State of Origin star Cameron Munster made the most of his short cricket cameo on the Sunshine Coast with his “express” left arm claiming a coveted scalp.
The Melbourne Storm five-eighth was a guest star for Tewantin-Noosa Thunder alongside former Australian representative and Big Bash talent Nathan Reardon as they took on Sunshine Coast Scorchers in a trial match on Thursday night.
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He sat sideline for the Thunder’s opening few overs before entering play for two spells.
While he bowled a couple wides, Munster (1/16) still did his part for the Thunder, snaring the wicket of Blake Maher.
“He (Munster) spends a lot of time up here and he’s a nice guy and lot of good first class sportsmen are normally good at other sports as well,” Tewantin-Noosa president Brett Lea said.
“He’s spent a little bit of time with the kids as well which is fantastic and that’s what he wanted to achieve.”
Lea was pleased to see a solid crowd turn out for the game.
“It’s to promote cricket, especially the Scorchers and the pathways from master blasters through to first grade here at Tewantin-Noosa and then premier grade,” he said.
Reardon was excited to join in on the trial game fun.
“It’s awesome,” he said.
“I’ve been up here coaching for the last two months and have spent a bit of time with the guys so it’s good to have a game.”
He’d been impressed by Munster’s bowling skill ahead of the match.
“He’s obviously a big drawcard and he’s pretty hot at the moment,” Reardon said.
“He’s actually had a bowl out at the middle (in warm up) and he’s not too bad.
“He bowls left arm express if you ask him but he’s probably more along the lines of a left arm medium pace.”
In front of a boisterous crowd the Scorchers outlasted the Thunder in an entertaining trial ahead of their Queensland Premier Cricket T20 series, which begins at Allan Border Field this Sunday.
The Scorchers, batting first against a fired-up Thunder, knew the game was real as star bat
Alecz Day was bowled scoreless fourth delivery by Scott Aufderheide.
Captain Nick Selman joined his usual opening partner Josh Matthews, fresh from their record-breaking stand against Wynnum to move to 46 in the 6th over, with Selman gone for 21. Matthews provided the backbone for the innings with 67 as the Scorchers reached 5/150 after 20 overs, with guest bowler Cameron Munster claiming the wicket of Blake Maher in a two-over cameo.
Good starts set up a good chase, and Heat star Nathan Reardon provided just that as he joined mercurial local Chris Wright to reach 50 after four overs in the reply, with Wright claiming three sixes, two in Day’s opening over, which cost 19 runs.
But Wright’s departure reset the attack, and the Scorcher’s bowlers starved the chase of runs to slow progress with regular wickets, led by Blake Maher’s 3/26.
Day surrendered just 11 more runs in his next three overs as the asking rate grew with fewer wickets at hand, and the last two overs had a goal of 20 runs for the win, too much for the Thunder who expired at 143 in an outing that reinforced their local supremacy.
SUNSHINE COAST SCORCHERS 5/150 (Matthews 67, Lovell 26, Griggs22*, Dennien
2/39, Aufderheide 1/9, Munster 1/16) defeated TEWANTIN-NOOSA 143 (Reardon 26, Wright 27, Officer 27, Maher 3/26, Griggs 2/29, Bester 1/19).
With Pat Drew.