CASTERTON DISTRICT has finished October with a perfect record after defeating St Andrew’s at Island Park 2 in Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade round four action on Saturday.
The Maroons have started their summer with four victories from as many games, including two of these with a bonus point, to sit atop the premiership ladder by seven points as the only undefeated team.
Saturday saw Kaden Humphries win the toss and elect to bat first, as Ben Holmes and Carey Megaw continued to develop their new partnership at the top of the order by adding 20 from the first five overs before Josh Nield forced the error from Megaw (11).
Holmes (43) continued to score well, and he and Rick Killey (34) added 67 for the second wicket before Killey failed to get hold of a Taine Morris delivery to be caught out by Fraser Hill and Holmes followed only three runs later as Morris struck a double blow to have the home side 3-90.
The visitors kept chipping away at the Maroons’ line-up and were rewarded with four wickets for only 21 runs, as Sullivan Gibbs (11), Connor Kelly (20), Logan Gibbs (four) and Michael Jarrad (zero) were all sent back to the pavilion with the home side slumping to 7-134 in the 38th over.
Jacob Edwards (30-not-out) and Kaden Humphries (22-not-out) came to the rescue, adding 49 runs for the eighth wicket to steer the home side to 7-183 after 45 overs.
The visitors took to the crease after the tea break and were soon in trouble with both opening batsmen back in the shed with only four runs each, as Edwards found the edge of their bats as the ball passed through to Oliver Foster.
More wickets soon fell with Morris (13) and Damien Logan (five) going cheaply and at 4-33 the Drews were staring at defeat early in the afternoon.
James Guthrig (20) and Darryl Fry (64-not-out) came together to add 60 for the fifth wicket, but despite Fry batting out the rest of the innings, he couldn’t get a batsman to hang around with him and the visitors finished at 8-159.
Edwards claimed 3-23 to remain the highest wicket taker in the competition.
Grampians d Portland Tigers
PORTLAND Tigers made the trek to Dunkeld Turf to battle Grampians, and the Tigers came close to taking the points home, going down by only four runs in a thrilling contest.
Grampians won the toss and elected to bat first with Will Collins and Ty Gilmore in the middle to get the innings underway.
The pair once again gave the Pumas a solid foundation with an opening partnership of 75, before Gilmore (16) was bowled by Joel Hollis.
Zach Burgess joined Collins and they took the tally to 123 before Paul Procter swooped on the ball and ran out Collins for 56.
Burgess carried on reaching 45 before he too was run out, as the home side eventually put up 4-190 from its allotted overs.
Portland Tigers’ run chase started in the worst possible way after Dean Brewster was trapped in front of his wicket for a duck in the first over to give Carl Joyce and the home side the perfect start.
Ben Atwell opened the innings and batted very well to post 51 and the Tigers were sitting solid at 4-125 in the 31st over, before Atwell was dismissed for 51, with Will Oakley (nine) back in the pavilion soon after as well.
It fell to Nikolaus Oakley to try and guide the visitors to the finish line, but with one over remaining and the board showing 9-180, the Tigers required 11 runs.
Despite his best efforts though, Oakley (33) couldn’t add more than six runs before being runout on the penultimate ball of the game and Tigers finished all out for 186, as Collins (3-19) and Joyce (3-20) claimed the bowling honours for the Pumas.
The win lifts the Pumas to fifth on the ladder just behind Portland Colts on net run rate, while Portland Tigers sit 10th.
College d Pigeon Ponds
COLLEGE learned that Pigeon Ponds cannot be taken lightly even if the side is yet to win a game this season, as the Eagles hosted Ponds at College Turf.
Charles Murrie won the toss and elected to send Pigeon Ponds into bat, no doubt the decision was formed partly on the form of the Pigeon Ponds batsmen over the first three rounds.
Peter Staude and Noah Hildebrand took strike to start the game as Luke Purcell took the new ball for the home side, but the early wickets didn’t come as expected as the opening batsmen defied all efforts from the Eagles bowlers.
The pair added 72 for the first wicket with Hildebrand (24) missing a full toss from Adrian Burn to be struck on the pads in front of the stumps in the 21st over.
Ponds skipper, Hamish McCrae, came in to join Staude and McCrae hit a breezy 24 from only 18 balls before chasing a ball that was going to be called a wide and he gained a feather edge through to Angus Brown to hand Jordy Anthony a wicket.
Jack Austin gained the wicket of Anthony Close when he bowled the number four for only eight and then Staude (74) failed to get hold of a pull shot and Heath Schmidt gladly accepted the chance and Austin grabbed his second scalp.
Luke Merryfull (31) and Michael Close (34) added 56 for the fifth wicket before both were out with 209 on the board.
The lower order did all it could to post as high a target as possible, and when the final ball was bowled in its allotted overs, the tally stood at 9-229 as Purcell (3-43) took the honours with the ball.
Charles Murrie (22) and Heath Schmidt (11) made bright starts to the College run chase, but both fell to Jack Beaton and the Eagles were in early trouble at 2-38.
Hamish Bailey and Jock Barrie came together and despite a few plays and misses they batted very well together as the pair both raised the bat to acknowledge half centuries.
Barrie was the first to go when on 51 – his maiden A grade 50 – he failed to get over the top of a ball from McCrae and was caught by Sam Calder after adding 112 for the third wicket.
Bailey carried on, posting 67, before trying to sweep a ball from Max Leeming and was his wicket had the Eagles at 4-180, but an in-form Adrian Burn (38-not-out) and Kane Uebergang (25-not-out) saw the target reached with seven overs to spare.
Portland Colts d South Portland
PORTLAND Colts have earned their second win of the season, winning at home by 51 runs against South Portland.
Colts skipper, Luke Evans, won the toss and elected to bat first, and it was him and Adam Barbary (62) who would put their side in a strong position midway through their innings with a 79-run third-wicket stand.
Initially the game was evenly poised as South claimed a pair of scalps through Hamish Drew and skipper, Lachie Warburton, to have Colts at 2-35, before Barbary and Evans (43) came together to guide Colts to a strong position at 2-114.
South was able to get itself back into the game after removing both batsman with the score now at 4-129.
Daniel Kinghorn (39-not-out) and Matt Payne (18) combined to give Colts some further resistance, getting to 7-198 when the 45 overs had been bowled.
Lachie and Tighe Warburton finished with two wickets apiece, while Drew and Karsen Edwards were the other wicket-takers for South.
Getting the wicket of Scott Martin early was going to be key for Colts, as they defended their total and were able to do just that when Oscar Barbary had Martin caught for five.
And while South’s batsmen including Rory Barry (26) and Lachie Warburton (21) were able to occupy the crease, their scoring opportunities were limited by some very tight bowling from Colts.
Most notable was Damien Bell, who conceded just 11 runs from his nine overs, while also claiming three wickets.
Tighe Warburton was the star of the show in South’s run chase, making a half-century to push the innings along towards the back end of the chase.
Ultimately though, they were just too far off the pace, with Colts able to come away with an invaluable victory to help build them some momentum after some close and perhaps frustrating results over the last fortnight.
Gorae-Portand d Hamilton
GORAE-PORTLAND has continued its good form to begin the season with a six-wicket victory over Hamilton at Alexandra Park.
However, it was Hamilton who got off to the better start, as opening pair Nic Cullinane (57) and Xavier Stevens (58) put on an opening stand of 118 to have their side in a strong position after 27 overs.
However, Go-Ports’ Thomas Roberts was able to produce the key breakthrough, as he had Stevens caught, with the leg-spinner leading the fightback as Go-Ports claimed 5-37 to pull the game right back on level-pegging.
Some late wickets from Stephen O’Brien helped keep the run-rate low towards the back end of the innings, with Go-Ports ultimately dismissing Hamilton for 181 after 42.1 overs.
Roberts was the pick of Go-Ports’ bowlers, claiming 4-28 from nine overs, while O’Brien was economical and damaging to finish with 3-16 from 7.1 overs.
Nick Wills (2-32) and Zac Duncan (1-47) were also in the wickets column.
In their reply, Go-Ports got a strong foundation built by Duncan (28) and Wills (25), who guided them past the 50-run mark.
But Hamilton was able to get itself back into the contest with a pair of wickets seeing Go-Ports vulnerable at 3-73 and in need of some stability.
A dashing 61-not-out from O’Brien (including nine boundaries), paired with 27 from Harvey Reynolds was enough to get them home with time and wickets to spare.
Go-Ports now move to 3-1 on the season in a marked turnaround in their on-field fortunes.
Tyrendarra d Macarthur
TYRENDARRA comfortably took care of business in its win over Macarthur at Tyrendarra Recreation Reserve, running out with a seven-wicket victory.
Sam Wilson and Darren Killmister proved to be far too good with the ball, with the pair taking four wickets apiece, while conceding just 37 runs total from 15.2 overs.
The wickets fell with regularity rather than all at once, with the Darras able to break partnerships consistently with only Adam Fry getting past 20 runs, dismissed for 21.
James Williams and Lachie Kirk were the other bowlers to get in the wickets, taking one apiece.
In the Darras’ chase, it was once again the Withers brothers who steered them to victory, as Jordi (61-not-out) and Hamish (26-not-out) took the game away from Macarthur.
While Kyle Smitten (2-16) threatened early after dismissing both of the Darras opening batsmen, Macarthur couldn’t find the mark and break the key partnership of the day.
