Australian National Championships 2012
Congratulations to The 2nd XI (Ipswich Champions) who swept all before them en route to becoming the Last Man Stands 2012 Australian Champions in Canberra on 1st October! The Aussie champions will now travel to Lord's next year to take on the English Champions in the opening game of the 2013 World Championships!
Tournament Report
The Australian National Championships were held in Canberra for the first time in 2012 and started and ended in balmy Canberra spring conditions perfect for playing great cricket. Unfortunately days 2 & 3 though brought a cold snap that threatened to bring teams unstuck with thunder, lightning, rain, sleet, hail and sub zero morning temperatures. Who knew the pollies leaving town would remove all the hot air. Despite the early conditions and players (mostly Queenslanders) playing in beanies, gloves and tracksuits for a couple of days the 2012 Championships saw some amazing cricket with 44 matches being played over 5 days with:
·      over 11,000 runs being scored including a 100 & no less than 61 50s
·      165 not outs
·      no less than four home runs hit, 3 in finals competition.
·      417 wickets taken including 4 double plays
Four major awards were presented over the course of the tournament:
Cup Final Winner – who win $8k in travel vouchers to attend the World Champs in 2013 and title of Australian Champions 2012.
Congratulations to The 2nd XIfrom Ipswich – Australian National Champions 2012 who beat 3 Short (Canberra) in the final. They have qualified to play the English National Champions at Lord’s in the 2013 World Champs opening match!
Plate Winners
Congratulations to Colts (Sydney) who beat Blockers (Newcastle) in the Plate Final!
Batsman of the tournament
Batsman of the tournament went to Taylor Peach who after starting the competition with 7 & 25 went on to reel off 4 consecutive 50s including a Home Run and 25 ball 84 in the Cup Final (including a home run 6)
Taylor Peach (above) hit 279 runs at an average of 139.5!
Bowler of the tournament
Madhur Bhandari took the bowler of the tournament honours in helping his Sydney side Green Zone reach the semi final stage.
Madhur Bhandari (above) took 11 wickets for 88 to be the leading Bowler.
The 2nd XI but second to none!
The 2nd XI(Ipswich Champions) were the 3/1 favourites going into the Australian Championships having conquered the Ipswich Champions league in 2011 they picked up the Brisbane 1 trophy in 2012. Their ever-confident skipper Marty Henderson was heard to say at the opening drinks that they couldn’t be beaten and "are here to take the Australian title"!! Plenty of teams would make that same claim at the Wednesday night opening drinks but by Monday afternoon would Marty’s words come back to haunt him?
2nd XI (Ipswich) would take on 3 Short (Canberra) after both sides made their way into the final off the back of good wins against equal tournament favourites Green Zone and perennial tournament party boys and the 2011 Australian Champs Tradies You Can’t Trust.
Above:Â Finalists 2nd XI (Ipswich) & 3 Short (Canberra)
The semi finals saw some cracking matches. In the first match, with the scores tied and one ball to go The 2nd XI held their nerve to beat the popular reigning Aussie Champs Tradies you can't trust 167-166 on the after the Tradies keeper fumbled a ball that that beat the batsman all ends up. The Tradies had won a classic encounter at the quarter final stage, when a Jeremy Warren home run off the last ball of the match beat the seemingly invincible AJÂ Edden (Newcastle), who had the world number 1 batsman, Sam Webber, leading their charge. In the other semi final, 3 Short held on against the Sydney champions, Green Zone, 169-164 after Matt Floros nailed 89 off 46 balls to set a formidable total. Chris Peel failed for the first time in the tournament for Green Zone having hit four successive 50s to help guide his side to the semi final stages!
 Above: Semi-Finalists Green Zone (Sydney) & Tradies you cant trust (Gold Coast)
In the Grand Final, The 2nd XI won the toss and elected to bat first and took the 3 Short boys a little by surprise when Taylor Peach launched into their attack with a 10 ball 50 to get the runs flowing freely (check out the youtube clip above for highlights of Taylor's amazing innings)! Support by Marty Henderson (25) and Brodie Dwyer (28) the total was looking competitive until Taylor returned late in the innings smashing and impressive 24 runs including a Home run off 3 Shorts Skipper, Sam Lang, in the final over which took their score to an imposing 175. Stand out bowler for the final was Fred Nortje who returned his best figures of the tournament with 2/17 off his 3 overs.
Have set totals of 166 and 169 throughout the tournament and having Canberra’s leading bat in Sam Lang in the side and brother of Shield Cricketer Jason, Matt Floros and hard hitting batsmen Simon Hill and Daniel Sattler 3 Short were always going to be in the hunt. Matt Floros opened the knock hitting Taylor Pitch straight down the ground for 6 to get the team off to a great start and worked well with Simon Hill to bring up a 31 ball 50. Michael Foti joined Simon at the crease and the total continued to climb. The crowd support was well and truly behind the local boys and it looked like they were a chance when Sam Lang joined Foti at the crease and set about carving up a 21 ball 50.
Needing 34 off the last three overs for victory 2nd XI rose to the challenge and restricted 3 Short batsmen to a total of 160. Congratulations to the Ipswich, and now Australian, Champions and we wish them all the best over at Lord's in England at the 2013 World Championships! Remember that the World Championships are open to all LMS teams, so start rallying your boys together to join The 2nd XI in the cricketing trip of a lifetime!
Check out the for highlights of Taylor Peach's incredible 84 off 25 balls in the final, including a home run 6, which ensured that The 2nd XI took home the $8000 funding!Â
FOLLOW THIS LINK TO WATCH THE FINAL OVER OF THE GRAND FINAL! Â
RUOK Day Charity Fundraiser
LMS Canberra has supported the RUOK?Day initiative in 2012 and revived the Michael Buhagiar Cup RUOK?Day aims to start the conversations that could save a life by preventing suicide. In 2010 Michael, a long time ACT cricketer and life member of the HMAS Demons CC, tragically took his own life after battling with depression for many years. In the weeks leading up to Nationals LMS Canberra hosted a trivia night which raised just over $5,000 to support this cause. Over the 5 days of the Australian Champs we ran a BBQ and sold soft drinks which helped to raise an additional $700 for the RUOK?Day initiative. It’s hoped we can save one life or one family from the tragedy.
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THE 2011 CHAMPIONS' TRIP TO THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA:
Unfortunately the 2011 Aussie Champs found it tough going in South Africa at the 2012 World Championships, being knocked out in the pool stages. However, they did bounce back to take out the plate and return to the Gold Coast with some silverware. Hopefully 2nd XI can go one better in England next year and take out the main trophy!