Well let's get right into it- the weekend write up for 21st October!
We will first review the A Grade by Solahart Competition. In match number 1, we had Lucknow hosting Lindenow South Glenaladale. LSG head into this game top of the table, and would expect nothing less than the victory today against the Magpies. Lucknow brought in dangerous leg spinner Connor Taylor for his first match this season, while Chris Richardson was playing his first match for the Bulls this season also. Lucknow captain Jarryd Floyd won the toss and decided to bowl. The Bulls got off to a great start, with the opening bowlers from Lucknow unable to breakthrough for quite some time. The first wicket fell eventually, with the score 1/64, Scott Dare adjudged LBW from the bowling of Taj Corben for 34 (44). Taj struck again in his next over, dismissing the dangerous Scott Davidson for 9 (10). Corben then round out his third wicket for the day, with opener Zach O'Keefe out for 26 from 51 deliveries. Lindenow South Glenaladale then set a partnership of 114 runs, between Seth Smith and Haydn Erfurth. Both batsmen were dismissed shortly after reaching their half century, undone by Floyd and Matt Corbett respectively. Taylor was unable to make an impact with the ball, whilst Corben had 3/41 from his 8 overs. The innings wound up to a close shortly after with LSGCC 6/210 from 40 Overs, setting the highest score in A Grade so far this season.
It was a disappointing start to the chase from Lucknow, with opener Myles Danaher and first drop Corbett going in consecutive deliveries from Jamie Donnelly, who was unable to convert the hat trick. Colby Montant followed shortly after with Donnelly now having three wickets within his first two overs. Naveen Subbiah, Aaron Cameron and Floyd all showed a bit of grit throughout the middle of the innings, but with the wickets of Taylor, Joshua Ward and Corben falling, there was not much they could do. Floyd was the last person dismissed, from the bowling of Richardson in the 25th over. Lucknow were All Out for 90 runs, with the damage coming from opening bowler Jamie Donnelly, who had 5/29 from his eight overs and Richardson who had 3/5 from his three overs to close the innings out. It was a dominant display from the Glen Swamps, with the pressure they put on in the first innings, it made the task that little bit harder for Lucknow.
We now head to the Bairnsdale City Oval, where West Bairnsdale were hosting Wy Yung. West Captain Ryan Halford won the toss and put the Tigers in to bat. Wy Yung had a good start, reaching 30 runs quite quickly in the first five overs before open Sean Phillipson and first drop Daniel Gledhill were dismissed by Halford within the same over. Wy Yungs other opener, Nick Carroll, was undone by the bowling of Chris Hammond for a better than a run ball, 38 runs, including five boundaries. After Carroll's dismissal in the 10th over, Wy Yung found it hard to build back up again. Connor McMahon was solid in the middle order. 16 runs, but more importantly, soaked up 42 deliveries. The Wy Yung tail managed to put on around 30 runs to give them something to bowl to, before they were dismissed, All Out for 106 runs in the 29th over. The stars for West B'dale were spin bowler Hammond, who had had 4/18 from his eight overs and Halford who had 3/25 with a run out as well.
West Bairnsdale decided to change things up in their innings, with regular opener Brodie Anderson sliding down the order, leaving it up to Atley Williams and Sam Stewart to start things off. It didn't go how Halford would've wished though, with both batsmen back in the sheds by the end of the Sixth over, Williams courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by Caleb Ellett at short fine leg. This brought out Thomas Hudson and Halford himself, who were able to put on a vital partnership for West, which lasted 17 overs. In that time they put on 68 runs to put West right in pole position to drive this one home. Halford was the 1st to go, caught from the bowling of Ellett 31 from 51. Jake Anderson (4), Ray Stevens (0), Hudson (50 from 96) and Sam Watts (0) all followed soon after, with West Bairnsdale having slumped to lose 5/15, which made hard work in the chase. Brodie Anderson though, was able to stabilise the ship with himself and Jack Lind combining to get to the winning score in a very nervy way in the 39th over, with only three wickets remaining. The work from Wy Yung was shared around with Bertino (2/16 from 8) on a hat trick at one stage, and McMahon (2/11 from 4). The close win sees West Bairnsdale with two on the trot, and hitting form at the right time.
We now had to easternmost venue where Orbost were hosting St Marys Nagle.Orbost were welcoming back captain Max Welsh and others as they look to make amends from last weeks disastrous innings at Meerlieu. With confidence in his side, Welsh won the toss and elected to bat. Opening bowlers Andrew Perrin and Nagle skipper Ricky Tatnell were able to put the pressure on Orbost batters, as wicket after wicket fell, and it wasn't long before the score was 4/12 when Welsh was dismissed. It was looking eerily similar to what happened only seven days ago, but this was before Jayden Price and Luke Endley were able to put the innings back in gear, and get some runs on the board. Price was dismissed from the bowling of Johnny Lash for 17 (28). Endley 65* (61) and lower order batsmen Alfie Lindsey 40* (57) combined together for a 97 run partnership for the eighth wicket to give the Blues the only hope of victory today. Orbost set a target of 183 runs for Nagle to chase down. Consistent performer Perrin had the return of 3/30 from his eight overs.
The Nagle openers of Brayden McCarrey and George Read found their form early, which was assisted by the first ball of their innings being a wayward 5 wides. The first wicket fell in the fourth over, McCarrey LBW from Lindsey with the score 1/36. The very next ball though. Harvey Spaxman was undone by Lindsey who was now on a hat-trick. It wasn't to be though, with a wide killing the mood, before Tatnell and Read combined with a partnership of 150+ to get the dub for Nagle in the 26th over. Read finished 88* from 79, and Tatnell 60* from 61. The Orbost bowlers were quite expensive with Lindsey the only wicket taker for the day.
The last game of A Grade was played out at Meerlieu, where Lakes Entrance were visiting the Tussocks. Lakes Entrance captain Jake Le Maitre won the toss, and decided to have a bat. It wasn't long before he was dismissed from the bowling of Nicholas Adendorff. Ryan Hooper (15 from 50) and Nathan King (33 from 46) combined for a 50 run partnership, before they were both dismissed from the bowling of Frank Mostert. Dane Tinsley was able to reach 25, before he was also undone. There was plenty of starts from the Lakes Entrance lower order, but not enough time in the innings. Lakes Entrance finished up 8/140 from their allocated 40 overs. Mostert & Busch had three wickets each with Adendorff, adding another 2 to his tally for the season.
Meerlieualso decided to change the opening combination for their batting innings with Rohan Blandford and Anthony Scott to start things off. It was a strong partnership reaching 40 runs before Blandford (14 from 36), and shortly after, Max Perry were dismissed. Anthony Scott and Mostert both had very damaging innings, Scott eventually dismissed 61 (51) run out by Jacob Sackfield. Meerlieu managed to chase down the total pretty easily in the 27th over with the score in the end 3/142. The key forMeerlieu today was keeping English import Jack Kesteven wicketless, which made the chase a little bit easier.
Looking at the A Grade by Solahart ladder now, Lindenow SouthGlenaladale extend the lead at the top of the table with three wins with Meerlieu, West Bairnsdale and St Marys Nagle all sitting on two wins just behind. We now head into the very exciting two day fixtures, where we will seethe top four teams line up against the bottom four teams.
We'll now head over to A Reserve and out to Bruthen, where Lucknow won the toss and decided to bat. There was a strong opening partnership between Harvey Abraham and Hayden Brown before Jesse Hack and Jack Hodson were able to get some early wickets. There was a few starts from the Lucknow batsmen, but no one able to make a huge impact, reaching the score of 136 All Out in the last over. Hack had three wickets and Hodson with two weeks with two. The Bruthen innings started off well, with openers Kennedy and Peiris reaching the 50 partnership before the first week fell. They then lost a nervy 5/25, but this just brought out the Hack Bros, who were able to close out the job for Bruthen. A tight finish in the end, Bruthen reaching the score in the 37th over with Beau Haslam and Lucknow Captain Dave Kinsey two wickets apiece in the narrow loss.
We now head to the Wy Yung Oval, where Metung-Swan Reach were visiting the Tigers. Wy Yung were batting first, and lost their wicket of Ashlin (1 from 11) to the bowling of Hopgood. Linford and Forbes had a great partnership, nearing 50 runs, before Linford was dismissed from the bowling of Hobson. Wy Yung ended up losing 7/26 in a slow but painful collapse, which saw them all out for 101 within 37 overs. Adam O'Brien (5/22) and Richard Hobson (3/23), combined for eight wickets between them.
Metung Swan Reach wasted no time in the chase, with Hopgood doing some damage while at the other end, O'Brien and Jones fell cheaply for five and two respectively. Hopgood fell shortly after for 46 from 40 (7x4's) and VC Carstairs soon after for 15 (23). Swan Reach reached down the total in the 21st over, only four wickets down. They never really looked like they were going to lose this one. Clemm had two wickets, but went for 43 runs with Forbes and Radford, the other wicket takers.
In our final match of A Reserve, Paynesville were hosting the top of the table West Bairnsdale at the AJ Freeman Reserve. It was a frustrating start for opening bowler Patrick Halford, bowling a few wides early, but he stuck with it and managed to dismiss three batsmen during his 8 over spell, bowling without a break. Wickets fell too often for Paynesville to build a partnership. There were glimmers of hope for the Gulls batters throughout the innings, but overall they were bowled All Out for 108 runs. The batting innings scorecard was not available at the time of publish, but West Bairnsdale managed to chase down the score to give them three wins in a row.
Reviewing a reserve ladder we can see that Bruthen and West Bairnsdale sit atop with Lucknow and Wy Yung yet to score a win. We will stay with one day cricket next week with a very exciting top of the table clash between West Bairnsdale and Bruthen at the Bairnsdale City Oval Saturday 1pm.
A quick check out on the other grades- In B grade MSRCC claimed a 33 run victory over Orbost and in C Grade, the combined XI of Wy Yung and West Bairnsdale managed to defeat Meerlieu in a final over thriller. MSRCC lost to Paynesville and Lakes Entrance defeated Lindenow out at Lindenow.
Tomorrow we see the inaugural BCA women's match between Paynesville and Lucknow! If you are around, head out to the AJ Freeman reserve for a 1 pm start in what is a huge first step for the BCA and Cricket in Gippsland!
That's a wrap for this weekend. Will see you all next time.
