Match Details
Round Round 1
Opposition Waverley Wombats
Date 8-Oct-2000
Ground Jubilee Oval


Match Summary
Result
Waverley Wombats 1st innings all out, 116 runs
Kurrajong Gypsies 1st innings all out, 112 runs


Match Report
Number 1

Glebe Gypsies v Waverley Wombles





Welcome to the games of the IXth Gypsiad. It has been eight seasons since the Lady made her first appearance in the cauldron of Moore Park. In that time, only once have the Gypsies challenged for the flag, and then, just when it seemed that victory might be within their grasp, they choked. So what would be different this time around? Well, sponsorship for one thing. The thought that out there in the dog-eat-dog world of commerce and trade there is at least one business travelling so well that they could afford to throw good money after bad is really quite staggering. They must be more cashed-up than a Peter Reith phonecard. Secondly, players: pre-dawn raids on several inner city pubs has netted the Gypsies a host of new recruits, all champing at the bit to don the duck tie. And finally, infastructure: Secret negotiations with SOCOG and ORTA has resulted in a light rail station at Jubilee Park – and it only cost two skiing holidays and a two week stay at the AIS for the Equatorial Guinean swim team. But as the saying goes; the more things change, the more they stay the same…



An historic event took place in the week prior to the season opener, when the selectors had to actually meet to select a side. They immediately showed their faith in the new regime by dumping reinstated skipper Kitty Vanstead (Will Fenton-Smith) and a host of other veterans, including Priscilla, Queen of Moore Park (Steve Bradley), General Custard (Ando Davies), Our Lord (Nathan Cohen), Matthew Gerber and last season’s top runscorer Andrew Heffernan. Back in the side was The Cutlet (James Gray), fresh from a huge buck’s night on the light beers (and yes, he said he had a hangover!).



In a departure from tradition, Lebler actually won the toss and sent the Wombles in. As usual, the Gypsies started with 10 players and Zac (Simon Isaacs) opened the bowling at one end, while Lebler decided to imitate the previous skipper Priscilla and put himself on at the other. He had immediate success with Gypsy debutante Craig (The Budgie) McGrath pulling in a spectacular catch in the gully to snare the opening wicket. What followed can only be described as the most astonishing exhibition of Gypsy catching ever witnessed by your humble correspondent. Womble bats, so used to playing the “off-glance” through the Gypsy cheese would be stunned to find themselves dismissed as every snick was snapped up like a yeeros after midnight. The budgie was having a blinder and took three catches – the only blemish in the field was a sitter put down by Zac, but that has to go down as payback for the 120 catches dropped off his bowling last season.



The Wombles folded for a dismal 116, and it seemed that Lebler would be rewarded with a victory in his last match as a single man, but he had not reckoned on the renowned fragility of the Gypsy top order. In his first match as the holder of the prestigious Golden Date, Bobo (John Biboudis) showed why nobody has ever won back-to-back Dates with a sparkling innings of 8. George Clooney (Darrell Archer) was swamped by a huge wave of emotion to became the first Gypsy to sign the duck tie. He was followed in short order by Hollywood (Tony Masters) for 7, and the skipper who scored half his average of last season, falling for a dismal 2. The Cutlet scored a majestic 1, although he was carrying career-threatening injuries from the paintball the day before, and finally Zac was fired LBW to a ball that pitched at square leg and hit him in the chest. At 6/27 the Gypsies had showed the full sphincter of their batting to the bemused Wombles, leaving spectators with that warm feeling that nothing had changed except the names this year.



But the budgie had other ideas. He teamed up with fellow rookie Nigel Crampton to stage a miraculous recovery that took the score to 96. The opposition asked the question on every delivery of the partnership, including one six that landed in the canal, whereupon the Wombles appealed for “six-and-out”. Just when the Gypsies began to entertain hopes of a win, both got out for 34, and although James Wells and Cameron Hamilton took the score to within 4 of the target, the Gypsies fell an agonisingly short of the Wombles modest total.



At the post-match press conference, an ashen-faced Lebler tried to fathom the Gypsies’ batting collapse. “Fifth grade cricket was the winner here today,” he said. He stood by his batsmen until asked to explain the failure of the top order: “I guess they’re just a bunch of hopeless jokes.” No selectors were available for comment after the match, but a source close to the club, when asked if there would be changes for the next match, replied “is the Pope Catholic?”





Waverley Wombats 116 Glebe Gypsies 112



(Isaacs 3/19, Archer 3/12. Crampton 34, McGrath 34)

Waverley Wombats 1st innings
Isaacs, Simon 9 overs, 3 for 19
Archer, Darrell 4 overs, 3 for 12
Hamilton, Cameron 8 overs, 2 for 27
Lebler, Jobie 6 overs, 1 for 16
Wells, James 5 overs, 0 for 18
Crampton, Nigel 2 overs, 1 for 17
Kurrajong Gypsies 1st innings
Biboudis, John 8
Archer, Darrell 0
Masters, Tony 7
Lebler, Jobie 2
Gray, James 1
Isaacs, Simon 0
McGrath, Craig 34
Crampton, Nigel 34
Hamilton, Cameron 8*
Wells, James 4
Gow, Duncan 1