REIGNING Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) A grade premiers, Grampians Pumas, plucked all the feathers from College on Saturday, in a wonderful return to form that should have seen the Pumas record a huge upset victory, if not for the Eagles’ bottom order.

Grampians was coming off a humiliating defeat at the hands of St Andrew’s, routed for only 44, and the Pumas had plenty to prove, not only to themselves but also to their loyal supporters.

The day began well for the Pumas, winning the toss and electing to bat first, but Will Collins and Zach Burgess were both back in the pavilion inside the first five overs and the players must have been having flashbacks to the previous weekend.

At 2-14, Josh Gordon and Carl Joyce knuckled down to see off the new ball bowlers.

They took the score along to 56 when Joyce was well caught by Angus Brown behind the stumps to hand Russell Bennett his first wicket of the day.

Gordon and Tom Polkinghorne took the Pumas to the drinks break at the halfway point of the innings without further loss, but upon resumption Gordon would become Ross Milne’s only wicket of the day, as he bowled his opposition spin bowling counterpart for 37.

With the top four in the batting order all out, the middle order needed to stand tall and post a target that was defendable.

Polkinghorne (37), Joe Sutherland (27), Eddie McShane (15) and Ty Gilmore (22-not-out) ensured the visitors didn’t collapse again and reached 7-181 after 45 overs.

Bennett was the only multiple wicket taker (2-22), as the Eagles hunted in formation to round up the Pumas wickets.

When the players returned to the field after the refreshment break, the College batsmen were greeted with Josh Gordon bowling with the new ball and Charles Murrie promptly deposited the ball over the fence for a maximum.

It was a tactic that was quickly shelved, as Carl Joyce came into the attack to replace Gordon.

The first 20 runs came from only 15 balls and it looked likely that the match was going to have an early finish, as the batsmen scored freely.

Murrie blasted two boundaries and that first ball six in his 16 runs when Burnell had him well caught by Polkinghorne with 24 on the board.

Heath Schmidt had been somewhat more circumspect at the other end and he advanced his personal tally to 10 when Joyce managed to find the edge of his bat to hand Burgess a catch behind the stumps.

College then lost the key wicket of Hamish Bailey, who was run out by great throw from Gordon, and he was on his way for only five and the scoreboard flashed 3-42 at the end of the eighth over.

Polkinghorne came into the attack to replace Burnell, but the all-rounder’s first over wasn’t what was needed, conceding 17 runs from two overs.

Gordon was brought back into the attack and he had immediate effect, as he repaid Milne for the earlier dismissal as Joe Sutherland took the catch.

At 4-59, it was anybody’s game with 32 overs still to be bowled.

Gordon struck again to send Bennett on his way, as Gilmore grabbed the chance offered.

A raft of quick wickets saw the Eagles floundering at 8-111 in the 30th over.

Adrian Burn remained steadfast at the non-striker’s end, as wickets fell at the other end and all he needed was a batsman to stay the course with him.

He thought he had found one when he and number 10, Angus Brown, stemmed the flow of wickets to add 19 for the ninth wicket, but Brown couldn’t last the distance and Jason Schmidt walked to the middle as the last hope of the Eagles faithful.

The Eagles were gifted four wides with the first ball of the partnership, which left them needing 48 from 10 overs.

Will Collins swung Stefan Burnell, Josh Gordon and Joe Sutherland into the attack trying to gain that final wicket and with 41 overs gone, the Eagles were 9-155.

With 14 balls remaining in the match, Schmidt unleashed a boundary and then hit the next ball for two to allow the pressure to be released, and from there he and Burn took the runs on offer and the target was reached with two balls to spare.

To make it even sweeter for the home side, College made the runs in front of the returning past players from the clubs’ 20-year reunion of their “Three-Peat” Premiership winning teams of 2000-2003.

Drews win at Dahl

ST ANDREW’S has boosted its finals chances with a win against ladder-leader, Hamilton, at Dahl Turf.

Drews skipper, Brendan Huf, won the toss and elected to bat first and was joined by new partner, Jordan Van Dooren, for this match.

Again, early wickets were the order of the day, as Van Dooren, Damien Logan and Huf were all back in the shed after only 15 overs with 40 on the board.

It left the youngest members of the side, Jacob Hill and James Guthrig, alone in the middle to battle the old heads of the Hamilton team.

They would not be intimidated by the Hamilton bowling attack, and they set the goal of reaching drinks without further loss and the did so with 63 on the board.

Anthony Read and Brandon Weatherson were miserly with their attack of spin bowling, as they delivered their allotted nine overs each for 16 and 24 runs respectively.

Once the drinks break passed though both players freed their arms and played shots to all parts of the ground.

Hill was on track to possibly post three figures, but when Weatherson threw the ball to Simon Sharrock it spelt the end for Hill (65) who had played his highest score in the top grade at precisely the right moment.

The pair had added 106 for the fourth wicket, and it could well be the start of a formidable middle order combination for the Drews in the future.

Guthrig would remain not out on 58, as the home side posted 4-182.

Hamilton started the chase badly, as the top order failed to value their wickets as the first four fell for only 37 runs from the first 15 overs.

Latham Wishart was the destroyer with three wickets, while Angus Harms grabbed the other to send the Hamilton middle order scurrying to pad up.

When they reached the drinks break, the scoreboard showed a further wicket had fallen, as Mick Ross became the fourth batsman to register single figures for the visitors.

At 5-66 with a further 116 runs required, Hamilton needed the lower order to come to the rescue.

Simon Sharrock could only watch on from the non-striker’s end, as Hamish Cook was bowled by Nathan Caruana to have Hamilton in deep trouble at 6-86.

Sharrock was joined by Weatherson and the visitors required a captain’s knock.

The old saying that “attack is the best form of defence” rang true for Weatherson, as he struck three boundaries and two maximums in his run-a-ball 31, but he tried to reach the fence once too often and was well caught by Huf to leave the score at 7-135.

Sharrock would go on to post a fine half century and the Drews must have had thoughts that he would carry the game away from them, racing to 72 before he tried to lift a Russell Elton delivery out of the ground only to see the ball fall into the safe hands of Wishart.

From there it was only a matter of “when” the final two wickets would be taken and not “if”, as the home side mopped up the tail to dismiss the visitors for 157.

The victory sees the Drews all but secure a finals place with four rounds to play, sitting 13 points clear of Pigeon Ponds.

Hamilton has dropped to equal third on the ladder and they will be looking to secure a top two finish with a bye and three matches to play before finals begin.

Demons grab bonus point win

MACARTHUR recorded a bonus point victory to all but end the finals aspirations of Pigeon Ponds with four rounds remaining.

On Saturday the Demons travelled to Pigeon Ponds and after losing the toss they watched on as Simon Close and Peter Staude added 61 for the first wicket from the first 10 overs.

The players had to be thinking they were in for a mighty run chase on the fast outfield, but that first wicket of Staude (25), who was caught from the bowling of Adam Fry by Matt Timms, put a clamp on the run rate, as only another 20 runs came from the next seven overs.

Possibly the pressure applied by the bowlers and fieldsmen played a part in the key wicket of Simon Close, but with 36 next to his name, he became the second wicket for Fry and the start of a procession to and from the middle by the Ponds batsmen.

From the relatively safe score of 1-82 in the 18th over, Ponds collapsed to be 8-102 after 29 overs to all but hand the match to the visitors as the batsmen failed to value their wickets.

The final tally of 138 came in the 40th over as the home side failed to bat out their allotted overs.

The innocuous deliveries of Adam Fry (3/33) and Charlie Summers (3/12) destroyed the much-vaunted batting power of the home side, and the pair are grabbing wicket after wicket through this form wave for the team.

Pigeon Ponds are a side never beaten and they caused many heart flutters within the Demons team, as they fought back to have the visitors 5-63 in reply with five of the top six in the batting order back in the pavilion.

It fell to skipper Jeremy Sheehan (24) and the lower order to carry the team to victory and second place on the ladder.