02/02/2026
31st January 2026
A hot, humid day marked the first home game of the year, the match against Jindabyne last week having been abandoned due to rain. Rhythm won the toss and chose to bat.
BDCA’s opening bowlers, W Brown and R Holland bowled with good pace from both ends. They limited the scoring rate of the Rhythm openers Khoury (Jr) and Azaan. The first wicket though came from a run-out, with Azaan mistakenly taking on Cikos’ arm for a second-run. Khoury and Gammon (21 [34]) consolidated and looked for the bad ball to score runs. L Tonks (2-20 [5]) was unlucky not to get a wicket with his first ball, a catch in the deep falling just short. He was rewarded with one a few balls later as Gammon tried to push the scoring rate on but his skied off-drive was caught by J Sullivan. Cikos and Ankit paired to dismiss Khoury Jr with a stumping for 45 (60), the match fairly evenly poised at 3-97. L Tonks took the top of Nemasha’s off stump with a brilliant ball, before Cikos’ (2-30 [5]) flight once more proved irresistible, Babar stumped for 8. The last ten overs saw clouds bring some welcome relief from the heat and Tanuj 47 (45) and Strudwick-Wood 24 (34) put on about 60, M Sullivan (1-26 [8]) claiming the former’s wicket in the final over with Rhythm finishing on 6/192.
Fairly heavy rain marked the innings break slowing the field down and making the job of openers R Holland and Cikos more difficult. R Holland hit a couple of good shots before being caught off Rahman’s bowling for 13, while Cikos was bowled by I Piesley shortly after for 4. Coming off a stellar knock of 125 last week in the Tumut comp, W Brown did not trouble the scorers this week and was dismissed LBW by Babar for nought. Bombala looked in real trouble at this stage on only 3/20. J Sullivan (22 from 28) and M Sullivan paired up, with the younger Sullivan loosening the shackles early on with a lofted on-drive for six. M Sullivan displayed his usual dismissiveness to anything slightly short, putting a few over the grandstand for six. After the early drinks break and with rain around, J Sullivan tried to move the scoring on against Piesley but holed out to mid-off with the score on 89. The last ball bowled was dispatched by M Sullivan to the boundary to bring up an unbeaten 50 off 43. Rain had made the pitch and field too slippery and with lightning getting closer the decision was made to abandon the match. Both sides used their Duckworth-Lewis calculators which had the home-side smack-bang on the par score with four wickets down - 94 runs.
As usual, the game against Rhythm was played in a spirit of healthy competition and a few laughs. A big thanks to W Brown for coming over to play with us again and junior Z Smith for being a much needed 11th fielder. A big thanks to major sponsor Dutton Financial Services. Our next game is at home again against Berridale - will be great to see you there.
