A SEMI FINAL HAT-TRICK

Luke Davis has joined the hat-trick club, and what a time to do it. Taking his hat-trick in the semi-final of the Senior A division - a match where the winner gets promoted to Senior Divison. With Brighton at 6-139 'Rowdy' dismissed batsmen 8,9 and 10 with conseccutive deliveries. The first was caught by Antonio Mullins, The 2nd a fantastic catch by Chris Spinella behind the stumps, and the third an LBW - to take Brighton from 6-139 to 9-139 and alsmost certain defeat chasing the 239 the dogs made in the first innings.

CAPTAIN CRAIG SNARES 3RD CAREER HAT-TRICK

In his 100th Game for the mighty Snowdogs Craig Osborne capped off a magnificent Captains game in the outright victory against Aberfeldie to send the First XI into a home semi-final birth. After just falling short of a century with the bat and a frustrating 69-run 8th wicket partnership by the opposition on Day 2, Ossie brang himself on in search of the break-through wicket and not only did he do this with his first ball, but he then managed to get his 3rd career hat-trick for the club by claiming the remaining 3 wickets to wrap up the game, finishing with the dream figures of 0.3 overs 3-0.

Ossie opened up his spell with a usual dart to warm up which saw the opposition batsman on 45 play back in front of his stumps to be trapped LBW. Then in came the #10, whose twin brother earlier made a golden duck when batting at number 3, and that twin instinct took over as Ossie fired in another dart on the stumps which saw an action replay of the previous ball. In came the #11 for the hat-trick ball, as Ossie asked his team mates what ball to bowl...it was simple. Again Ossie threw down another quicker ball on the pegs as the batsman again got caught on the crease and with a massive appeal, the Umpire lifted that finger in unison with the appeal to get Ossie that hat-trick and the outright victory. Congratulations Ossie, a superb effort!


Kev O'Connell & Craig Osborne with their Hattrick balls

KEV'S BIG DAY OUT - DOUBLE HAT-TRICK

Kevin O'Connell created Snowdogs history in the 2nd XI on Saturday taking a Double Hat-Trick, 4 Wickets in a row, against Westmeadows.  In a fantastic spell of spin bowling, taking 6 for 18 off 4.2 overs, Kev had the batsmen in a complete spin as he cleaned up the last 4 wickets of the innings for 0 runs, to have Westmeadows all out for only 77 in a massive 1 day win for the Snowdogs 2s.

Kev's 4 wickets in the Double Hat-Trick occured as follows:

Over 3.5 - Caught by Mick Di Natale at backward square leg from a top edged pull shot that was skied.

Over 3.6 - Bowled with a perfect spinning ball that came back through the gate between bat and pad to take the top of middle stump. End of the over gave everyone a chance to catch their breath while Dina bowled a maiden at the other end, with Kev then able to have a crack at the hat-trick.

Over 4.1 - Caught by Greg Garth at short cover from a full blooded drive that only went a few centermetres above the turf.  An extremely sharp catch low down at his ankles by Garthy sparked huge celebrations for Kev's hat-trick.
Over 4.2 - Stumped by keeper Ben Jordan as the Westmeadows No.11 foolishly took the suggestion from the Snowdogs close fielders to advance down the wicket and have a go.  Kev spun one past the bat and BJ did the rest, taking the bails off to leave him stranded and more celebrations resulted, the rare double hat-trick a special moment for Kev and all Snowdogs!

It is the first time a double hat-trick has been taken by a Snowdogs player in 40 years of senior cricket.  It was Kev's first wickets at 2nds level, and what a way to do it!  Surely there will be many more to come at the higher levels for this promising young left arm wrist spinner!  Well done Kev!

Video of the 4th ball, caught on camera!

BEN JORDAN SMASHES RECORD HIGHEST SCORE

A fantastic innings of 188 by Ben Jordan on Saturday in the 3rd XI saw BJ break the club record for the highest individual score by any Snowdog player in our proud history.  In one of the best innings ever played at the Home of Cricket, BJ despatched the ball to all parts of the ground, and single handedly destroyed the Strathmore attack. 
His innings was chanceless and included 28 4s an d 2 6s.  He came in at No.4 when the score was 2/57 and at the end of the epic innings was last man out, in the second last over of the day for 188 as he chased the rarely made feat in local cricket of a double ton.  The 3rd XI racked up a mammoth score of 339 on the back of BJ's work as a number of useful partnerships contributed to a huge win.
The previous record of 165 was held by current veteran Andre Noonan who made his then club record score in the 2nd XI way back in 1990/91.
It is BJ's first ton in a long career for the Snowdogs, and what a big one it was!  Let's hope there are more to come.  Great work BJ!