COLLEGE has maintained its dominance of Macarthur in the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade competition, winning a thrilling game by only six runs at Macarthur Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
The two teams had met only six months earlier in the 2021-22 decider and the Demons must have been suffering Déjà vu, as Charles Murrie picked up where he left off in that game by taking the long handle to the bowlers after Charlie Summers won the toss and elected to send the visitors into bat.
Murrie struck the first ball to the fence and then went one better by putting it over the boundary the very next ball, and finished with 16 from the first over to start the game.
He went on to smack 43 from only 27 balls, as he put the ball over the fence on five occasions to give his team a dream start of 58 from only nine overs.
Once that initial wicket was taken, the Demons responded to the early onslaught by grabbing all 10 wickets for only 116 runs, as only Heath Schmidt (35) and Hamish Bailey (28) could be mildly happy with their form with the willow.
The visitors were bowled out for 174 without batting out the allotted overs.
Summers led from the front in grabbing the honours with the ball, taking 3-26, as Jack Wortley, Bingham Jarrett and Adam Fry chipped in with two wickets apiece.
The chase started after the innings break and the Eagles soared from the very first ball, as Lachie Watt had Ollie Wortley caught at the wicket for a golden duck, which was followed soon after by Summers, also posting the same score after Jack Kruger had the Demons skipper out with eight on the board in the second over.
From such a poor start, it fell to Michael Brilley and Kyle Smitten to rescue the innings and they knuckled down to battle out the next 10 overs, adding 40 runs until Smitten (21) fell to Henry Bensch.
Jeremy Sheehan joined Brilley and the partnership flourished to add a further 41 for the fourth wicket, until the wily spin of Ross Milne pried out Michael Brilley for 41 in the first over after the drinks break.
From the safety of 3-89, Macarthur fell to be 7-111, as Brilley, Sheehan (27), Matt Lyndsay (15) and Adam Fry (duck) struggled to get on top of the College bowlers.
With 11 overs remaining and 64 runs required, the Demons had to score at a run-a-ball pace but with only three wickets in hand the task was going to be tough.
Jack Wortley (39-not-out) responded well to the situation by stroking two boundaries and a couple of maximums, but he didn’t get the support at the other end that he needed.
The home side started the final over needing 12 runs to secure victory with two wickets in hand.
Henry Bensch bowled Jarrett with the first ball, as the batsman tried to heave the ball out of the ground and from there the last pair could only manage ones and twos, as the final score of 9-168 fell six runs shy of the target.
Milne finished with three wickets, while Watt, Kruger and Bensch each grabbed a pair of wickets in support.
Next week the Demons host Pigeon Ponds while the Eagles fly to Island Park to tackle Casterton District.
Casterton District d. St Andrew’s
CASTERTON DISTRICT started its A grade season on a winning note, defeating St Andrew’s by 30 runs at Island Park.
New skipper, Kaden Humphries, called correctly at the coin toss for the home side and he quickly told the visitors that Casterton District would bat, as he and Rick Killey took to the crease for the first over.
The pair made a cautious start to the game, as they looked to get settled rather than chase quick runs with the field up for the first nine overs as Humphries fell for only eight.
Killey was next to fall after his 13 runs came from 58 balls, and halfway through the 18th over the score had advanced to only 30.
After such a slow start, the top order needed to rapidly increase the run rate if the side was going to post a target the bowlers could defend.
Kane Forbes joined Michael Jarrad and Forbes took the role of attacker, while Jarrad was happy to look to bat out the overs.
The pair added 94 for the third wicket, but with the first ball of the 40th over, Forbes fell two runs shy of a deserved 50 when he failed to get of the ball from Brendan Huf and Fraser Hill took his first A grade catch.
With only six overs remaining, the batsmen looked to hit out to get as many runs on the board as possible with 41 runs being added from the last 35 deliveries, as Jarrad finished with 65-not-out.
The final tally of 4-165 was only a par score for the venue and the St Andrew’s bowlers had to be happy with their performances, as Huf grabbed two wickets, but it was James Guthrig (1-18) who was the best of the attack.
It was Huf and Guthrig who took strike in the chase after the tea break and these batsmen would still be at the crease when the drinks were taken after 23 overs with 69 on the board.
It fell to 15-year-old Josh Jones to make the vital breakthrough, as he had Guthrig (31) caught by his skipper to claim his maiden A grade wicket.
The opening partnership of 79 set the foundation for the run chase, but the Casterton District bowlers were not about to allow the visitors any cheap runs, as the attack continued to bowl line and length.
Aside from Huf (63) and Guthrig, no other St Andrew’s batsman came close to reaching double figures, as Huf was dismissed with the side still needing 44 runs from the final four overs.
The Drews collapsed from 1-97 to be all out for 135, as the Casterton District bowlers claimed 9-38 in 71 balls to see the visiting batsmen wear a path to and from the wicket.
Killey and Logan Gibbs were the pick of the bowlers with each player taking 2-20 from their respective nine overs, while Jake Balzan cleaned up the Drews tail with 3-17.
Grampians d. Pigeon Ponds
GRAMPIANS has opened a 10-point gap on the A grade ladder after it thrashed an undermanned Pigeon Ponds at Mitchell Park.
The Pumas were ruthless with bat or ball in hand right from ball one after Will Collins won the toss and chose to bat first on the new synthetic surface at Mitchell Park.
The game had been relocated to Hamilton due to Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve being.
Once again, the Pumas had the services of Lachie Field who was available due to premier cricket being cancelled, and the all-rounder was in form, as he stroked the ball around the field at a run-a-ball pace.
The weather gods were not finished with the rain, as a skiddy shower came across the oval making the outfield wet and therefore the ball as well, making it difficult for the Ponds bowlers to grip it.
Field and Collins were untroubled by the bowlers, as Jack Beaton and Hamish McCrae took the new ball but failed to gain that vital early wicket that every team requires.
It was Collins who was the more attacking of the batsmen, as he struck the first boundary by lifting the ball over the infield, while Field was content to stroke the ball along the ground.
The Pumas were aided by the fact that Ponds only had nine fieldsmen to start the match, due to late arrivals while first round sensation, Eliza Jagger, was nursing a back injury which kept her taking her spot in the team.
Grampians’ top four all took advantage of valuable time in the middle, as Field (60), Collins (35), Zac Burgess (45) and Carl Joyce (62) all scored well to guide the visitors to 7-234 from 45 overs.
Beaton took the bowling honours with 3-52, while McCrae and George Austin grabbed a brace of wickets each.
When Ponds took to the crease after the break, the batting order was simply blown away by the excellent bowling of the Grampians attack.
The innings lasted only 16.5 overs, as the home side was routed for only 52, with Peter Staude (16) and Hamish McCrae (10) the only batsmen to reach double figures.
Eddie McShane performed a brilliant run out of Tom Conheady (two) who was trying to gain a second run, but the young Puma chased after the ball and returned a great throw to the side of the stumps to have the batsman short of his ground for the first wicket.
From there though, the wickets tumbled with the highest partnership being between Staude and McCrae (17), as the batsmen failed to value their wickets.
In defence of the players was the fact that there were five D grade players within the Ponds team who were filling in for unavailable A grade players, and these players were never going to trouble one of the best A grade bowling attacks in the competition.
Team of the Week
