GORAE-PORTLAND and South Portland played out what will likely go down as the most exciting and nail-biting clash of the 2022-23 Portland and District Cricket Association season, as the teams both finished their innings on 108 to record a tie.
Go-Ports won the toss and elected to bat first, however the early stages of their innings did not go according to plan, with Ryan Gadsden (10) the lone player in their top five to reach double figures.
This was courtesy of what can only be described as an epic bowling performance from the Demons’ Shaun Lench, as he claimed 6-15 from his eight overs.
Go-Ports found some resistance via their middle to lower-order, as Kaden Wilson (17), Stephen O’Brien (16) and Sam Atchison (16) all put together solid innings to take them past the 100-run mark.
South’s innings got off to a similarly rough start, with openers Kieran Meaghan and Rory Barry both dismissed cheaply.
However, Mark Betteridge’s 16 was followed by Demons skipper Mitch Arnold (16) and Scott Martin (37 off 46) as they helped their side to 68 for the loss of three wickets.
Two quick dismissal off the bowling of Cam Harker broke Arnold and Martin’s 40-run stand, however Go-Ports needed to keep taking wickets if they wanted to steal the points as South was well ahead in terms of run-rate.
And take wickets they did, as Wilson dismissed Martin in the 27th over before Stephen O’Brien claimed wickets in consecutive overs to leave South at 8-99 in the 33rd over.
With just 10 runs needed from seven overs, South were content to take things slowly, however when Atchison sent Tom Dempsey’s bails flying, leaving South at 9-101 with their tenth and eleventh batsmen in, all in attendance knew this was going down to the wire.
At this pivotal juncture that Go-Ports skipper Zac Duncan finally brought on his trusty spinner Thomas Roberts for just his first over of the match.
And while he conceded a wide to bring the scores to level pegging, the young bowler produced the goods with his fourth delivery of the over, knocking over the stumps of South’s last batsman Tomas Stockdale to end the match in a tie.
For Arnold, the match demonstrated his side can stick with the competition despite a challenging start to the season results-wise.
“It was a very solid effort from the boys… obviously we would’ve liked to get the win but it’s something to build on,” he said.
“I thought (Lench) was amazing for us… he tied up one end and just kept swinging the ball away from the batsmen… they couldn’t do much with it.”
He added that he thought the side’s rhythm had been thrown off by the intermittency of play up to this point with the wet weather preventing play and said that hopefully this match can kick-start a resurgence for the side leading into Christmas.
“We want to start building some partnerships through the top and middle order… we’ve been shifting our order up a bit to give the younger guys a chance up top, hopefully that will pay off for us later on.”
Colts kick-start their season
Portland Colts have earned what could prove to be a season-defining win in dominant fashion over an undermanned Tyrendarra side, with the side earning a nine-wicket victory with more than 20 overs to spare.
However, their dominance started in their opposition’s innings, as Colts skipper Luke Evans and Damien Bell combined to produce an incredible display of bowling.
Evans, who finished with 4-5 from 6.1 overs, made quick work of the Darras’ top-order, as he dismissed Andrew Stuchbery with the very first ball of the match, with Lachie Kirk and Jake Wilson also falling to his bowling within nine overs with just 12 runs on the board.
From there, it was Bell who took over, as he claimed 5-26 from his six overs to send Tyrendarra back to the sheds for just 70.
Mark Pitt stood tall amidst the collapse, scoring a remarkable 40 runs off 59 deliveries in what proved to be a more than vital knock for his team.
Colts knocked off the required runs with some degree of ease, as Alister Stannard and Glenn Hollis each scored 34 to do most of the run scoring.
For the Darras, Kirk produced a tidy 0-11 from his five overs, however it was too little too late, with his side only managing to claim the one wicket when Colts were within nine runs of victory.
Evans was very pleased with the result, saying it was an important one for them to get considering the challenging start they’ve had to the season.
“We probably couldn’t have bowled much better to be honest… in fairness to Tyrendarra they had a few out… Damien Bell was great earning his five-for,” Evans said.
“We’ve had a slow start to the season… but we’ve won our last two games so hopefully in the weeks leading up to Christmas we can get a couple more wins… we’re looking in good shape.”
Evans also praised his opening pair in Stannard and Hollis, saying it’s comforting for the group to have such a rock-solid partnership at the top of the order.
“They’re both fantastic batsmen… they’ve been doing it for many years and hopefully they can continue this form,” Evans said.
“It’s great having those two at the top… you know you’re going to get a solid foundation to build your innings on when they’re out there.”
B grade results
South Portland proved to be far too good for Gorae-Portland in their B grade clash at Flinders Park, claiming victory by 82 runs.
Adam Thompson’s 46 was the highlight of the Demon’s innings, while Brad McDougall finished with impressive figures of 3-11 off his eight overs.
McDougall was also largely a lone hand in Go-Ports’ innings, making a solid 19 as the only player to reach double-digits.
Troy Warburton took care of business with the ball for South, claiming 4-12 from his eight overs.
Portland Colts were able to get the best of Tyrendarra in their clash, making the required 98 runs for victory with two wickets and two overs to spare.
Paul Richardson put together an impressive spell of bowling for Colts, claiming 3-4 from his five overs, while the side was brought home by Ash Elijah’s 24 off 26.
Portland Tigers travelled to Heywood to take on Drumborg-Heywood, claiming victory by 60 runs in an impressive display which saw them maintain their strong grip on top place on the ladder.
Their extremely strong score of 148 was earned thanks to a number of contributions throughout the batting order, led by skipper Nik Oakley’s 20 and ably supported by 23 and 17 from brothers Artie and Seb Harvey respectively.
Oakley capped off his man of the match performance by running through Drumborg-Heywood’s middle and lower order, claiming 3-8 from his five overs.
