BOWLERS in the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade competition roared back into the mix on Saturday, as the batsmen failed to take advantage of the hot, sunny conditions on offer for the return to long format matches.

There were two “Michelle’s” (Michelle Pfeiffer – cricket slang for a five-wicket haul) taken across the district, while Hamilton skipper, Simon Sharrock, reached three figures and Adrian Burn notched his maiden A grade century at Casterton, as the home side hunted leather all day.

Casterton District v College

ISLAND Park Turf hosted College on Saturday and the coin didn’t fall the way of the home side, as Charles Murrie called correctly for the Eagles, and quickly told Casterton District skipper, Kaden Humphries, that his side could bat after the Eagles.

Murrie had been opening the innings for his team in the short format matches, but he dropped himself down the order to hand Jack Austin the opportunity to make the openers role his own going forward.

The youngster was very watchful to start, as he looked to wear the shine from the new ball but after 29 balls he was on his way for only three, as Carey Megaw found the edge of his bat on the way through to Sullivan Gibbs behind the stumps.

Adrian Burn joined Heath Schmidt in the middle and the pair consolidated the Eagles position on the very good batting surface as the tally started to grow.

They took the score to 72 before Schmidt was caught by Will Kerr from the bowling of Matt Killey for 47, but that was to be the only success that the Maroons enjoyed for the next 24 overs, as Burn and Hamish Bailey toyed with the home team’s bowling attack.

They added 151 for the third wicket from 141 balls, as the pair set about giving the lower order a foundation to attack the Casterton District bowlers.

Bailey (78 from 69 balls) smacked five boundaries and four maximums to push the run rate past a run-a-ball before Humphries trapped him LBW.

This brought Murrie to the crease and that run rate climbed again, as the skipper smashed four maximums in a row from Kane Forbes as he made 48 from only 32 balls.

From there the Eagles batted out the day to be dismissed just before stumps for a mammoth 361 as Burn posted a stylish 128 from 164 balls with 19 boundaries and one six.

Matt Killey with 5-40 was the best with the ball for Casterton District but he had assistance from Megaw who grabbed 3-59 in support.

Hamilton v Grampians

HAMILTON skipper, Simon Sharrock, led by example against ladder leader, Grampians, at Mitchell Park on Saturday, as he notched another century in the top grade.

Sharrock won the toss and elected to bat first on the synthetic surface, as he and Brenton Callaby took strike against the Pumas’ new ball attack of Carl Joyce and in a shock move, wicketkeeper Zac Burgess.

The Burgess experiment didn’t last long, taken from the attack after four overs, as the batsmen found his style of bowling to their liking, but it was tactic worth trying in the absence of regular opening bowler, Stefan Burnell.

Sharrock and Callaby took 18 overs to post 56 for the first wicket, as they laid a solid foundation for the team before Callaby was well caught by Ollie Fenwick from the bowling of Tom Polkinghorne for 29.

Tobi Cook came and went, as he gave Harrison Wood a return catch after making only one run and Hamilton slumped to be 2-59.

Sharrock found pockets of support from his partners but failed to find one that would stay the distance as he continued to dominate the bowlers.

Hamish Cook (16) and Hamilton debutant Kevin McElgunn (11) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures, as the Blues line up failed to build upon that solid foundation.

Sharrock was a lone hand for his team, as he scored a magnificent century from only 110 balls, raising the three figures with the last of his four maximums.

His final score of 111 also included six boundaries, as he was the last Hamilton wicket to fall with 184 on the board as the home side failed to bat out its allotted overs.

Wood grabbed the bowling honours with 5-53 from his 20-over spell, while Joyce (3-61) and Polkinghorne (2-47) joined Wood in delivering all but four overs to dismiss Hamilton inside 50 overs.

With 22 overs to bat until stumps were due to be drawn, Grampians had two ways to go about their innings; they could have attacked the bowlers and tried to post as many runs as possible, or they could be cautious and look to preserve wickets for next week.

The decision was made for them when Cameron Templeton grabbed the early wicket of Ben Wallis (zero) with the second ball of the third over, as Templeton found the edge of the bat as the ball passed through to Jake Lang behind the stumps.

Joyce joined Will Collins in the middle, and they were in no hurry until halfway through the ninth over when Joyce called Collins through for a sharp single, only to see Tobi Cook swoop on the ball and run out the Pumas skipper for only 17 with 23 on the board.

From there Joyce and Polkinghorne put the shutters up, as they withstood all that the Hamilton attack pit before them and at stumps the score stood at 2-43 with Joyce on 18 and Polkinghorne on three, ready to resume next Saturday in this evenly fought game.

Pigeon Ponds v Macarthur

THE ball dominated the bat at Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve on Saturday, as the batsmen from both teams struggled to come to terms with the requirements of the long format game.

Pigeon Ponds skipper, Peter Staude, won the toss and he and Simon Close strode to the middle to take strike against Macarthur on a day that was very warm and bright sunshine.

Kyle Smitten and Lachie Nield took the new ball for the visitors and the first two overs passed without fanfare, as all players settled in for the day’s play.

Smitten came around the wicket to the left-handed Staude and had immediate success, as his second ball of the over swung into the batsman and cannoned into middle stump to have the Pigeons’ captain on his way for only one.

Michael Close joined brother, Simon, in the middle and the pair were tested by some very good line and length bowling.

The outfield was lush and boundaries hard to come by, but the run rate was very slow, as the over rate touched 21 overs for the first hour with the drinks break arriving with the score at 1-32.

The first boundary of the day came from the first ball of the 28th over when Simon Close put an Adam Fry short ball away behind square leg and then from the very next over that Fry bowled, he smashed two maximums from the usually economical bowler.

Michael Close had been so watchful in batting for 94 minutes for his nine runs from 105 balls, but the introduction of Michael Brilley to the attack had him on his way when he was bowled.

Simon Close followed only nine runs later, as he had a swipe at a ball from Brilley and suffered the same fate as his brother, but he had made 51 of the 78 on the board.

From there though the home side capitulated as Brilley grabbed the wickets of Josh Grant (three), Anthony Close (three), Larry Leeming (two) and George Austin (zero), as he took career best figures of 6-10 from his 13-over spell.

Smitten chimed in with 3-23 from 19 overs, as the home side were routed for only 114 in the 63rd over with the players failing to place a high enough value on their wickets.

To be fair though, the Macarthur attack bowled a very disciplined line and length (when they weren’t bowling what would have been called wide down the legside in the one-day format).

With a minimum of nine overs to bat, the Macarthur batsmen didn’t really have much to gain from the remaining time, but they had to ensure they were still not out when stumps were drawn.

The home side sprung a surprise by opening the bowling with Simon Close and Larry Leeming, who bowled off spin and had the wickets of the Wortley brothers in his pouch by the end of the day.

Leeming tempted Ollie Wortley (zero) into playing a cut shot and gained a feather edge to keeper Josh Grant, who held onto a good catch, then trapped Jack Wortley (zero) plumb in front of his stumps with a ball that dropped short, and the batsman missed.

After 11 overs were bowled and stumps were drawn, Macarthur had 2-6 on the board and the game is delicately poised for next week.