Pink Stumps Day

Whatta match! 

The Barras Shield is a hotly contested battle between the staff and the Year 12 cohort and this year was no exception. Students, staff and members of the crowd dressed up in the pink theme with all money raised from food sales, merchandise and big hits going towards the McGrath Foundation.

It was a superb afternoon of cricket and festive spirit. The commentary provided by Mr Joel Klemke and Jacob Moffat entertained the crowds with their no-holds-barred, thinly disguised non-biased banter and critical review of the calibre on the field. 

From Mr Klemke’s report at the Secondary Assembly on the Wednesday, the following could be repeated…

“The toss of the coin is normally pivotal in such a game, with the students being rattled when Garry ‘There-Goes-My-Hero’ Captain Shepherd sent the students into bat. 

Considering the staff made a score of 155 last year, the students needed to put something significant on the board. But wickets fell too quickly with many staff bowling for hat tricks. However, Blake Glassenbury (21), Chloe Hudson (10) and Pat Deegan (20) put in good knocks to finish with to leave the students with a total of 88 runs. But was it going to be enough…

The staff, through Cade ‘I’ve-Got-This’ Mills, and Janine ‘Strokemaker’ Hallahan started beautifully. Runs came quickly where fielding mishaps were common amongst the students, partly because they had 21 on the field, and at times lacking concentration on the cricket ball. Wickets were barely falling until a young strapping K. Pratt came into bowl. Keegan ended up getting a hat trick, quickly causing a rapid loss of staff wickets. Where prior to this people were thinking about leaving due to the staff domination, things quickly turned around and it looked as if, for the first time ever, the students may have the slightest of chances.

But through Mr Ireland knocking a few sixes, Mr Lempriere and Mr Hartwich steadying the ship, the staff were able to reach the run chase with one over remaining. However, the numbers of remaining staff still to bat were running quite thin. In the end, defeat, sadness, tissues and an opportunity to be resilient went to the students. Glory again went to the staff.

A big congratulations to all players involved for the tremendous display of good sportsmanship. Thanks also to Ms Whittle for the organisation of the match; the P&F for organising the BBQ and jumping castle; Ms Murrell for the drinks cart; DJ Lucy ‘Spinderella’ Gibbs for the tunes during the match and Ms Sarah Rae for her superb umpiring skills. We will update you when we are aware of the final figures raised to go towards the McGrath Foundation, but our target of $1,000 was definitely reached through the pre-match online donations and the support from spectators who came to the match and the online donations.”