Hi everyone, I hope that you are all well and set up nicely for the Christmas period!

 

I’ll get straight into it and start, as promised, with the outback camp. We had an early start on the Monday to travel four and a half hours to the southern Flinders Ranges, which would be our home for the next few days. It was an incredible scenic drive, of which the last 45 minutes were pure dirt road, and the ranges where beautiful to look at, truly incredible sights at every angle as far as you could see.

 

On arrival we were greeted by our guide, ex English and Australian SAS soldier Peter who would give us our tasks and make sure we didn’t die. (worst case scenario of course). We packed our backpacks with food ration packs for the trip, water, cooking equipment and firs aid kits. When all was complete we got our first mission. We were given basic maps and had to hike to a set location by a set time with 3 large wooden steaks to carry so as to manage the load as a team. We were successful and got to the natural spring in time. Mission complete. We had lunch there so cracked open the ration packs. Not exactly gourmet food but apparently all the nutrients and energy you need. So on our self-made fires we cooked lunch and refilled water bottles for the rest of the trek. The hiking continued for the rest of the day across various routes through and over the ranges. Around 6pm we set up camp in a dried out creek or as we would call it a riverbed. We set up our swags, gathered copious amounts of fire wood and got the food ready for cooking.

 

Then we had a teamwork challenge. Swinging cross a rope swing we had to et people on boards to score either 50, 25 or 10 points. We had a prize of a can of soft drink if we got 300 points. On first attempt we managed 300 points in the 3 minutes. Then we had an offer of double or quits, 2 cans and a cooked breakfast if we got 450 points. After deliberation and planning we took t on and were successful, piling people on the 50 with people holding each other steady.

 

Everyone very happy with our drink and the thought of bacon, egg and sausages in the morning got on with our ration pack tea and got a roaring fire going before dark. In true camping style we gathered round the fire sharing stories, mainly asking Peter about his stories and then went to bed. The swags were fairly comfortable until early hours of the morning when the wind got up and it was freezing! 6am wake up freezing cold and having to pack up camp showed some grumpy lads but all perked up on the food arrival! Day 2 was similar to day 1, lots of tough terrain hiking and some challenges thrown in. Our camp on day 2 was more sheltered and we were rewarded with a bbq for tea for the day’s efforts. Another cold night and 6am wake up to pack up and get ready to go back to the comforts of the city. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience!

 

Onto cricket and the training has continued in its good fashion and is very intense. It is noticeable how body shapes are changing for the better and people are getting a lot fitter and stronger! This has been shown with everyone improving their yoyo test results considerably and the weight increases in the gym.

 

Our themed nets and middle practices have moved into one day and t20 themes so we are all enjoying trying new things and attempting to hit some big sixes and through trial and error myself and, I’m sure all the other lads feel the same we are discovering our limited over strengths.

We have had 2 games against the Redbacks emerging squad that have been enjoyable! Game 1 we were puzzled by a pitch that can only be described as corrugated. It was a minefield and the scores showed that! We won the toss and batted first to discover it was a terror wicket. We scrapped to 160 and unfortunately lost but they made hard work of it too.

 

Game 2 on a better track at park 25 was a better game. We bowled this time and bowled and fielded well restricting them to 207 all out. I got a bowl which I was thrilled about and bowled 3 overs 0-10 at the death so I was pleased. In reply we started poorly being 20-3 before myself and Ross Whitely had a partnership of around 70 to get us back on track. I was then out for 43 and Tom Wells from Leicestershire came in and batted well scoring 46. The score at 160-5 with Ross still in and 20 overs to score 48 we were confident…and then had a pretty bad collapse and stumbled to 188 all out in the blink of an eye. Ross on 76 not out batted extremely well. So having thrown away a great winning position we are hungry for another chance to get revenge!

 

In the league rain has interrupted a lot. The only unaffected game was round 4 against East Torrens. We fielded first and had luck against us! Early decisions went against us and we dropped their state batsman at slip on 0 who went on to get 107 who got East Torrens a score of 253. After 90 overs in the field I got my first horror decision of the trip. The umpire who was consistently bad all day fired me out LBW after I hit a ball into my foot on 3. Worst possible day I could have had, or not far off. Week 2 we batted well in patches and knocked the score off largely due to Ben Wright who scored 116 not out. 4 out of 4 and we are top of the ladder.

 

Round 5 was a wash out first weekend so a one day game week 2. We had one of those days you want to forget about. All out for 89. I went in at number 4, 6-2, and saw wickets tumbling at the other end. I got 25 batting nicely before being strangled down the leg side and the innings soon ended afterwards. Sturt went all guns blazing and knocked the score off 3 down in 15 overs. So a short game and we dropped to 3 on the ladder.

 

Round 6 was another 1 day game as day 1 was washed out. We lost the toss on a wet one and some more poor batting later and we were all out 150. We felt good when we had them 2-2 but they fought back. A few drops let them secure the win 6 down when if we held our chances the game may have ended differently. I bowled 5 overs 0-22. Four good overs before the guy I had dropped took me on with 2 successes and that was time for me to have a blow unfortunately. We have now dropped to 4 in the ladder and need to improve again!

 

I shall inform you how it goes after Christmas.

 

Thanks again for reading this; I hope it wasn’t too long and dull.

 

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!