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STICK TO YOUR DAY JOB FELLAS!
The Essendon players swapped their football boots for cricket pads yesterday at the Tullamarine Indoor Cricket Centre. Six teams participated in the round robin competition, including one team of coaches. The rules were simple - 16 overs per team, a maximum of two overs per bowler and four overs per batting combination. It was a tight contest with many players showing the had no idea about the game. It was the coach's team who stole the points at the end of the day. ""It was extremely competitive out there. All the boys wanted to win and there was no room for error. Chris Heffernan was impressive with the ball and Paul Barnard with the bat - however it was the coaches who showed the players how it is done,"" event organiser David Flood said.
The Essendon players swapped their football boots for cricket pads yesterday at the Tullamarine Indoor Cricket Centre. Six teams participated in the round robin competition, including one team of coaches. The rules were simple - 16 overs per team, a maximum of two overs per bowler and four overs per batting combination. It was a tight contest with many players showing the had no idea about the game. It was the coach's team who stole the points at the end of the day. ""It was extremely competitive out there. All the boys wanted to win and there was no room for error. Chris Heffernan was impressive with the ball and Paul Barnard with the bat - however it was the coaches who showed the players how it is done,"" event organiser David Flood said.
Some of the highlights of the day were:
Blake Caracella tried hard all day but came out with a batting average similar to Glenn McGrath.
Paul Salmon was a fish out of water with a bat in his hands. He finished with a lower batting average than Caracella.
Classy catches - Dustin Fletcher attempted to punch in the outfield. After realising he was allowed to catch the ball in this game he showed some excellent skills.
Coach's Corner - Performed best when Mark Harvey was out of the side. Harvey was forced to watch after he broke down with a knee injury following an attempt to bowl with the speed of Brett Lee.
McVeigh's showed no respect for his older teammates. He was happy to 'mankad' Hird and Mercuri during the afternoon and it caused much controversy.
Terry Daniher showed his renowned work ethic didn't go by the wayside on the cricket pitch. He was continually calling on his teammates for their second efforts - ""stay focussed and lets work hard fellas!"".
The Veterans team included Paul Salmon, Steve Alessio, James Hird, Paul Barnard, Sean Wellman, Joe Misiti, Mark Mercuri and Dustin Fletcher. On the form they showed a number of them could well go the way of the Waugh brothers when next year's competition comes around.
Despite a couple of untimely niggles, star Essendon full forward Matthew Lloyd will be fit for the Bombers round one clash with Geelong at the MCG on March 30th. Lloyd missed Essendon's final Wizard Cup match agaimst Fremantle with ankle soreness and a slight groin injury was subsequently discovered. ""The ankle was going to keep him out of the Fremantle match anyway and it probably turned out to be a blessing. He had some slight soreness in the groin after training and since he was going to miss anyway we decided to have an MRI done. It showed he had a slight nick in the muscle - had he played it could have developed into something more significant,"" Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said.
