Nussbaumer adds his name to the ton list
ANOTHER Evening League week starts at the KGV and, with it, yet another ton.
Jamie Nussbaumer joined the T20 club with a match-winning 109 that lifted Cobo to the top of the table, albeit with a match more played than big rivals Independents and Griffins.
But, ultimately, it was the pace bowling of he and his brother Luke that saved the day for the champions who were pressed hard by an Irregulars side who simply refused to lie down.
Between them they took four wickets and finally quashed the hopes of a side for which Ben Wentzel hit a fine fifty.
It was a lightning start by Josh Butler’s men with Nussbaumer slaughtering the early bowling of Charles Vorster and Max Ellis and going to a half century off the final ball of the fourth over.
At the other end Dec Martel’s contribution was a mere five.
Nussbaumer was then put down at the wicket in the fifth with the ball running away for another boundary.
Martel got in on the act with a lovely pick-up four behind square and followed it with an equally fine square drive, at which point he got cheeky with a sweet ramp shot that flew to the fine leg boundary.
By the end of the sixth the score had raced to 82, a score that would have won you a game back in the 1960s.
Nussbaumer was now seeing little of the strike against opponents that looked fairly stunned.
The hundred partnership came up with a Martel four in the eighth over, but things slowed marginally, to the extent that by the end of the 10th – halfway – the run rate had dropped to a mere 12, or a fraction under it.
A rank long hop from Martin-Dale Bradley accounted for Martel, but that only served to bring Butler to the wicket.
By the end of the 14th the rate had slipped to a mere 11, the spin of Bradley and Max Ellis having brought some sanity to proceedings.
Yet, by the end of the 16th there seemed a remote possibility that the former Island captain would not make three figures with Butler now dominating the strike.
Nussbaumer was contenting himself with singles, Butler taking a longer handle approach and clearing the extended netting protecting the 3G to move into the thirties.
Butler fell to Ben Wentzel for a fine 30 and the 19th over slipped by without Nussbaumer facing a ball. Surely not?
Ben Ferbrache faced the first three balls of that 20th before Nussbaumer swung wildly at the fourth, edged it and the ball flew wide of the keeper for four.
Up went the bat and and followed it with two more fours and Irregulars were initially left to chase 197. The total came down by seven due to a scoring error and for a while in the reply Cobo were worried.
