Chookoos First Dance.
It was a cold, wintery October 17th, at Celaeno Park. Caleb “Chookoo” Greene, making his debut as P3 captain, won his first challenge by winning the toss, helped along by the Boys High student that gave the little tike a congratulatory pat on the head. In a strange turn of events, he elected to bat first, despite most of his top order not having touched a bat since last season.
An extremely positive top 3 batsmen led Boys High into a false sense of security at 21/3. James “Pilch” Pilcher steadied things with a gritty 26, before falling, along with a few more casualties, leaving us on the number of the beast, 66/6. Jason Bary joined the fold and immediately lifted the tempo, cracking a sharp 36 off 27. His quickfire hitting dragged us out of trouble and pushed the total to a far more respectable 125/8.
Meanwhile, Chookoo held down an end and fought his way to a hard‑earned 26*, guiding us through the 40th over and pushing the total to 144. All things considered, not a bad finish at all.
Chookoo knew the game was as good as won the moment he ran out the manaful Gary Francis for 1, a dismissal that lit the fuse and had him fired up to bowl. Joined by Benjamin at the David Watson Plane‑Driver End, the two old farts went to work, decrepitly rolling back the years and reducing Boys’ High to 4/4. Benjamin wrapped up his spell with a tidy 6/1 off 4, before handing the reins to Kieran Bary, who added a bit more heat to the Plane‑Driver End. At the other end, the manaful Gary Francis finally finished his shift with a solid 4/9 off 7, making way for the equally manaful Pilch to take over. Tight bowling continued, helped along by a change of pace as Kieran (0/16 off 4) made way for Chookoo and his trademark nude spin to slow things right down. That shift was all it took to wrap up the innings.
The Manaful Pilch finished with a sharp 3/15 off 3.4, while Chookoo chipped in with a cheeky 1/4 off 2. Boys’ Highs finished on 50, and Bloomfield walked away with a 94‑run win for round 1
Boys’ High 3rds, in their first season back in P3 after several years in P4, showed plenty of promise. Their bowling attack put in a strong shift and proved they can mix it at this level. Once they adjust to the jump in pace and quality from P4 to P3, they’ll be a genuine challenge. When we meet them again on the 19th of December, they’ll be a daunting opposition.
MVP: Pilch 3, Gaz 2, Jase 1
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