Won by Queensland - 16 runs to 5

Did not play

------------------------------Refer to the third game of the series - previous game - click here
------------------------------During the top of the fourth innings
------------------------------Sliding into second base, Brett "twisted" his ankle
------------------------------Came out of that game as a precautionary measure
------------------------------Also did not play in this game

Did not play

Plate appearances - 3
At bats - 2
Hits - 1
----------single
Runs scored - 1
Walks - 1
Stolen base - 1
Outfield fly out - 1
Runners left in scoring position - 1
Batting Average - 0.500
Slugging Percentage - 0.500
On Base Percentage - 0.667

Plate appearances - 27
At bats - 21
Hits - 10
----------4 x singles
----------4 x doubles
----------2 x home runs
Runs batted in - 8
Runs scored - 6
Walks - 6
Strike outs - 2
Stolen base - 1
Infield ground outs - 3
Infield fly outs - 2
Outfield fly outs - 4
Runners left in scoring position - 5
Batting Average - 0.476
Slugging Percentage - 0.952
On Base Percentage - 0.593

From memory, Cinderella had a couple of ugly sisters and I just can't help but feeling that we have sighted them over the past couple of days in this series
What was close to embarrassing yesterday almost turned into a baseball circus today!
I can almost hear my good mate and former Melbourne Bushrangers (remember them?) manager Dan McConnon breaking out with that all too familiar "carousel music" that he uses to describe a baseball farce!!

Anyway, for the purpose of trying to produce a decent game report, 'Flintoff & Dunn' will try to overlook the situation and to concentrate on the player performances that comprised this game that I will stop short of calling a contest

And, sorry subscribers, please don't try to sell us the idea that the Provincials may have been a realistic chance of winning having led 3-1 after the first inning, the Queensland Rams were doing only what they literally had to do to win!

What was beneficial for the Queensland team was the fact that some of their lesser named pitchers gained some more most valuable experience at this level
Matt Timms should have really enjoyed this opportunity to pitch in a lower-pressure environment and he certainly didn't pass on the opportunity with by far his best performance in AMLB so far
In fact, the future Atlanta Braves' signing should have gained a fair bit from his brilliant three inning start that allowed only three hits against his five strike outs
Business is definitely looking up for Matt Timms!

Timms would be entitled to complain that the win in this game was virtually handed to Simon Morriss, who has already impressed us during Claxton Shield 2008
According to our "spy" Morriss pitched a bit like a man in a hurry after he realised that his team was in no danger of losing and his four innings of middle-relief were pretty good, even if he did pinch the win from team mate Matt Timms - does anyone else care about this? - we guess not!!

Mopping up the complete lack of forehead perspiration for the Rams bullpen would be David Holland who didn't make much fuss, as he would have preferred, but heh, why add insult to injury by replacing Holland with former Claxton Shield Championship MVP and professional 'AAA' star P.J Bevis for the ninth inning
Unless 'PJ' felt some need to improve his stats, or the Queensland management weren't too confident about their 11-run lead, we just can't work out why Holland couldn't have completed the job?
Look, we don't know the "ins and outs" so it may be unfair to criticise?

Shifting quickly to the Provincials' pitching, we know absolutely nothing about their starter A. Home who found himself thrust into a cauldron of activity in his Claxton Shield debut
Home could not claim any genuine heroics in this game, but then not everything that happened was not his fault
He was haunted by a couple of errors, but we have had no reports about whether the glut of stolen bases were his problem or due to defensive issues?
In any case, Home walked too many and former Montreal Expos pro Aaron Thorne wasn't quite up to the hard task of stopping the bleeding today

Young Ryan Griffin hasn't had too much fun at this level so far, but we want to leave him with a positive outlook on AMLB by concentrating on the positives of his efforts today
Eight hits from four and one-third innings doesn't sound too good, does it? - but when you walk none and allow only two runs to a runaway team, with three strike outs, it does give an indication of a pitcher who might yet have more to offer at this level - okay, call us softies if you like?!

Former LA Angels professional Josh Davies might feel a bit the same, and we don't want to discourage a good kid, but we reckon he might still be a better left-side infielder than he is a pitcher, but, we are by no means experts!

Obviously 'Flintoff & Dunn" will have to research more about James Linger who, rather tragically, failed to hit in one of his six at bats for a disappointing 5-6 plus a RBI - are you kidding me?
Former Helms Award winner Brad Dutton keeps on padding his terrific stats with another 3-5 with two RBI's, while former Dodgers' pro David Sutherland dined out once again in Australia's big league with his "ordinary" 2-4 that registered only five RBI's - phew, hard work Dave!
Another fresh face for 'Flintoff & Dunn' is Daniel Lamb-Hunt who provided a nice 2-5 with three 'ribbies' in this game and, while we are not generally in love with "hyphens", we will keep a watchful eye on him
It's no longer huge news that Andy Utting, a former Melbourne Reds and Baltimore Orioles youngster, batted 2-4

What did capture our attention, in a game of little consequence, was that the most famous name in Australian baseball, Nilsson, Jay in this case, somehow found himself behind the dish, trying to emulate his most famous uncle Dave with his 1-2 and two-RBI's
The Nilsson family have very little to prove when it comes to Australian baseball, but we wonder if young Jay might yet complete the picture by pitching like his illustrious Hall-Of-Fame father Bob?
Don't bet against it!

Another guy we know very little about is Provincials' eye-catching outfielder David Kandilas who refused to go quietly for the "green machine" today with his self-explanatory 3-4 and two RBI's that indicates the probability that he is not out of depth in Australian baseball's deepest of oceans
It may not have counted for a lot, apart from to his nearest and dearest, but the well-performed Sam Brown added the 'YAPS' only other run batted in

The famous Claxton Shield has always provided the very toughest of opposition for every team in every game, but we can't avoid our overriding belief that things got a little easier for both New South Wales and Queensland this year
Be that as it may, you can't take anything away from Queensland for playing ruthlessly, especially given the fact that New South Wales won one more game against the Provincials than Queensland did

The very fact that this is unimportant is good news for the upcoming showdown of the Eastern Division Championship!