Publication:Navy Annual 2005/A New Navy Sporting Tradition has Started
BY LIEUTENANT RACHEL IRVING, RANR
Out of the ashes in Portsmouth rose a new tradition last week with the burning of the bails in the inaugural Navy Ashes cricket match, Royal Australian Navy versus the Royal Navy.
In a game of Australian dominance, the visitors, in a 30-overs game, ran out winners with four wickets and 13 overs in hand.
The Aussies won the toss and sent the home side, which consisted of players from seven ships, in to bat. LS Brokate and PO Pearn opening the bowling for the Aussies, with the home side taking a slow and steady pace, making 27 off the first six overs.
With a bowling change from the Anzac team the pressure mounted. AB Williams took two immediate wickets and was on a hat trick before the Poms could take a breath. His next ball however was neatly pushed to the leg side - not a hat-trick, but the pressure had been well and truly applied.
The dismissal of the Royal Navy captain, CMDR Beardall, RN, saw a turn in the game in favour of the visitors.
The remainder of the Royal Navy innings was dominated by the Anzac 'Convicts' team, with tidy bowling figures from AB Lyndon Ballard who took three wickets for nine plus a run out. Team captain LS Milton took two wickets, as did AB Williams, while PO Pearn and AB Lewis both chalked up one each.
The combination of good bowling and determination in the field, restricted the home side to just 114, all out.
To win, the visitors required a run rate of 3.83 per over.
At tea, the bails were burnt, marking the first 'Navy Ashes' game. They now reside sealed in a pewter urn onboard HMAS Anzac, and will be played for between the two navies, just as the Ashes are played for between England and Australia.
CMDR Turner, RAN and CPO Davison opened the batting for the visitors with CMDR Turner, RAN, going early for a duck, from a magnificent catch held by first slip from a dropped deflection from second slip.
PO Pearn, a steady performer in Albany at the start of the Northern Trident deployment, the team's only other match, came in at number three but was quickly dismissed.
LS Bamford was next at the crease but the partnership between him and CPO Davison was to last only five minutes before Bamford was caught out.
At three for 14 the visitors were looking shaky and needed to lift their batting. LS Brokate proved just the man to do that, though CPO Davison was dismissed shortly thereafter and replaced by LS Shane Murphy, the score four for 17.
The partnership of Brokate and Murphy lifted the intensity of the game as well as the run rate. Boundaries and runs flowed with Brokate dominating the attack and scoring the only six of the day with a midwicket boundary.
Even with a change of pace in the bowling, the Royal Navy team could only slow the run rate to eight per over, and Murphy seemed to enjoy the slower balls, attacking the bowling with a dance down the wicket to smash the ball towards the boundary.
Brokate made his 50 with a smashing pull shot off just 28 deliveries but was clean bowled in the next over for 53, leaving the Convicts with 22 runs off 16 overs to win.
Murphy then partnered up with AB Lewis, who belted a succession of three balls for four and saw the Convicts over the finish line with 13.1 overs to spare.
Brokate was named Player of the Match with his 53 runs, but Ballard was also a handy contributor with his three for nine and a run out.
The result:
- Royal Navy 114 all out (Beardall 20, Ballard 3 for 9)
- Convicts 5 for 117 (Brokate 53, Murphy 22 not out)
