. They were going at 10 an over for quite a long time. Harry Blanch stood out with a classy 75 off only 40 balls in a score of 174-9 off their 20 overs. This was a tremendous effort from the C-grade team. If you ever want to see a bit of entertainment, then get down to Hudson and watch West Coast for a while, they are sure to put a smile on your face.
The Patrons Cup Final 2023
The final script was easy to read. Kingsley would make a good fist of it, score about 150 then Quinns would blast them out of town within the hour. It seems though that Kingsley-Woodvale didn’t read the same script that I was looking at.
A giant of man, Jack Maraldo, certainly hadn’t read the script. Oakley opened the bowling from the Northern end. Six balls later the score was 17-0. Corey Howes then came on to calm things down, however, his first over cost 27 runs and Kingsley were 45 off only 2 overs. Maraldo pulled Oakley for a six in the third over to go to 52 off only 16 balls. Stuart Legg hadn’t faced a ball and his partner was already in his fifties. I have never seen that in my life. Maraldo then went to a hundred in 35 balls faced. I’d also never seen anything like this since Colin Milburn played for England. This was already turning out to be a performance of legend. I couldn’t tell whether it was his lack of knowledge of who he was playing against or just sheer talent, but Maraldo treated every Quinn's bowler with absolute contempt. The champions had no answers as Maraldo blasted fours and sixes all around the ground.
One of the slightly well-oiled patrons shouted “There are more pies out there than you get in a Yorkshire bakery” as the Quinns bowlers dropped them on a length about a foot outside off stump which Maraldo dispatched the ball all over north Perth. A sarcastic, but apt remark to Duncan Taylor was “Now you know how we feel” as he was dispatched to the mid-wicket boundary. Taylor is a gent and took the remark as a compliment on his own abilities. The 100 came up in the seventh over (7th). The floodgates were open and Kingsley-Woodvale were swimming with the current.
This was without doubt the greatest batting performance ever seen in any NSCCA competition. Everyone was asking the same question, who is this guy? He’s taking the association's best bowling attack apart. Quinns Rocks were in shock as captain Duncan Taylor changed his bowlers regularly trying to find a key to unlock the barrage of boundaries. The only solace to the Rays was the fact that they knew the talent they had on their own team list. Kingsley had to reach 200 to be very much in the game, 225 would have been an incredible achievement and they needed someone to partner Maraldo.
It seemed clear to all that when Maraldo had reached 145 off just 60 balls, he was about finished physically. A tired and careless shot to long-on was pocketed by Luke Taylor. The silence as Jack walked from the field erupted into great applause as he left the field. Those around the clubhouse were still in shock by what could only be classed as a master innings. The Kingsley innings closed at 212-6 with Maraldo scoring 145.
Kyle Moger was then heard to say “We’ve gone from 80-1 to evens, we’ve just got to keep things tight”. Bunny Warren answered that one by smashing Moges first three balls to the boundary. If the big man could have stayed in the centre for 30 minutes, then it would have been a different story. Warren made his way to 20 before a careless one-handed shot saw him caught by Oliver Dijkstra. Quinns made it to 100 in the 11th over and so were well in the game at that time. Duncan Taylor went to fifty with a six over long-on in the 13th over. Though things were going well for the champions they still needed 93 off the final 7 overs, and time was slipping by. Luke Taylor was then out for 40, caught by Thorp off the bowling of Lewis Benton. Kingsley’s celebration was cut short as the next man in was Blair Oakley. These 2 batsmen, Taylor and Oakley had to be dismissed or the trophy was heading to Ridgewood. After another 6 from Taylor, Quinns still needed 71 off the final 5 overs. Surely, Kingsley weren’t going to let it slip now.
Then just like that, things changed, Taylor skied one off Benton and was caught by a diving keeper for 72. Quinns now needed 62 off 4 overs, surely it was game over now. Rhys Bryan joined Oakley and made his intentions clear by smashing another 6 off his first ball. Then Oakley was caught behind for 42 and Quinns needed 18 off the final over. Under normal circumstances, 18 would have been enough, but Quinns still had batsmen who could easily hit 3 sixes in one over. However, it was not to be this time.
Quinns fell 10 runs short in the run chase and Kingsley-Woodvale had won the first silverware for almost a decade. This was the biggest upset in Patrons history and that includes the famous Edgewater victory in 2015 over the powerful Kingsley team that included greats such as Tim Anderson and Brad Sutton.
After 6 or 7 more beers I lost where the exuberant Kingsley players had disappeared to. I would highly recommend every Kingsley-Woodvale member and supporter to watch YouTube and relive a wonderful victory.
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