It was a day of runs, runs, runs as players from the Prahran Cricket Club’s four XIs enjoyed a good batting day on Day 1 of their Round 12 matches against Essendon.

And the stars of the day, not to devalue the performances of others, were Steve Seymour and Sam Coates, who both brought up centuries in their record breaking 7^th Wicket Partnership for the Club in the game at Toorak Park.

In setting the scene, the 1^st XI was sent in by Bomber captain Hutchinson on what was another superb batting strip.  Openers Andrew Devenish and James Wild were quickly into stride with Devenish hitting three cracking fours before being caught on a wild slash at second slip.  Grant Chessari joined Wild and quickly celebrated his return to the top team with some powerful straight drives.  Their partnership was setting a cracking pace at more than five runs an over for the first dozen as they blunted the blistering heat from Victorian Bushranger quick Clint McKay.

The partnership was broken when Chessari (36) was bowled, and when Wild (47) fell just before lunch, the score was still looking strong at 3/102.  But the first hour after the break certainly didn’t portent what was to happen later in the afternoon.  Steve De Bolfo (8), Adam Bull (7) and Neil Schlittler (30) were all out and at 6/157 the natives around the boundary were getting a little restless and unsure if the team score would reach 200.  But how wrong they were !

Steve Seymour joined Sam Coates and the pair quickly went about restoring order to the innings.  Sam was the anchor as Steve unleashed some fluent and powerful hitting to race ahead of his partner.  Their partnership passed 50, then 100, as the team’s score started to look respectable on the good batting pitch.  After the tea break, the pair continued their aggressive onslaught as the tired Bomber bowlers appeared to hold no fears to them.  When the partnership reached 150, the veterans on the benches started to reach for the record books and dream that one of the Club’s 100-year-old batting partnerships might be broken and brought into the 21^st century.

And the dream became a reality as the pair posted runs to break the 7^th wicket partnership of the legendary Gerald Edward Healy (100no) and George Trevor Rogers (89no) of 184 (unfinished) against St Kilda in the 1908/1909 season.  The new Club Record now stands at 234 with Steve having contributed 135 runs and Sam 99 runs. And the inevitable question doing the rounds as the boys passed the record was if one David Jukes had now seen both record partnerships!

The performance by Seymour and Coates now has the dynamic duo currently holding two partnership records, as they established a new 8th wicket partnership of 222 runs against Hawthorn-Monash University CC in the 2007/08 season.

In the process of creating the new Club Record both players were able to post centuries.  It was Steve’s third triple figures for the Club’s 1^st XI, having scored two in season 2007/08, while it was Sam’s maiden 1^st XI century.  Their performances brought to seven the number of players that have reached triple figures for the 1^st XI this season.  Surely a record!

Unfortunately the fairytale performances by the two did not allow them to remain unbeaten at the end of play with Coates bowled by a low keeping ball just a couple of overs before the end.  Shane Jones joined Seymour and the pair took the team total beyond the 400 mark – the second time for the team this season – to finish at 7/402.

The questions of course for next week are as to the decision by captain Schlittler to either bat on or declare, and if again the 1^st XI will be thwarted from a win by the elements.

The other century maker for the day was at Como Park where Liam Murphy put behind him recent injury and form concerns to lead the team to a mammoth score of 8/377 off the 80 overs for the day.  Murphy opened with the experienced Brendan McGuiness and the pair put on 94 for the partnership before McGuiness (64) was bowled.  Another player with 1^st XI experience, Jack Jarvis, joined Murphy and they took to the Bomber bowling smashing the ball to all parts of the small ground in a 128-run partnership.  Jarvis was out for a well-compiled 65, including seven sixes, as Murphy continued to accumulate runs.  He was eventually out for 128 which included nineteen fours.

Michael Nary was the other batsmen to get amongst the runs, compiling a well deserved 54 as wickets fell around him.  He was last man out as the partnership of Roan Schreyer and Tom Humphries guided the team to one of their biggest totals of the season.

The 2^nd XI ventured to the fabled Windy Hill for their encounter and after being sent in were soon in deep trouble at 5/103 with all the top order batsmen back in the pavilion bar Michael Rosendale.  Wickets continued to fall around him and at 8/172 he was joined by Captain Charlie Burke.  The pair set about trying to post a reasonable score for the bowlers to defend and they did succeed in part, taking the score into the mid-250s before Rosendale (76) was bowled.  Burke (40) stayed around for a short while but with his departure the team was all out for 259.

The defence of the total started disastrously with opening bowler Stuart Mack breaking down just three balls into his first over.  Brent Warren finished Mack’s over and his second snared the only Bomber wicket to fall as the home side went into the weeks break at 1/5 after seven overs.  With a reasonable total to defend, all eyes will be on Stuart Mack to see if he is able to recover and help score a vital win need to keep the team’s finals chances alive.

The infamous Cross Keys Reserve was the setting for the 4^th XI’s match as they also batted on Day 1 after captain Lennie won the toss.  Sajeev Panduwawala and Hafis Mathews opened the batting and had no trouble handling the Essendon attack.  Panduwawala post his half century as the partnership reached triple figures.  Panduwawala was eventually out for 72 with the score at 1/125.  Mathews (46) was out soon after and from then on wickets fell regularly.  Nathan Plumridge (41) figured in just about all of the partnerships as batsmen were unable to stay with him as he posted on of his season’s best scores.  Eventually the Prahran innings was all over for 194 after 70.2 overs.

Andrew Sanders grabbed an early wicket as the Bombers finished the day at 1/13 after six overs, with Prahran looking to grab some top order batsmen early next Saturday.

Steve Seymour smacks the ball to the boundary for his 100th run of the day.

Players applaud Steve Seymours century

Proud mum Christine Seymour watches son Steve

Sam Coates turns the ball off his pads for his century run