A wet welcome to the winter season opener

A WET WELCOME TO THE WINTER SEASON OPENER

 Moonee Valley had a wet welcome to winter when our Mid Year Cricket Association season opened on May 3.
We notched up 9/185 from our 35 overs in the match against Northern Lions A, but had a few rain interruptions when it came out turn to bowl.
After one particularly heavy downpour, stumps were drawn with Northern Lions delicately poised on 6/140 with 10 overs to go.
Under the MYCA rules, we finish the game on the reserve day - Saturday, May 17.
We fared better with our second game, on May 10. We played it at our home ground, Fairbairn Park No. 8 oval in Ascot Vale.
Moonee Valley rattled up 135 and looked to be in a bit of strife when Northern Lions A got to 2/96 at the drinks break.
But the Valleys were reinvigorated by the break, and proceeded to rip through the Lions to the tune of 8/19 to have them all out 20 runs short.
Congratulations to our captain, Michael Ozbun for his first win in charge of a team.
Given that Ozzie had not played cricket until the 2012/13 season, it's been an incredible journey.
For someone who grew up on baseball in his native United States, he's really taken to our game, and is arguably the best fielder at Moonee Valley, with an unerring rocket arm that regularly throws down the stumps leaving batsmen well short of their ground.

Above: The Valley team which braved the elements for the 2014 season opener. Back: L-R Ben Thomas,
Gaurav Malhotra, Kern Kapoor, Neil King, Mark Gauci, Anthony Cafari and Craig Pridham. Front: Bede
Gannon, Sam Carbone, Matt Thomas and skipper Michael Ozbun.