Super 4s: Match Reports

Game 1: The Sloggers d. The Bones Boys by 38? runs (not counting extras) 23rd August 1997, 6 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: S M Qadri
The Sloggers: T C-E Koh, M Novakovic, S M Qadri.
The Bones Boys: A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, E L Squires.
The inaugural Super 4s match was marred by controversy surrounding the leg play of Slogger Tommy Koh. Bones Boys Ad Korbel and Will Lin both bowled medium pace deliveries in line with leg stump, but Tommy refused to play a shot and both times allowed the ball to bruise his forward leg. In a practice ball between overs, Korbel clean bowled Tommy Koh when a shot was played, and then when play resumed, Lin smashed leg stump several balls into the over when an attempt to hit the ball with the bat during play was finally made by the 'slogger'. The Bones Boys seemed distracted after the incident and indeed both bowlers were fuming at the time, although afterwards they were soothed by a diplomatic Mustafa Qadri and subsequent leg-before-wicket rule amendments. The Bones Boys' lack of batting depth was a strong contrast to the brilliant form of an ebullient Mustafa Qadri. Koh also batted well, averaging 5.67 in the six innings played, while Bones Boy Will Lin captured 8 wickets. The Bones Boys' chief scorer, Adrian Korbel had some excellent innings, but each odd hiccup meant an ever increasing run deficit due to the clumsy batting of both Ed Squires and Will Lin. In hindsight, the teams were rather unbalanced, but the value of the Super 4s style of cricket was proven and its associated intrinsic sporting competitiveness was born.

Will's Match Team Ratings:

Team Batting Bowling Overall

SLG 9.5 7 9

BB 6 7 6.5

Game 2: One Nation d. The Hybrids by one wicket. 4th October 1997, 10 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: A M Korbel
One Nation: C Liu, W Y-J Lin, T-T Tan.
The Hybrids: A M Korbel, S M Qadri, E L Squires.
One Nation triumphed in a closely-contested ten innings match. The Hybrids began strongly building up a significant run lead, with a huge batting team that included both A M Korbel and S M Qadri. A spirited attack was forged by debutants Chaz Liu and Teng Tan, who, with the other One Nation player Will Lin began legendary on-field and off-field chants of 'Wun Nay-Shun!' paired with encouraging claps. The enlivening incantations brought out the determination and flair of One Nation and it wasn't long before One Nation's bowling destroyed The Hybrids. Teng Tan batted superbly, ably supported by Chas Liu and by the start of the final innings, One Nation had consolidated their position and after another brilliant bowling spell, needed less than five runs to clinch the match. But in the tense final overs, the two One Nation openers fell cheaply to man of the match Ad Korbel. It was up to batting bunny Will Lin to save the match. Eventually he survived to score a brave 2* in a clutch play to win the game; he also took five catches. Hybrids' batsman Mustafa Qadri ended up having a shocking day with the bat (av 1.33), leaving Ad Korbel to once again score most of his team's runs. For One Nation, Super 4s inductee Chaz Liu bowled superbly, capturing 11 wickets for the day at an average of 3.45 and his leadership was certainly an important factor in One Nation's win. Ed Squires was perhaps lucky in his wicket haul, but he did make invaluable contributions for the Hybrids. The match was generally competitive and played in excellent sporting fashion, which resulted in the large number of innings (ten) being eagerly played.

Will's Match Team Ratings:

Team Batting Bowling Overall

1N 7.5 8.5 8.5

HYB 8 8 8.5

Game 3: First-Class 27th November 1997, 4 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: N M Shehata
A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, M Novakovic, S M Qadri, N M Shehata.
Most players had a fairly good day's cricket on a hot near-summers day, with Ad Korbel and Mus Qadri finding reasonably good form with the bat. Mena Shehata performed outstandingly all-round on debut, quickly adapting to the Super 4s circuit. He learned to deliver some excellent swing bowling and showed his natural finesse in the field with a great reflex catch at short leg, which had Korbel out off a defensively-minded stroke, benefiting the bowling of Will Lin. At the crease, Mena was able to smash just about any delivery, including the accurate medium pace given by Korbel and the loopy offspinners of Qadri. Will Lin had a good bowling day and bowled two maidens, but was still unable to get any decent score at the crease, even with a generous variety of wooden bats being supplied by the ground curator. Mark Novakovic was simply outclassed in all departments by his peers and, notably, was hit for a then Super 4s record 20 runs in a single over by Ad Korbel. The unimpressive cricket from 'Ogre' served only to stifle Will Lin's batting attempts, who only managed to face Mark for a single ball. This first-class match was the first of its type and it proved that sensible Super 4s cricket could be played with as few as five players in total. First-class matches would, in the future, herald a new age of Super 4s, allowing many more games to be organised and played.

Game 4: The Penetrators d. The Yobs by six runs. 30th November 1997, 3 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: D Lau
The Penetrators: D Lau, W Y-J Lin, S M Qadri, T-T Tan.
The Yobs: A M Korbel, C Liu, N M Shehata.
The Penetrators won an uninspired match thanks largely to the batting form of Mustafa Qadri and debutant Daniel Lau (avg 16.5). The game represented the return match for T-T Tan, N M Shehata and C Liu but seemed lacklustre and even tiresome overall. Despite this, both teams' excellent batting lineups performed well, and with Will Lin being protected by three other batsmen, realistic cricket tactics came into play. Switching openers, sending in 'night-watchmen' and juggling fielding positions were all strategies employed by the teams, particularly by the four-man Penetrator outfit. Unfortunately, the Yobs were forced to double-play their players because of the difference in team numbers and this tired their bowling attack markedly. Adrian Korbel (5-4, 5 maidens) did bowl brilliantly throughout, but the Yobs could just not get the runs needed to catch the Penetrators. The run chase grew hugely after the second innings, and eventually the Yobs retired after just the third innings, tiring despite recovering the score to only 70-64 against them. Massive eight over innings were played, allowing some really tough knocks to be made and both Korbel and Lau recorded not out scores. Qadri also made an excellent 22. The low strike rates, fewer singles, minimal run outs and many more boundaries evidenced in this game showed the sizeable development in Super 4s cricket.

Will's Match Team Ratings:

Team Batting Bowling Overall

PTR 9 7.5 9

YOB 7.5 7 7

Game 5: First-Class 7th December 1997, 3 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: K H-K Ng
V Y-C Ding, W Y-J Lin, K H-K Ng, S M Qadri, T-T Tan.
Originally this was to be a test match played on the 6th of December but was cancelled as both Tommy Koh and Victor Ding failed to attend. An unlikely match was forged the following day, despite only Will Lin and Mus Qadri sporting clothing suitable for cricket. Indeed, poor outfielding by Teng Tan aided several boundaries and was, somewhat perfunctorily, blamed by the culprit upon long trousers and the lack of sandshoes. In reality, the intermittent showers that continually interrupted the first innings and the resulting fast outfield did make fielding a real chore. Mus Qadri and particularly Man of the Match Keith Ng (avg 7.00) both seized the opportunity to grab easy fours, especially while Teng Tan outfielded. Vic Ding took five wickets on a controversial slick pitch which lacked bounce but possessed no end of skidding, sliding deliveries. The wet surface restricted singles and no run-outs were possible with cautious running between wickets, although both Teng Tan and Will Lin took three good catches each in various positions on the field. Play was abandoned after an enjoyable and relaxed three innings due to poor light.

Game 6: First-Class 18th December 1997, 2 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: T-T Tan
T C-E Koh, W Y-J Lin, M Novakovic, S M Qadri, T-T Tan.
Teng-Tjun Tan blossomed in his best performance to date in Super 4s. He smashed several slogging superlatives previously set by A M Korbel, and collected his first ever not out score as well as his first ever maiden. In spite of Teng's utilisation of the highly criticised 'el-cheapo' bat, the 'Grease' managed two excellent innings for a total of 65*. Mus Qadri managed the only other mentionable display with the bat, accumulating a 17* after being dismissed for a duck earlier, which was ascribed to trash-talking from arch-nemesis T-T Tan. Mus also bowled well initially, conceding only eleven runs in three overs before a tired and sore 30 run over against the in-form T-T Tan ruined his statistics. Tommy Koh, in his long awaited return to the Super 4s stage, found it impossible to improve on his excellent debut statistics, but still performed creditably. W Y-J Lin had a forgettable fielding foray, dropping a high sitter that would have had T-T Tan out for 12 off the bowling of S M Qadri. In addition to this, Will Lin bruised his arm on offside tennis net pole immediately afterwards, and later on while going for another high ball hit by Teng, grazed his right kneecap, left shin and right elbow running into the long-on fence, this time off one of his own deliveries. Aside from these incidents, he did bowl his customary self, conceding as many runs from batsmen as from his uncontrolled high no-balls and he also made his traditional duck. Yet he was the only day's bowling foil to T-T Tan, bowling a maiden against him. M Novakovic was again the day's dunce, scoring just one run, getting no wickets nor maidens nor catches but plenty of extras that nearly everyone lost count of. Fortunately the poor outfielding Mark seemed to threaten during pre-game practice never really materialised. Play was forcibly stopped by a heavy downpour and probably would have been called shortly in any case due to poor light conditions.

Game 7: The Penetrators d. The Yobs by 42 runs. 28th December 1997, 4 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: A M Korbel
The Penetrators: A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, T-T Tan.
The Yobs: V Y-C Ding, K H-K Ng, S M Qadri, N M Shehata.
A long awaited return to the hallowed Super 4s turf on an overcast but pleasantly cool day was used to host a re-match of two of the most distinctive teams in the competition; The Penetrators and The Yobs. Mena Shehata ably captained an allround four-man Yobs outfit but the Penetrator threesome of Teng Tan (captain), Adrian Korbel and Will Lin were quietly confident. After the first two innings it seemed the game would be extremely one-sided as the difference in bowling depth between the teams showed. Adrian Korbel improved his best ever innings to 39 in the first innings while the opposite batsman Mustafa Qadri had a poor day. But Yob captain Mena Shehata did not worry, and slowly edged his side back into the match, bowling long spells beautifully and emerging as the true shining light in the batting, although Keith Ng's aggression also yielded vital runs; until he faced Korbel. On top of this, Teng Tan began to falter at the crease, and blamed the absence of the wider 'el-cheapo' bat while Will Lin's sub-par, partially experimental bowling was well dealt with by the Yobs' top order. But The Yobs could not muster the runs needed to catch the Penetrators and with Mus Qadri's disastrous day the crease (avg 1.25), were unable to seriously threaten their substantial lead, particularly with Teng Tan's and Adrian Korbel's consistently dangerous and economical overs. Deep into the match, several incidents threatened the casual and friendly Super 4s atmosphere, with a disputed run from an extra and later an incident involving a run-out between V Y-C Ding and W Y-J Lin. Controversy lasted to the very end of the match, with Korbel refusing to truly accept a caught behind call but fortunately the tension did not cripple the overall matchplay. Victor Ding continued mediocre Super 4s form, marginally improving his batting with two not out scores, but did not bag any wickets and was hit for a whopping 23 runs in a single over. Fellow Yob Keith Ng showed his first batting performance was not a fluke, and kept up his average, despite a poor start and was an important strike bowler against Korbel. An unusual game pattern did evolve, with several run-outs occurring, and less catches because of the high proportion of batsmen being bowled or caught behind. The large amount of singles and running between wickets could be attributed to the early lead of A M Korbel's daring and dangerous but profitable running after hitting towards the Yobs' offside fielder, Victor Ding, but the constant running did quickly tire most batsmen's legs. In the end, any possibility of playing a fifth innings was discarded after the strain and pain of a day of intense Super 4s cricket took its toll on all the players, with the score concluded at 133-91.

Will's Match Team Ratings:

Team Batting Bowling Overall

PTR 9 8.5 9

YOB 8 7 7

Game 8: First-Class 31st December 1997, 2 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: Not Awarded
V Y-C Ding, W Y-J Lin, S M Qadri, E L Squires, T-T Tan.
An impromptu short game which yielded few runs and many wickets was played on a hot day shortly after the Penetrator's previous triumph. Victor Ding got his best ever bowling figures, Will Lin got the day's second best high score with six, and Teng Tan took two catches in his brief fielding time. Mus Qadri was extremely unlucky, having fourteen runs scored against him because of abysmal outfielding by Vic Ding.

Game 9: Tools d. The Bones Boys by 23 runs. 12th April 1998, 3 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: E M-T Lau
Tools: T C-E Koh, E M-T Lau, S M Qadri.
The Bones Boys: A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, N M Shehata.
After the longest period of abstinence since the birth of Super 4s, five Super 4s veterans and inductee Eddo Lau enjoyed a high quality, albeit one-sided contest on an overcast, but pleasantly cool day. The Bones Boys won the toss and chose to bowl, but despite the Bones Boys' captain Ad Korbel top scoring with 27 runs he could not offset his poor batting support; receiving only another 3 runs from his teammates. With Eddo's Lau's fine batting and able support from Tom Koh and Mus Qadri, the Bones Boys slid to their second consecutive loss. Will Lin and Ad Korbel both bowled dangerously enough to restrict Tools' batting, but some close calls went against them. Mena Shehata had a poor day overall; his only solid spell was a wicket maiden. Eddo Lau was clearly Tools' best bowler, taking 4/5 in 4 overs. Tom Koh took the day's fielding honours with two catches and a runout of teammate Eddo Lau while fielding for the Bones Boys, proving himself to be a true 'Tool'. Both Mus Qadri and Ad Korbel hurt their fingers attempting tough catches.

Will's Match Team Ratings:

Team Batting Bowling Overall

TL 8 7 8

BB 5 7 6

Game 10: First-Class 10th May 1998, 2.4 Innings Scorecard

Man of Match: A M Korbel
S Aly, A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, S M Qadri, T-T Tan.
A cool to mild autumn's day provided four of the Super 4s veterans the opportunity to introduce another new player to the Super 4s fold. Sameer Aly took a good catch to dismiss the in-form Adrian Korbel but otherwise had a lacklustre debut. Korbel once again ended up with the day's batting honours and added four wickets to his man of the match performance. It was an odd day's play with just one catch and no run outs made and six of the twelve innings played being ducks. In addition the eleven wickets that fell comprised of five 'caught-behind' and five 'bowled' dismissals. Perhaps the superlative new Gray-Nicholls stumps with bails provided more incentive. Will Lin managed to beat his high score with two boundaries abetted by Mus Qadri in the outfield, while Mustafa himself bowled only his second ever maiden in a good day with the ball. The curator introduced a new rule, incorporating the 'late-cut' shot into the Super 4s game, but no-one quite managed to hit the designated area. Overall bowling honours of the day went to Teng Tan and Ad Korbel, whose medium pace balls were delivered both consistently dangerously and economically.

Season 2

Match 1: Test Match Tri-Series 19th December 1999, 3x 2 Innings Scorecard Game 1: Tools d. Sloggers by 4 wickets with 3.0 overs left. Game 2: Yobs d. One Nation by 7 runs. Game 3: Penetrators d. The Dodgey Dealers by 4 wickets with 2.2 overs left.: Player of the Day: A M Korbel
A M Korbel, E M-T Lau, W Y-J Lin, S M Qadri, N M Shehata, T-T Tan.
Having been relegated to playing in hard concrete nets, the Super 4s top brass were overjoyed to be back playing at the reecntly resurfaced Lonsdale Avenue pitch on a cool but overcast late summer's afternoon. The action got underaway very shortly after a quick practice session following the arrival of three of the Bones Boys in an unfamiliar Toyota 'Life' Starlet and the subsequent appearance of a cheery Teng-Tjun Tan, satisfied with significant facial volume loss as a result of a self-imposed KFC/McDonalds food ban. Contrary to popular belief, the Bones Boys did not join up and instead old Windred house members Ad Korbel, Will Lin and Eddo Lau joined together to form Tools, again captained by Eddo. Teng-Tjun Tan with Mustafa Qadri and the only recently 're-cricketed' Mena Shehata put up a lacklustre show as The Sloggers and were overrun by blazing strokeplay from firstly Ad Korbel and then Eddo Lau. An early Eddo Lau wicket and remarkably straight left-armed bowling from William Lin saw The Sloggers make just 3/20, with Ad Korbel taking 2/11 in a see-sawing over. In reply, Korbel played some straight bat shots to the curator's surprise and despite scoring just 5 in the first two overs, went on to massacre Mena Shehata for 15 runs in the following over. A dubious run out saw his innings end at 27(24) and Tools carried a good 8 run lead into the second innings. A slow innings without many runs from Sloggers' opener Mustafa Qadri sealed the fate of the game. His 5(14) allowed a total of just 16 to be set as Teng-Tjun Tan recorded a pair for the innings and left-armed William Lin taking 2-9 with 5 extras in his over. Eddo Lau hit the first eight of the new season to complete the rout in just 1 over.
Teng-Tjun Tan's insistence on forming One Nation succeeded as Blacktown born tracksuit pant stalwart Mustafa Qadri joined the Ravenna Street kid and fellow South Strathfielder Adrian Korbel in appropriately forming The Yobs. Deteriorating left-armed bowling from William Lin saw The Yobs recover from 1/5 after 2 overs to make 1/24 from their 4, thanks to Ad's 17*(13). But the fightback was unexpectedly hard from One Nation, especially after the premature exit of William Lin for a duck. Teng-Tjun Tan hit the second eight of the day but even when he fell too to Mustafa, Edmund Lau feasted on Narmer's no-balls and a loose second over from Mustafa to make his first 20, off just 18 balls. The total of 2/33 was enough to give One Nation a respectable 9 run first innings lead. Mena Shehata's gap between bat and leg was exposed when he was cleaned up for a paltry 1 by Teng-Tjun Tan but the wicket only brought the in-form Adrian Korbel to the crease. He was lucky twice in having a ball bounce out for three off the shoulder of the bat and would not have expected Teng to drop a high spiralling chance off Will's first ball of his left-armed over for the innings. Ad went on to make 12 runs from the over and by the time his innings was over, he had posted the day's best innings - 28* off 22 balls with 4 fours. The innings saw The Yobs match One Nation with 1/33 and William Lynn despite recording a new high score of 9, took a few too many balls and put the pressure on the rest of the batsmen. Teng Tan couldn't handle Mustafa Qadri, taking just 3 runs off him before being bowled by Ad Korbel, while Eddo's 5 balls to score the 12 runs needed for victory was simply too few. Adrian Korbel proved to be the outstanding player as the Yobs won by 7 runs in an excellent high-scoring game.
The Dodgey Dealers proved true to their name when captain and master shonks Teng spooned a chance back to Mustafa for a golden duck. Eddo clobbered a 3 and then a 8 in reply but was then clean bowled by a beautiful ripper of a delivery by the king of googlies and Penetrator captain Mustafa Qadri. Adrian Korbel joined in with penetrating bowling of his own to take two wickets also in the following over, saving William Lin from bowling and in the meantime dismissing Mena Shehata and Eddo again, both for ducks. The tight bowling saw The Dodgey Dealers make just 4/14 - all out in a mere 2 overs. A 15 minute break was forced by showers and poor light and provided the opportunity for all to peer at the Curator's new bat, as well as the chance for the Curator to protest at some unsightly greasy fingermarks left by The Dodgey Dealers' captain. Meanwhile others ravished a collection of blackcurrant pastilles. Some heartening words were need to revive to the flagging spirits of Mena Shehata, and once Mena's pause was overcome, Mustafa Qadri had to take his time at the crease in an attempt to find some form. Despite hitting some firm square drives, he did not get value for his shots because of the unique Super 4s field placements. He was put down by Edmund Lau when the fast bowler grassed a dolly of a chance, albeit with a damp slippery ball. It was Mena Shehata, taking his first wicket of the day and duly sporting tracksuit pants who took The Dodgey Dealers' first ever wicket, having Mus out caught behind for 4. William Lin came in to see if he could help overhaul the modest 14 run 1st innings total set by The Dodgey Dealers, but after batting cautiously throughout Teng Tan's over, had scored just 1*(6). But he soon got his slogging into gear with a 3 and a 2 off Eddo's last over and finished it off with a brilliant off drive which raced for four off the last ball. The 'Strategic not-quite-so-Dero' was delighted with his 10*(12) and despite only bringing the team total to 1/14, was quietly confident. The Dodgey Dealers soon discovered why when Will started warming up his much improved right arm pace bowling. Mena Shehata and then Eddo Lau both went for ducks in a blistering first over from Will and when Ad followed this effort up with the only maiden of the day, The Dodgey Dealers were looking very patchy indeed on 2/1. Mustafa Qadri finished off the job for the triple pronged Penetrator attack with 2/3 in the final over as The Dodgey Dealers managed a horrible 4/4. Will Lin took his time in making 5*(10) to win the match and conclude a wonderful day's Super 4s play.
Mena Shehata was presented with the Bevanly Squares Award in a private ceremony while Teng Tan predictably weasled away from his bad performances almost immediately after the day's play finished. The Curator's prized stumps were saved from major blemishes thanks to some good caretaking from Mustafa Qadri while Adrian Korbel easily won the inaugural player of the day award. The three Bones Boys left to feast on a bargain woodfired pizza dinner, grateful that the fourth Bones Boy was not present to gobble up the marvellous food and to celebrate the long-awaited return of Super 4s.
First-Class Match 27th December 1999, 1 uncompleted Innings Scorecard: Player of the Day: Not Awarded
A M Korbel, W Y-J Lin, S M Qadri, C S Simon, T-T Tan.
Despite better planning than the first game of the Second Super 4s season, only five players were gathered and the next Test Match Tri-Series had to be postponed. The main highlight of the day's play was the debut of Chris Simon whose sturdy batting, although leaving a little to be desired, was severly undermined by slow short and accurate bowling. The return of a noodler proved to be the downfall of the day's play with Adrian Korbel's short fuse not helping matters. Chris and Korbs retreated inside the Curator's residence to enjoy Pod Racer after just four overs of play. Mustafa Qadri's 24*(24) included 16 from Chris Simon's over from four boundaries and with the disparity in the standard of players, the match was abandoned with a rift between Adrian Korbel and Mustafa Qadri becoming apparent. A game of FIFA 98 between four of the five players did not seem to help matters as the statistics for the day were kept but the match remains only dubiously official as only one batsman played for the day. The ominous conclusion may well mark the end of the line for Super4s.

Super 4s: Match Reports

Game 1: The Sloggers d. The Bones Boys by 38? runs (not counting extras)

Game 2: One Nation d. The Hybrids by one wicket.

Game 3: First-Class

Game 4: The Penetrators d. The Yobs by six runs.

Game 5: First-Class

Game 6: First-Class

Game 7: The Penetrators d. The Yobs by 42 runs.

Game 8: First-Class

Game 9: Tools d. The Bones Boys by 23 runs.

Game 10: First-Class

Season 2

Match 1: Test Match Tri-Series

First-Class Match