Goannas undone by strong outfit Siddleset forseason at Somerset

Cricket Veterans

THE Gippsland Goannas Over 60s travelled to Geelongtoplay the strong Geelong team on Sunday.

The gamewas playedatQueen’sPark in Highton on avery picturesque oval, on aday when the weather was ideal.

The ground was in perfect condition and the wicket played truly.

Geelong on the toss and batted.

Bernie Symons and Peter Anton opened the attack for the Goannas, with Symons dismissingthe NationalOver60s captain, Chris Carr, for agolden duck.

He followed up bowling Victorian First XI player JeffColefor 11, to leave the score 2/25 after five overs.

Neil Meredith came on to bowl the sixth over, and was joined by acting captain Murray Moore for the ninth.

Meredith broke through in his fifth over, with wicket-keeper ChrisDeVent making astumping.His final figures were1/23 off eight overs.

The Geelong batsmen were, however, able to keep the scoringrate at about five per over.

Andrew Smith had come on and his three overs before drinks yielded two wickets, but the Geelong score was 5/102 at drinks.

Moore, Smith, Ray Floyd and Mark Brown all bowledafterdrinks, unsuccessfully, as the opening pair came back on for the final few overs.

Anton did bowl awicket maiden as the Geelong score reached 6/196 at the end of their 40 overs.

Symons ended up with 2/31. Anton, 1/34, andSmith with 2/33 were the other wicket takers.

Notone catchwas taken by the Goannas fielders.

After the lunch break, Rob Taylorand Floyd started the Goannas innings, but both were out before the seventh over, making 14 and nine respectively.

Col Carmody and Brown batted next and both retired for 13 runs after facing 25 balls.

De Vent and Anton came and went briefly and the Goannas score was 4/60 at drinks.

Moore and Meredith batted for six overs and the score was 6/78 after 28 overs.

Symons retired, also for 13, Jim Armstrong, 26 retired,and AndrewSmith,15retired,put on 40 runs between,asthe earlier retired batsmen started to recycle.

Carmody was out for 16, Brown not out 23, Symons notout 13 as the innings concluded 7/134.

CRICKET By TOM HAYES

IT’S beenawhile since Morwell export, Peter Siddle, was last checked up on, and he is still throwing balls down across the country and overseas.

At 38-years-old, Siddle is still going strong, aconsistent bowler for the multiple clubsherepresents across the world, throughout the year.

Siddle captainedthe AdelaideStrikers in the Big Bash League for adecent bulk of the season, buttheywere unable to resume their early season form,finishing seventh on the table and missing out on finals.

From his 11 BBL matches, Siddle only managed six wickets for the 2022/23 campaign, as the likes of Henry Thornton and Wes Agar led the attack.

Currently playing Sheffield Shield cricket for Tasmania, Siddle is still consistently picking up wickets.

From his seven games this season,hehas picked up 23 wickets, the seventh-best in thecurrent campaign, at an average of 22.69.

Despite his abilitytostill be one of the best, Tasmania are on the lower end of the table, fifth placed out of six teams.

They have only registered two wins all season in atroubling campaign, dominated by Western Australia, who are 10 points ahead of Victoria in second.

Recentlyitwas announcedthatSiddle would be making the trek to England again, to play Division One County Cricket for Somerset in the LV= Insurance Championship (SheffieldShield equivalent) and Vitality Blast (twenty20 format).

Somerset are one of the three clubs in the LV= Insurance County Championshipthat are yet to win atitle in its history.

This will be Siddle’s second season at Somerset, but it is his eighth season overall in the UK, after playing previously for Nottinghamshire(2014), Lancashire (2015) and Essex (2018-2021).

Last season in the LV= Insurance Championship, Siddle picked up 27 wickets from eight games, boasting best figures of 6/51.

Whileinthe Vitality Blast, Siddle claimed 17 wickets from 11 games, at an average of 17.88.

He is showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

Despite his decision to retire from international cricket at the end of 2019, Siddle is continuing to thrive at domestic level.