By RUSSELL BENNETT
THERE aren’t too many times we can remember that Tom Hussey and Chris ‘Wombat’ Bright have both fielded in the outfield and both bowled in the same match.
But Sunday’s game at Glover Reserve in Devon Meadows was different.
A who’s who of stars from around the competition converged on the ground for the inaugural WGCA All-Stars Twenty20 match – to raise money for both the Ricky Ponting Foundation, and the WGCA Warriors Country Week side.
The match pitted the best of the North, led by Emerald speedster Clinton Marsh, against the stars of the South – led by Tooradin star Aaron Avery.
While the South line-up was particularly strong on paper – featuring the likes of Hussey and Avery (Tooradin), Bright (Kooweerup), Simon Parrott (Cardinia), Jess Mathers and Danny Diwell (Merinda Park), and Matt Hutchinson (Devon Meadows) – the game came down to the final over; the South eventually winning by two wickets (8/162 in reply to the North’s 5/157).
North openers Chris Savage and Jason Hameeteman started in a blaze of glory, scoring 31 runs off the first three overs before the Upper Beaconsfield skipper was bowled by Jess Mathers for 24.
Hameeteman though, the big-hitting Lyndhurst Viking, continued on his merry way – bludgeoning seven boundaries (including three sixes) before retiring on 60.
But apart from Savage, Hameeteman and Pakenham skipper Jason Williams, none of the other North batsman reached 20, with returning Kooweerup leg-spinner Dananja Madushanka claiming two wickets in his first hit-out back on Australian soil.
Hutchinson, Merinda Park coach Jamie Smith, Lang Lang’s Paul Black and Hussey all impressed with their tight line and length with the ball.
After the early dismissals of Hussey and Bright in the South innings, Avery (32) and Parrott (54 not out) kept the score ticking along. Parrott almost decapitated the non-striker with a couple of his straight drives in his first game since his recent health scare. He may not have looked all that comfortable running between the wickets, but he didn’t have to be – given how often he was finding the boundary.
He and Hameeteman were named their respective sides’ best player, with Parrott adjudged man of the match.
