BATSMEN again defied the odds in the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association’s third round.
As with last week, wet weather the previous evening and cool winds on the day threatened to make grounds a bowler’s paradise.
While that was true for one venue, elsewhere high totals were posted and gripping encounters were held between teams.
On a side note, Round 3 will be the last of the one-day, 40-over affairs for two months, with the competition continuing in the form of two-day games from this weekend until December.
Sale v Bundalaguah
MATCH of the Round has to be Sale’s clash against Bundalaguah which, if you pardon the cliché, went right down to the wire.
The Swans batted first with Matt Jackson setting the tone, making 45 off 48 balls before being dismissed in the 15th over.
Following his loss, a 40-run partnership developed between Coenie Nel and Michael O’Brien, coming to an end when the latter was given out leg-before on 11.
Nel, who has been untouchable the past two weeks, was caught by Hayden Wrigglesworth on 44, the scorecard reading 5/125.
This brought Ben Jones to the crease, who combined with Nathan Massey for an astonishing sixth-wicket partnership – the pair amassed 75 runs before Jones went out in the final over.
Sale finished their 40 overs at 6/207.
Gayashan Munasinghe took three wickets for Bundalaguah, including the key scalps of Nel and Jones.
The Bulls’ run-chase started inauspiciously, with opener Toby O’Reilly falling for four runs and Kshitiz Sharma for 28.
Those dismissals brought the legendary Steve Spoljaric to the middle, who combined with Jason Langshaw to add 73 runs in the following 14 overs.
Victory was in their sights, until Langshaw was caught by Massey on 50 off the bowling of O’Brien.
After Lachlan Wrigglesworth was dismissed leg-before for a duck, the game was back in Sale’s favour.
Spoljaric hung-on, putting on another partnership of 27 runs with Chris Smart.
A win was within Bundy’s grasp again, until Matt Raidal took two consecutive wickets for the Swans in the 35th over, leaving the score at 6/156.
The situation, now tenser than ever, saw Munasinghe enter the fight, survive a hat-trick ball and give a semblance of hope back to the Bulls.
Fortunes turned yet again in the 37th over, with Spoljaric hitting two sixes and a four to narrow the margin to 23 runs.
Ten runs were scored in the over that followed, and nine in the over after that.
Now, Bundalaguah only needed four runs to beat Sale in the final over of the match.
First ball from Jones to Munasinghe: no run.
Second ball: Two runs.
Third ball: Munasinghe is run out on 24, his demise bringing Hayden Wrigglesworth to the pitch.
On his very first ball, Wrigglesworth scored two runs, securing the three-wicket win with two balls to spare.
A game for the history books, Bundalaguah’s defiant efforts over Sale will no doubt be talked about for many years to come.
Collegians v Boisdale-Briagolong
COLLEGIANS had a comfortable 63-run win at home against Boisdale-Briagolong, courtesy of a century from captain Zac Hurley.
Right from the start, everything went Hurley’s way, winning the toss and opting to bat first on a pitch that looked absolutely sublime – as opposed to the field’s edge, with its puddles, mud and apparent tyre marks better resembling the aftermath of a Top Gear episode.
Hurley opened the batting and looked strong in the middle, forging successful partnerships with Tom Morrison (30 runs), Adrian Burgiel (21) and Charlie Morrison (55) in the first 20 overs.
The Saints created plenty of chances in the field, but unfortunately failed to capitalise on them.
By the halfway break, Collegians had lost just two wickets for 87 runs.
Hurley continued piling on the runs through partnerships with Henry Anderson (31) and brother Noah (54) before finally falling at 7/199.
By that time, he had made 108 runs from 118 balls, including four sixes.
It was his first A Grade century for Collegians, and one he is unlikely to ever forget.
College’s tail added another six runs to the scoreboard following their captain’s departure to set a total of 205.
Boisdale-Briagolong’s innings started with confidence, with import Nick Pang making a quick-fire 27 off 18 balls before he was caught by Burgiel.
As with their opponents, the Saints had eight batsmen to spare by the midway point.
Stephen Noble was the only other player to fall and the score sat 2/101.
In the over immediately after the break, Mason Annear was lost for 13 runs. Toby Leeds followed five balls later on 32.
The Saints struggled from there, losing their remaining wickets for 36 runs to be all-out by the 39th over, College’s Tim Dessent inflicting the final damage.
Miraculously, Dessent’s wicket came bowling his first, and subsequently only, ball of the innings.
Though his effort was admirable, the pick of the bowlers for Collegians was actually Adam Phillips with 4/22, while Boisdale-Briagolong’s best was Shaun May with 3/42.
Stratford v Rosedale-Kilmany
STRATFORD was tested, if only slightly, for the first time this season in their game against Rosedale-Kilmany.
Batting first, the Redbacks looked steady, with Chris Aurisch and Jack Rietschel being the only wickets lost by the 20-over mark.
Lewis Bolton and Jack Tatterson made a healthy 91-run stand, which only came to an end in the 31st over, when the former was out for 55.
Tatterson joined him a couple of overs later, bowled after posting his own half-century by Warriors captain Isaac Love.
This loss generated a collapse of Stratford’s middle and lower order, which made just 10 runs to be all-out in the 38th over.
Rosedale-Kilmany’s Nathan Hangan is the man to thank for that, taking his four wickets within two overs.
Chasing 151 runs, the Warriors lost their openers, Michael Walters and Brandon McDonald for two and 22 respectively, leaving Rohan Diamond and Hangan to steadily build a total.
That partnership lasted until the 23rd over, when Diamond was caught on 36.
Following Hangan’s wicket on 4/85, the flow of runs slowed to a trickle, with none of the batsmen that followed able to make their mark.
Rosedale-Kilmany could only manage 114 runs before losing their 10th batsman in the 36th over.
Stratford’s best bowling figures belonged to Ethan Albrecht, who collected 3/15 in his five overs.
Longford v Maffra
THREE words summarised the display at Stephenson Park on Saturday: “That was embarrassing”.
The phrase was heard uttered by not one, but two of Longford’s own players as they went down to Maffra by 72 runs.
Batting first on a damp pitch with plenty of green coverage, the Eagles were in all-sorts with a display that mimicked their sub-par performance the previous week against Stratford.
Openers Ben Harrington and Lee Hopkins fell cheaply, leaving Nathan Hibbins and Miller Eastham to lay the ground with a 34-run partnership.
The loss of Hibbins at 3/49 prompted a middle-order collapse, with Nick Wozniak, Dylan Freitag and Eastham all falling within seven runs; Danny Butcher didn’t last much longer, scoring six runs before being caught at 7/68.
Jake Pendrick and Ben Durrant stemmed the tide of wickets with a 21-run fightback, before they too were sent back to the pavilion.
Pendrick was the highest scorer of Maffra’s innings with 19 – which was still less than the extras conceded by Longford’s bowlers, 22 in total.
The best of said bowlers was Jake Wynd with figures of 4/16 off his eight overs, including two maidens.
With just 107 runs to chase on a pitch dried by the afternoon sun, the Lizards seemed certain of claiming their first win of the season, and only their second victory in 900-odd days.
Longford started slowly, scoring just seven runs in the first six overs before the Eagles’ Andrew McKenzie got the breakthrough of Steve Lucas-Laws.
That triggered another collapse, with five wickets – including two in a row from McKenzie – being lost for just six runs.
Two boundaries from Ash Vogt, a four and a six, proved the only highlight for the Lizards; his short-lived turn concluded on 14 when he was caught at long-on by Butcher.
Longford’s innings came to an abrupt end in the 21st over, all-out for 34.
Cue lots of head-shaking and soul-searching in the Lizards’ clubrooms.
Still, credit must go to Maffra’s bowlers – especially McKenzie, whose figures of 5/11, including three maidens are to be marvelled; his in-your-face celebrations less so.
