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Principality of Hutt River
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Royal Hutt River Dedication Cricket Club is the national cricket team of the Principality of Hutt River.
 The team plays annually in the Willowfest Australian Cricket Club Championships
 held in Mildura, Victoria, Australia in December each year.


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Royal Hutt River Dedication Cricket Club

RHR Dedication’s Willowfest carnival in 2014 ended with the side taking out it's first ever win in the B Grade competition, the team finally breaking it's 10yr drought.
Lets hope that this year, the teams 11th year in the competition (7th year under the PHR Flag), will see back to back wins in order to keep the winners trophy for another year.

Reporting below thanks to: Jarryd Mills MIOM

Game #1
   The Mighty Ducks Vs Royal Hutt River Dedication CC
27/12/2015

PHR Dedication began their eleventh Willowfest carnival matched up against local side ‘Mighty Ducks’.
Stand in Captain Tyler Hankinson lost the toss, and Dedication were sent into the field.
Despite some very tight bowling from Caleb Garraway and Joel McMahon, Dedication were unable to break the Ducks opening partnership.
Debutant John Coleman was handed the ball, and was the lucky bowler for Dedications first ‘silent over’ of 2015.
In perfect silence Coleman was dispatched for 19 runs from his first six balls, and things were looking grim for Dedication.
Despite outcry from all quarters, Hankinson demonstrated the brave captaincy for which he has become renowned, and persisted with Coleman.
His faith was rewarded, with Coleman taking two wickets and conceding just four runs in his next five overs.
Fellow debutant Jason Bruhn also impressed with a wicket of his own -however his most notable performance with the ball was the Yorker he pitched at (and fielded from) his own feet, in a failed attempt at leg spin.

Despite these four scalps, Dedication looked to be in trouble as the Ducks moved into their final ten overs with well-established batsman at the crease and plenty of firepower left in the sheds.
Enter Tyler Hankinson - who demonstrated the value of well-flighted spin bowling.
In a sublime display, Hankinson dismissed the Duck’s opening batman with his first ball. He then proceeded to run riot through the ducks middle order, finishing with 5 for 18 - the second best bowling figures in Dedication history.

Set 163 for victory, Dedication fans were confident this was well within reach, given the sides stronger than usual batting line-up.
Both ring ins were dismissed cheaply however, alleviating fears that former Innes Medal winner, Jason Bruhn, would get lost on the way to Cup grade.
Thankfully, veteran opener Jarryd Mills showed a very cool head, with his hard running between wickets ticking the scoreboard over.
Unfortunately for Jason Harris, Mills’ hard running forced the detachment of Harris’ hamstring from the bone, and a distinctly less mobile Harris was dismissed for 35.
Mills was able to partner with Joel McMahon (15) and Haydn Falconer (37) to reach the Ducks’ total.
Mills was not out for 52, finally breaking his hoodoo of being dismissed in the 40s, to reach his first half century for Dedication.

Game #2
 Royal Hutt River Dedication CC Vs Kangarilla CC
28/12/2015

Hutt River Dedication’s second match of the 2015 Willowfest tournament got off to the worst possible start when Captain Tyler Hankinson made the decision that coffee was more integral to his team’s hopes than cricket balls.
Thankfully for Hankinson, something on the Irymple deck enticed the Kangarilla captain, who subsequently elected to field.

Haydn Falconer was reinstated to the top of the batting order in an attempt to counteract Jarryd Mills’ record-low scoring rate. The move unfortunately, failed and Falconer was out early.
A second wicket fell soon thereafter, however, fears of a vintage Dedication collapse were soon put to rest when boom recruit, Ben Aworth came to the crease.

Aworth belted the young Kangarilla attack to all parts of Henshilwood Oval on his way to a magnificent 73.
He was supported ably by the middle order, with Warren Sparkes showing why he was recruited for day two and Tyler Hankinson making a cameo 15 to close the innings at 8/149.

Dedication’s first ball in the field was one that hadn’t been seen in their history, with Hankinson handing the ball to spinner, Brendan McCarthy.
The Kangarilla batsman patted the first ball back into the pitch, with McCarthy bowling well to his 9-0 field.
Pandemonium ensued during the following ball, with the Kangarilla batsman bunting the ball through Ian McMahon’s legs at gully and taking off for a non-existent single.
Hankinson quickly fired the ball in to Mills and Kangarilla had lost their first wicket, a diamond duck no less.
Caleb Garraway and Joel McMahon did an excellent job containing the Kangarilla batsmen and, despite Dedication still only having the one wicket after the opening spell, the game was all but over, with the Kangarilla batsmen unable to pierce the field.

Dedication’s lack of Horse’s Arse points continued in game two.
However, when Joel McMahon was called upon as the designated fielder, Falconer pounced on the ball like a tiger, despite Hankinson making the call from directly next to him. He subsequently reverted to his football skills in frustration.
With wickets proving hard to come by Hankinson made the bold decision to turn to his secret weapon, Ian McMahon.
McMahon started his spell tidily, drawing an early edge, however, Mills spilled the easy chance behind the stumps.
McMahon may have thought it wasn’t his day, but the following four deliveries will go down in Hutt River Dedication folklore.

Sensing a weakness in the batsman at the non-striker’s end, McMahon gave up a single to get his bunny on strike.
The next ball was flighted perfectly, with the batsman spooning the ball to Falconer at mid-on, who made no mistake.

The new batsman came out full of confidence, batting well out of his crease. McMahon again deceived, beating the edge.
This time Mills was clean enough to take the ball and whip the bails off. With McMahon on a hat-trick, Hankinson brought the field in, leaving gaps everywhere.
McMahon flighted it up, coaxing the batsman to swing hard through the ball.
Although it cleared the infield, it was skied and Joel McMahon was parked under it, for what seemed an eternity.
However, with the threat of being disowned, Joel clung to the skied catch to give Dedication its first ever hat trick.

Hankinson, seeking cheap wickets to add to his haul on day one, came on to finish the innings.
Although he didn’t have much success with the ball, he did manage to deflect a straight drive back onto the stumps at the non-striker’s end to give Kangarilla its second diamond duck of the innings.

Royal Hutt River Dedication came away comfortable victors: RHRDCC 8/149 def Kangarilla 7/66

Game #3
   South West Vs Royal Hutt River Dedication CC
28/12/2015

Game three against South West may be the game that's decides this years horses arse award for 2015.

It started like any other game with Tyler losing another toss and being told to have a bowl.
New recruit Lachlan 'Giddy' Rohde was given the honour of first ball which was duly dispatched for four.
This noticeably angered Giddy, who two balls later dispatched his stumps in turn.

After another wicket to the new recruit, and some tight bowling by McCarthy (1-15) and Joel McMahon (0-17), South West were struggling to get going.
It was at this point that the Dedication of old came back with some atrocious fielding that resulted in 6 dropped catches and countless misfields.
Despite this, Ian McMahon (2-13) continued his bamboozling deliveries bowling one of the top batsman through his legs (to this point no one truly knows how that actually happened).
Some great death bowling by Giddy (4-33) and Caleb Galloway (0-29) restricted the opposition to 116 from their allotted 20 overs with little assistance from their fielders it must be said.

It must be noted that despite Adam Burke's seemingly below-par fielding (2 dropped catches) and subsequent betting plunge on his horse arse odds, he was able to hit their best bowlers bowling arm from a rocket throw from the boundary, significantly reducing South West's bowling fire power.

The Dedication innings started poorly with both Burke and Falconer failing to take flight to the much improved bowling of South West.
Despite the insistence of the skipper, Warren Sparkes refused to pad up due to the perceived extreme pace of the opposition bowling even without their fastest bowler.
This did not deter McCarthy and Mills however, with both of them putting up a solid partnership with Mills flourishing against the extra pace on offer.
After McCarthy (26) was added to the "run out by Millsy club", Giddy came to the crease and looked good until he skied a dolly straight to the keeper.
Joel McMahon was already up and walking to come on, however much to everyone's disbelief the keeper didn't even get a glove on it!!
This ended up being the defining moment of the match with Giddy (33) and Mills (42) putting the bowlers to the sword with some brutal cricket and baseball shots.
Royal Hutt River Dedication ended up reaching the target with ease, where once again a late call up player provided a man of the match performance.
 

Game #4
   Royal Hutt River Dedication CC Vs Johnnie Walker XI
29/12/2015

The highly anticipated RHR Dedication match up against traditional rivals, the Johnnie Walker XI was set to be a blockbuster.
In the 5 previous meetings, wins had been traded, with RHR Dedication having the overall edge, 3-2, after the thrilling one run win in 2012.

After the cricket ball drama of day two, proceedings started shakily, with Tyler Hankinson seemingly losing one of the two remaining match balls. The ball was, ironically, found in Hankinson’s box.
Hankinson went with his usual captaincy ploy of losing the toss and JWXI skipper, Matt Barclay elected to field.

In an attempt to allay fears that Hankinson’s two recruits had got lost on their way to cup grade, opening bowler Adam Hunichen conceded 12 runs before a legitimate ball was bowled in a lengthy opening over.
Hunichen recovered to bowl a tight opening spell, removing JWXI opener, Simon O’Shea.

Although the RHR Dedication bowler’s didn’t have a lot of success taking wickets early on, they did manage to restrict the scoring.
However, once both openers had been removed, Travis Murdoch and Vaughan Garner started to increase the scoring rate, despite their obvious deficiencies against the short ball.
These deficiencies were exploited brilliantly by RHR Dedication recruit, James Davey, dismissing Murdoch and JWXI gun batsman, Michael Dann, in quick succession adding to his dismissal of Chris Barclay.
JWXI set about increasing the scoring rate with Josh O’Dwyer and Andrew Dowell’s unique slogging techniques.

Eventually both batsmen fell and Hankinson turned back to Hunichen to finish the job, who finished with the surprisingly economical figures of 3-26 off his full allotment of 10 overs.

After Clinton Murdoch nudged his way into the 20s, Hankinson turned to slow bowler Jack Leo to clean up the tail, who finished with 2-12 off his 2 overs.

JWXI finished on the first 200+ score in a PHR Dedication v JWXICC showdown, bowled out for 203.

The halfway mark of the match called for some mad scrambling from both parties, evaluating Nett Run Rates and “Nett Run Rates” before it was finally decided that RHR Dedication needed at least 147 runs, or 181 runs,
with the rulebook contradicting the mycricket website calculation. Even event organiser, Anthony Telfer, could not give a straight answer.

RHR Dedication’s innings started with the traditional “Trevor Chappell” delivery, with Jarryd Mills blocking the Clinton Murdoch delivery and subsequently hurling his bat much further than he can actually hit a ball.
Trying not to give the impression that he didn’t get lost on his way to cup grade, James Davey edged into the cordon early, with the score at just 7.

Mills was joined by Hunichen, with the two combining for a solid second wicket stand.
Mills nudged in his usual fashion, with Hunichen showing that he’s not a one trick pony, showing a great balance between power, including an enormous six down the ground, and deft touch.
Mills eventually fell for 30, with the score on 92.

The Dedication middle order looked shaky, losing regular wickets, with the one highlight an enormous six hit by day three recruit, Jeremy Aworth.
Hunichen, however, batted on and on and was joined late in the innings by Joel McMahon, who supported him ably (31).
When Hunichen had reached RHR Dedication’s highest individual score of 91 (scored by McMahon some years prior), McMahon did his level best to rob Hunichen of the sole honour.
Hunichen, however, held his nerve between the wickets and with bat in hand to guide RHR Dedication home to a crushing victory and scoring RHR Dedication’s first every century, finishing on 110 not out.

RHR Dedication came out victors 4/204 (42.5) v JWXICC 203 (48.5)

NOTE:

Tomorrow, Dec 30 will see the Royal Hutt River Dedication Cricket Club face it's first ever Grand Final at 10am.

HRH Prince Leonard and all of us here in the Principality congratulate the team on it's achievements thus far in the 2015 tournament.
We wish the team well for the final tomorrow and especially congratulate the teams new recruit Adam Hunichen on scoring the clubs first ever century, in fact 110 NOT OUT!

Grand Final #5
   Royal Hutt River Dedication CC Vs Southern Binjara
30/12/2015

Royal Hutt River Dedication faced off against Southern Binjara in the Willowfest Grand Final in a clash that saw two teams loaded with players who had gotten lost on the way to cup grade.

Captain Hankinson arrived on time, with the ball and finally won the toss. He then had to win a second toss after the Binjara captain contested the result of the first, sending them in to bat.

Binjara, keen to test the RHR Dedication bowlers out over 50 overs did not count on having to face 10 angry Joel McMahon overs.
Filthy that his father had taken more wickets than him during the tournament, McMahon put on a clinic, dismissing some quality batsman in a 10 over 4/23 performance.
Supported ably by Hunichen (2/26) Binjara were really under the pump at 5/32.
Leo and Hankinson chipped in with a wicket each, and at 9/77 RHR Dedication needed to put just one final nail in the Binjara coffin.
Sadly, a valiant 83 run final wicket partnership (where nothing of note – especially dropped catches – occurred) resurrected the Binjara innings, with a defendable 160 on the board at the end of the innings.

RHR Dedication started their batting knock shakily, with Mills, McCarthy and I. McMahon departing cheaply.
When day four centurion Hunichen was dismissed for just two runs, RHR Dedication were reeling at 4/29.
Thankfully Davey was able to take on the Binjara bowlers, with a 37 run partnership with Jeremy Aworth.
Sadly the partnership was cut short with the suicidal runout of Davey for 38, a runout that can be best described in the words of Dedication stalwart, Chris Hope . . . . . . . .‘Oh dear’.
Arworth battled on manfully, either because he really wanted to win the game, or really didn’t want to head to the sheds to face the wrath of an angry Davey. Either way, he pushed the score to 99 with a strong knock of 31.
Despite some brave defensive batting by Joel McMahon, RHR Dedication were all out for 122 in a somewhat disappointing batting result given the strong position the side had in the field.

All in all, second place was very strong performance for a team that struggled for numbers at the start of the carnival.

TROPHIES

The winner of the 2015 Sovereigns 'Most Developed Player' trophy was : Jarryd Mills MIOM

The winner of the 'Horses Arse' Trophy was : Tyler Hankinson

(PHOTOS BELOW!)

Visit the Hutt River Dedication Cricket Club Website!