MyCricket Champions: Tait fires - with the bat

Former Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait made a name for himself on the international stage by breaking the 160kph barrier and the speedster hit the 160 mark again on the weekend, but not in the way you'd expect.

The 33-year-old, who played T20 cricket for Australia as recently as this year, notched 160 with the bat rather than the ball in a rare appearance for his club side Nairne in Adelaide.

Tait sent balls flying to all parts of Nairne Oval, smashing 13 sixes for the Razorbacks in their season-opening Alexandra & Eastern Hills Cricket Association A Grade match against Wistow.

Batting at No.3, Tait shared in a 26-run partnership with his brother Jarrad and whacked 21 boundaries in his 119-ball knock.

 And despite falling 205 runs short of Nairne’s 329, Wistow’s first XI would likely have made the short drive home back over the Princes Highway feeling somewhat relieved considering Australia’s joint fastest recorded bowler didn’t make an appearance at the bowling crease.

They did have their hands full, however, with Nairne new-ball bowler Michael Harden, who sealed victory with a hat-trick from the last three balls of the match.

In Canberra, former Sydney Thunder and ACT Comets batsman Blake Dean gave himself an unusual handicap when playing for Weston Creek Molonglo's second XI in a T20 match.

Dean, a naturally right-handed batsman and right-arm leg-spinner, has this season decided to handicap himself by batting and bowling left-handed.

And while the 29-year-old admitted he would have been happy if he’d made more than 20 in his first attempt at the experiment, he smashed an unbeaten 85 off just 58 balls.

"I think some people think I'm doing it to take the piss but I'm definitely not," Dean, who played a single match for the Thunder in BBL|03, told the Canberra Times.

"This is a serious thing to see if we can influence the game in a way at all.

"I think some people don't quite understand it yet ... because of the level I was playing at before.

"I could still hold my own in the Comets as a bat, but in saying that from where I'm at I love the all-round part of cricket.

"Cricket is fun to me because you get to bowl, you get to bat, you get to field – I've never been just a one-dimensional player."

Remarkably, Dean later claimed a wicket with his first ball of left-arm off-spin, trapping Eastlake's No.10 Riain O’Sullivan lbw to ice an 88-run win for Weston Creek and is surely in line for promotion to Weston’s first XI.

In coastal Victoria, Mornington CC’s fourth XI made a stunning start to the season after bowling Rosebud out for just 11 in in their first round Mornington Peninsula Cricket Association match.

Rosebud opener Michael Claessens top-scored with six and ensured his side ticked over into double digits, as seven of his teammates were dismissed for ducks.

Mornington opening bowler Wes Hall (not the former West Indies speed demon, thankfully for Rosebud) was the chief destroyer, claiming 5-3 from his 10 overs.

In Victorian Premier Cricket, Dandenong fourth XI batsman Lachlan MacCorquodale put in an astonishing performance on Saturday, scoring 71 per cent of his side’s first-innings runs.

MacCorquodale hit 134 out of 189, with extras Dandenong’s next highest scorer with 17. His knock was in vain however, as the Monash Tigers reeled in the target with 3.1 overs to spare.

The Tigers, who moved away from their Richmond home ground at Punt Road Oval in 2011, had another cause to celebrate on the weekend as club stalwart Allan Wise became their all-time leading wicket-taker with his 506th Premier Cricket wicket.

Wise, a left-arm quick who also has 100 first-class wickets to his name from 34 matches with Victoria and South Australia, made his club debut during the 1996-97 season and went past Greame Peterson’s record of 505 scalps in his 269th match on the weekend.

Women’s Premier Cricket
Top five performances from last weekend

1) Rebecca Maher 127 Sydney Cricket Club, NSW:http://bit.ly/2e1SS1w

2) Meg Lanning 126* Box Hill Cricket Club, VIC:http://bit.ly/2dFey6v

3) Molly Strano 107 Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies Cricket Club, VIC: http://bit.ly/2d3U34B

4) Makinley Blows 99 Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies Cricket Club, VIC: http://bit.ly/2d3U34B

5) Chloe Rafferty  5-38 Essendon Maribyrnong Park Ladies Cricket Club, VIC: http://bit.ly/2d3U34B

Men’s Premier Cricket
Top five performances from last weekend

1) Nicholas Larkin 206* Sydney University Cricket Club, NSW: http://bit.ly/2ds5Vcz

2) Chris Williams 183* Sutherland Cricket Club, NSW: http://bit.ly/2dtSH1Q

3) Gregory Mail 179 Sydney University Cricket Club, NSW: http://bit.ly/2ds5Vcz

4) Philip Wells 170 Bankstown Cricket Club, NSW: http://bit.ly/2elD0eG

5) Wade Johnston 6-55 Sunshine Coast Cricket Club, QLD: http://bit.ly/2d3VZKm

Sydney Uni pair Nick Larkin and Greg Mail ripped up the record books with an opening partnership of 337 runs! Incredibly it was Mail’s 45th first grade ton and the 15th successive season where he has reached three figures.