31 October 2006:

Sunday 29 October was finals day. First up, The Atomic Nukes played Vasvat for the Gold medal. We batted first and scored 42 in the first skin. The second got the treatment and we could only manange 9 runs. Settings things right in the third skin, we scored 43, but found found the going somewhat tough in the fourth to score 18 more runs, bringing our total 112 runs. We felt quite proud of that score against these guys. They started their batting campaign more sedately than us, but slowly chipped away at our score. We failed to take regular wickets due to a bad day in the field and way too many extras. Their last skin had to get 21 runs, but they managed 31, beating us to the Gold medal by 11 runs. At least we have the silver to show, a great achievement considering our prevous two disastrous seasons! Contributor of the Final was Erik with 12 net runs.

The Explosive Nukes took on KWV for the Bronze medal. They batted first and we did quite well in the field by limiting them to 107 runs. Nandu produced career best figures of 4 / -7! We set about chasing their total down, but struggled to 4 runs at the end of the first skin. The second skin fared only slightly better by getting 5 runs. Knowing a big skin was required, Dirk & Frank contributed equally to a huge 47 run skin. Requiring 52 for victory, our last skin toiled their way to 20 runs and our total to 76, meaning defeat by 31 runs and no medal. Contributor of the Final was Frank Pike with 12 net runs.

Well, that is it for the Spring 2006 season! The Summer season starts, well, soon, we hope!

Useless seasonal info: We scored 2377 (13.51 ave) runs, but conceded 2600 (14.77 ave) runs. We lost 310 wickets, took only 265 wickets and bowled a conceded a staggering 616 through extras! All in all, we scored 27 235 runs and conceded 27 995 runs...

28 October 2006:

On 24-10-2006 The Atomic Nukes played their first semi-final game against CSA. They started the batting and got off to a solid start with 32 in the first skin. The second skin followed with 18, while the third skin contributed 31 more runs. Their last skin also did some solid batting to score 34 and push their total to 115. Quite a formidable target to chase down. Our first skin did the business with Steve & Erik scoring 39. Next Charl & Nandu went ballistic and added 52 to the score, highly motivated by some unnecessary chirping from our opponents. Philip & Michael batted solidly in the third, adding 23 more runs, the total on 114, on the brink of victory. Lastly Gerhard & Konrad did the business by taking our score to 153 runs, meaning an emphatic victory and a chance to reach the Gold medal final. Contributor of the Match was Gerhard with 12 net runs. It must be said that the umpiring in this game was atrocious...

Next up, The Explosive Nukes took on Lots of Pain in their semi-final. We batted first and got off to a flying start, courtesy of Charl & Nandu with 46 runs. Next up was Turbo & Jaco who got 33 more runs. Paul & Peter contributed 15 more runs in the third skin, while Frank & Michael added 29 more runs in the last skin to bring our total to 123 runs. Confidently, we set about defending what we felt was a winning score. Their first skin got a solid 36 runs, then things went terribly wrong for us. Their second skin clubbed 48 and then the third skin butchered 56 more runs off our bowling. With the game already lost, we managed to limit the third skin to 18 runs, their total still sitting pretty on 158 runs. Contributor of the Match was Charl Haasbroek with 18 net runs.

The Atomic Nukes then heard that their next opponents had to forfeit the game as they had only 4 players. This meant that we automatically qualified for the Gold final on Sunday, winning at least a silver! It has been a while since we last won a medal!

Being the good natured bunch of guys that we are, we then decided to play a practice game as we had a court and an umpire at our disposal. Gerhard and Erik chose two teams from the available guys (six a side) and we played, chirped and complained (at the umpire) to our hearts content. The Winners batted first and scored 108 runs in 12 overs, to which The Losers replied with 101 in 12. We left the arena tired and content!

On Sunday, The Atomic Nukes are playing Vasvat for the Gold medal at 14:20, while The Explosive Nukes are playing for the bronze medal at 18:20. Good luck!

Tip for the Week: Fielding makes the difference between winning and losing!

23 October 2006:

On 17-10-2006 The Explosive Nukes played against Incredibles. We batted first and unfortunately, things went horribly wrong. After a negative first skin, the fourth skin walked in with the score on 20 runs! They added some respectibility to the score by taking it up to 62. We of knew we were up against it. We sort of contained their first skin to 18, but from then on it was clear that we were not going to win this game. They passed our score in the 10th over and eventually ended up on 104. Contributor of the Match was Charl Haasbroek with 21 net runs.

The semi-finals will take place this week, so good luck to us all!

Tip of the Week: Swing bowling basics: 1. Practice! 2. The ball will swing away from the shiny side, if you do number 3 correctly. 3. Bowl the ball in such a way that the seam stays upright. 4. Practice some more!

12 October 2006:

On 03-10-2006 The Atomic Nukes squared up against our least liked opponents, CSA. We started the batting shakily made our way to 37 after two skins. We then upped the ante and finished with a quite defendable score of 100 runs. Our bowling and fielding was not so hot in the first two skins as they were ahead at that stage on 54 runs. We then tightened the screws on our young opponents in the third, conceeding only 17, while their last skin fared only marginally better to score 21. That left them 8 runs short of our total, meaning a well earned victory for us! Contributor of the Match was Dirk Swart with 12 net runs.

Later that eveving The Atomic Nukes also played Soupaheroes. They batted first and got off to a flyer, sitting on 72 runs after 8 overs. We nailed the next skin to the wall by conceeding only 8 runs and also contained the last skin to only 21 runs, meaning we had to chase a gettable 100 runs. We started off solidly, getting 26 runs in the first and 36 runs in the second skin. Things then went pear shaped as they demolished our third skin to -3 runs. Our last skin came close to the required 42 runs for victory when they got 31 and of course the last skin. We felt quite satisfied that we only lost by 8 runs against okes who all play superleague. Contributor of the Match was Pieter Booysen with 14 net runs.

At the same time, The Explosive Nukes played KWV. These okes were definately not under the influence as they smashed our bowling all over the back net. Painfully, we conceded 190 runs. Chasing down that outrageous score is close to impossible and we could only manage 104 runs. The lesser about this game the better! Contributor of the Match was Peter Robinson with 4 net runs.

On 10-10-2006 The Atomic Nukes played Quad Squad. They batted first and we did well with ball in hand, conceeding no excessive skins, thereby keeping their score to 96. Confident about cahsing down that score, we got off to a good start scoring 49 in the first skin. Building from there, it was inevitible that solid batting will easily take us past the required total. We ended up on 124 with three skins, our best victory this year! Contributor of the Match was Konrad vd Merwe with 20 net runs. Congratulations also to Dirk Swart, who got his first hattrick!

The Explosive Nukes then came up against The Fuglies. As their name suggested, there is not much to look at in their team, especially not their bowling! (more about that later!) They batted first and scored well to reached a competitive 101 runs. We then started our campaign slowly but steadily, with 22 in the first skin. Then Steve and Paul went radioactive and smashed 61 off the second skin (Steve scoring a new record total of 46 runs for the Explosives!) Eager not to disappoint, Piet and Frank continued the demolition job by scoring another 47 runs. The last skin took the score up to a huge total of 166 runs! Contributor of the Match was Steve Aaron with 34 net runs.

Welcome to: Peter Robinson, Pieter Booysen and Riaan Els who played their first games in RED ! May there be many more!

Tip of the Week: Remember that as soon as you take the ball cleanly off a solid hit (especially the guys fielding on the three line) you have lots of time to lob the ball at either end to achieve that run out! It is of no use if you throw to kill and neither the keeper nor the backstop can catch it, put out the flames and break the wickets!

28 September 2006:

21 September 2006:

On 19-09-2006 The Atomic Nukes played against Gonads. We fielded first and did quite well to restrict them to 90 runs. We could have done even better if we took a few more chances that went begging. Our batting started off well by winning the first skin, but our second and fourth skins could not master thier bowling and fielding which was head shakingly painful as it included several successful reflex catches. We ended our batting effort on 71 runs. Contributor of the Match was Piet Viljoen with 12 net runs.

As for the Explosive Nukes, no game was scheduled this week. It seems as if the Arena management has decided that league E4 should only play games every two weeks. We hope they realise their errant ways and let us play more often!

Tip of the Week: When batting, be careful of being too tentative. If you make solid contact with the ball, it is more difficult to field the ball cleanly. Pushing the ball into the fielders' hands only make them look good. Give it a ripe old smack and watch them cower in the corner!

14 September 2006:

On 12-09-2006, The Atomic Nukes played against old enemy Vasvat in the pajama shift. They batted and got off to solid start, having scored 48 runs after two skins. Their third skin scored 40 big runs, while we managed to contain the last skin somewhat to score only 19, thus bringing their total to 107 runs. We felt that we could reach their total, but got off to a somewhat shaky start to have 43 runs after two skins. Our third skin almost matched their third skin by scoring 38, leaving 27 for victory. Our final skin had to contend with some excellent fielding and had to settle for 9 runs. Our total of 90 runs falling 17 runs short. The difference between the two teams being their superior fielding. Contributor of the Match was Wimpie van Rooyen with 22 net runs!

The Explosive Nukes also played in the pajama shift against Incredibles. We batted first and got off to a slow start, scoring 18 and 24 to have 42 runs after two skins. Our third skin stepped on the gas, scoring 47 runs, 32 of which came from Piet's blade. Our last skin closed the innings nicely with 28 more runs to bring our total to 117 runs. Confident, we set about defending our total. The Incredibles started off incredibly quickly and scored 69 runs in their first two skins. We tightened our grip on the game in the thrid skin by restricting them to 20. They had to get 23 for victory. All went according to plan right up to the last extra ball, from which they hit 7 runs to win by two runs. Incredibly, the Incredibles lived up to their incredible name and won an incredibly close game! Contributor of the Match was Piet Viljoen with 25 net runs.

Welcome to: Riaan Liebenberg who played his first game for The Nukes, may there be many more!

Tip of the Week: When batting, remember the first priority: do not lose wickets!

11 September 2006:

On 08-09-2006, The Explosive Nukes played against Castle. We batted first and put together a very defendable total of 137 runs, courtesy of two 25's (Ivan and Frank) and a 35 by Steve. Confident, we set about defending our runs. Castle had other ideas though and got hold of our batting in the first two skins, scoring half the required runs, sitting pretty on 72. We pulled up our socks and restricted the last two skins to 22 and 28, leaving them 15 runs short on 122. Contributor of the Match was Steve Aaron with 20 net runs.

Congratulations to: Steve Aaron who reached 2000 runs! (2027 in 116 games at an average of 17.47)

6 September 2006:

On 05-09-2006 The Atomic Nukes played against Quad Squad. It turned out to be a game of records for us, some good and some horrific! They batted first and scored a huge total of 135 runs! Incredibly, we managed to take only 4 wickets, the first of which fell in the 14th over! Some of it was due to bad fielding and some to just plain bad luck! We were kinda depressed as we walked of the field and to be honest, most of us believed we were going to add to our losing tally, again! Our first skin came off, scoring 48 runs, 43 of which came from the Spiderbat! The next skin added 31 (25 from Charl), leaving us on 78 after two skins. Suddenly there was hope! Could it be that could just pull this off? Our third skin did not disappoint and added 32 more runs, which left the last skin to score 26 for victory. They did not disappoint and pushed our total to 140, giving us an incredible 5 run victory! And our biggest successful run chase ever! Contributor of the Match was Erik vd Linde with 26 net runs.

The Explosive Nukes are playing against Castle on Friday 08-09-2006 at 18:30. Good luck guys!

Tip of the Week: When batting, be careful of being too tentative. If you make solid contact with the ball, it is more difficult to field the ball cleanly.

30 August 2006:

On 29-08-2006 The Atomic Nukes played old enemy CSA. We batted first and put together a decent score of 100 runs, Steve top scoring with 25 runs. We felt that total was defendable, but our opponents had other ideas. They came out firing and scored big in the first two skins, effectively winning the game with 73 after two skins. The last two skins took the total to 118 runs, meaning yet another defeat. Our bowling and fielding let us down. Contributor of the Match was Michael Correia with 10 net runs.

Tip of the Week: When fielding, your priorities should be as follows: 1. Keep the ball off the net, 2. Take the ball cleanly at the first attempt and 3. Get the ball to either wickets as quickly and accurately as possible for that run out!

24 August 2006:

On 22-08-2006, The Explosive Nukes took on The Fuglies. We batted first and struggled to come to terms with their bowling. After three skins we only had 48 runs to show for it. The last skin added 27 welcome runs to bring our total to 75. Knowing we were up against it, we failed to contain their first skin, which got 31. In the second skin we got things together, conceeding only 2 runs! Their thrid skin put the pressure back on by scoring 32 runs, leaving only 11 runs for victory. Their last skin managed 18 runs, to end a hard fought game. Contributor of the Match was Wimpie van Rooyen with 10 net runs.

On 23-08-2006, The Atomic Nukes played against old foe Soupaheroes. We batted and got off to a slow start, scoring only 4 in the first skin. The second skin got the ball rolling with 43 runs, which the third skin follwed up with 27 more runs. The last skin again faced the brunt of their best bowlers and could only manage 9 runs, leaving us with 83 runs defend. They got off to a flying start, scoring 39 in the first skin and 31 in the second. We piled the pressure on the third skin to concede only 11, but the third skin got away from us again to score 39 and bring their total to a hefty 120. Contributor of the Match was Erik vd Linde with a net contribution of 19 runs.

Tip of the Week: Limit those extras when bowling. Pick a target on the pitch you want to bowl at and try to hit that.

16 August 2006:

The Return of The Atomic Nukes took place on 15-08-2006! After going a lengthy period without victory, we finally returned to our winning ways by beating the Gonads. We batted first and sadly started off with a negative skin. The second skin got things going by scoring a hefty 50 runs, Steve contributing massively with 32! The third skin added more valuable runs, as did the last skin to bring our total to 90 runs (ump made +3 run error...). We set about defending our total confidently as we restricted their first skin to a mere 6 runs. The second got away somewhat as they got 34, but we pulled it back in the third skin to concede only 1 run! Their last skin tried hard to get the required runs, but they could only manage 32, leaving them 17 runs short of our total. Contributor of the Match was Steve Aaron with a HUGE 34 run net contribution!

Tip of the Week: Nothing beats enthusiasm!

10 August 2006:

On 08-08-2006 the Spring 2006 Season kicked off. The Explosive Nukes got things underway against Handy Cap. The handycapped batted first and hit a sizeable total of 126 runs. We knew we were up against it and set about chasing the total down. We played some sensible cricket and scored 30 plus in all four skins, especially the last skin in which Charl and Nandu hit a magnificent 50, Nandu contributing 34! We ended on 149 runs, 23 runs to the positive. Contributor of the Match was Frank Pike with 16 net runs.

The Atomic Nukes squared up against UNICA. We batted first and did so dismally, although they did bowl and field quite sharply. We put together 78 runs, which was a bit on the thin side. We tried admirably to defend our total and the game was quite tight up the third skin. When the passed our total, the last batsmen had a lekker swing and they reached 108 runs. We hope to do better with the bat next week. Contributor of the Match was Wimpie van Rooyen with 17 net runs!

Welcome to: Paul Sampson who played his first game for The Nukes, may there be many more!

Tip of the Week: When batting, at least make contact with the ball!