COLLEGE continued its dominance of Grampians in the second round of the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade competition with a four-wicket victory at College Turf on Saturday.
Charles Murrie was back for the Eagles and took hold of the reins from Lachy Watt, and after winning the coin toss, he sent Grampians into bat looking to take full advantage of any movement from the surface.
Will Collins and Ty Gilmore strode to the middle and produced a brilliant opening partnership of 72 from the first 21 overs, as they battled hard against the College attack that wasted the new ball with far too many wides.
The bowling of these wides put the over rate well behind and gave the Pumas runs they didn’t have to earn, but within sight of the drinks break Collins (29) was gone after Russell Bennett found the edge of his bat with the ball ballooning to Hamish Bailey at slip.
Zach Burgess joined Gilmore for his first hit of the season after missing round one, and the number three looked at ease right from the start.
He and Gilmore took the tally to 107 before Gilmore (51) was caught by Schmidt to hand Adrian Burn his first wicket.
From there though, the Pumas imploded as wickets fell to Burn (2-27) and Lachie Brown (4-24) with the visitors losing 8-31.
The final tally of 9-148 should have been much more after the start handed the team by the three in the order.
After a very quick interval due to the slow College over rate, the Pumas took to the field with Carl Joyce bowling “wheels” from the showground end and Zach Burgess from the school end.
While Joyce attacked the stumps, Burgess had trouble putting the ball in the batsman’s half of the pitch as he bombarded the strikers with bouncers.
After being spanked into the side of the school gym, Burgess had his revenge against Jock Barrie who tried to repeat the stroke and only managed to tickle the ball through to Craig Templeton.
Burgess the added the wicket of Jack Austin (zero) to his tally, as the Eagles lost their second wicket, which was quickly followed by the third, as Schmidt (12) played all round a ball from Joe Sutherland and the scoreboard sat at 3-31.
A further two wickets fell and at 5-81 it appeared the Pumas were going to avenge the grand final loss of last summer but Burn (53) and Russell Bennett (17-not-out) added 60 for the sixth wicket to diminish any hope the visitors had, and the Eagles claimed a four-wicket victory.
Casterton District d. Portland Tigers
CASTERTON District claimed a valuable bonus point victory against Portland Tigers at Island Park Turf.
The home side won the toss and sent the Tigers into bat and the opening batsmen added 40 for the first wicket before Ian Faure (27) was caught by Sullivan Gibbs from the bowling of Logan Gibbs.
Gibbs claimed two more quick wickets, as Dean Brewster (19) and Ben Atwell (zero) followed Faure back to the pavilion, and the visitors lost a total of 8-81 to be all out for only 131 inside 43 overs.
Gibbs was the pick of the Casterton District bowlers with 4-30, but he had great support from his new ball partner, Jacob Edwards, who grabbed 3-34.
The home side was intent on gaining the bonus point and they took only 26 overs to hunt down the target set by the Tigers.
Ben Holmes (34) continued his good early season form, as did Rick Killey (36-not-out) and Sullivan Gibbs (49-not-out), who ensured the Maroons claimed the valuable bonus point with an unfinished 77-run stand for the third wicket.
The eight-wicket win saw the Maroons climb to second on the ladder and continue its undefeated start to the summer, while Portland Tigers sit second last after the first two rounds.
South Portland d. Hamilton
FORTY-NINE overs were all that was needed for South Portland to claim a bonus point against Hamilton at Monivae Turf on Saturday as the home side collapsed to be all out for only 85 in 30 overs.
The coin fell correctly for Lachie Warburton and Hamilton was sent into bat with Warburton taking the new ball along with Rory Barry, as the pair soon had three Hamilton batsmen back in the shed.
Only four Hamilton players managed to record double figures with David Knight (22) the highest scorer, as the wickets just kept tumbling to see the hosts record a modest 85 all out.
Warburton (3-18) and Barry (2-12) ran through the Hamilton top order, as Eamon Drew (2-12) and Karsen Edwards (2-15) gave them great support as the visitors bundled the hosts out.
With such a modest target to hunt down, South Portland swooped on the bonus point by knocking off the required runs in only 19 overs, as Scott Martin (51-not-out) opened the chase and batted through the innings.
Next week it doesn’t get any easier for Hamilton, as the team hosts Grampians at Monivae Turf, while South Portland hosts Gorae-Portland at Cavalier Park.
IN an early contender for the best game of the season to date, St Andrew’s has defeated Portland Colts in a thrilling showdown which went down to the penultimate ball at Henty Park on Saturday, with the Drews prevailing by three wickets.
The Colts won the toss and elected to bat first, and the game was on relatively even terms with the home side able to get some starts in the top order, while the Drews were able to break partnerships.
Colts skipper, Luke Evans, proved to be the anchor of his side’s innings, notching up a strong 69-not-out to help propel Colts to a strong total of 8-173.
However, he had ample assistance down the order from the likes of Matt Payne (22) and John Grinstead (28 off 31), the latter of whom developed a 74-run partnership with Evans to keep them in a strong position at the tea break.
The Drews’ performance in their run chase can realistically be boiled down to the efforts of their superstar batsman at the top of the order, Brendan Huf.
The three-time PF Christie Medallist produced a dazzling knock of 90-not-out to bring his side to victory, scoring more than half their runs as batsmen fell around him.
Evans and Oscar Barbary were the pick of the bowlers for Colts, both claiming a pair of wickets at the top of the order to get towards the middle and lower end of the Drews’ batting line-up.
However, Huf finally found a key partnership with number nine batsman, Rylan Pech, who scored 28-not-out off just 21 deliveries to help see the side home.
With two overs remaining the Drews required 19 to win, and both Huf and Pech were able to come up with some clutch stroke play.
Huf hit Payne for a boundary off the second ball of the over, before Pech produced a maximum off the final ball of the over to leave his side with five runs to win off the last over.
The pair were able to find the gaps off Evans’ bowling in the last over to rush through for singles and twos to get them over the line.
Tyrendarra d. Pigeon Ponds
THE Darras continued their strong start to the 2023-24 season with a seven-wicket victory against Pigeon Ponds at Tyrendarra Recreation Reserve with 13 overs to spare.
Ponds won the toss and elected to bat first, and got a great start to their innings, as Peter Staude (58) and Hamish McCrae (24) put on 54 for the second wicket.
However, the Darras were up to the challenge in the field and with the ball, as Mark Pitt (3-16) and Brett Litchfield (3-24) both were on song.
With Lachie Kirk, Darren Killmister and Dylan Murray all chiming in with wickets of their own, the Darras were able to bowl their opposition out for 151.
Tyrendarra was in control of the run chase from the get-go, with Kirk (29) and Sam Wilson (37) producing strong efforts at the top of the order.
Wilson and Jordi Withers (41-not-out) put on a 65-run partnership for the third wicket, before Hamish Withers partnered with his brother to get the Darras home with plenty of time to spare to maintain an unbeaten start to the season.
Go-Ports win via forfeit
GORAE-PORTLAND took the points from their fixture against Macarthur via forfeit, with Macarthur unable to field a side due to a lack of player availability.
