AFTER winning the Hamilton and District Cricket Association (HDCA) T20 final on Thursday, Macarthur has continued its wave of momentum into Saturday with an unbeaten Ollie Wortley ton leading them to victory against South Portland.
The Demons won the toss at Macarthur Recreation Reserve and elected to bat with Michael Brilley and Jack Wortley opening the innings, before Rory Barry took the opening scalp sending Wortley back for 10.
Ollie strolled to the crease and combined well with Brilley to cause a headache for South Portland’s bowling attack.
Cruising along at an impressive run rate, the pair put on a massive 184-run partnership before young gun, Tighe Warburton, claimed the prized wicket of Brilley for 90 off 103 balls, and then sent T20 match-winner, Kyle Smitten, back to the sheds for four.
However, Wortley went on to notch up his century, which included six maximums, to finish on 122-not-out off just 115 balls, while captain, Charlie Summers, finished on 32-not-out – the final score was 3-266.
The equation for South Portland was simple, they required almost six an over to secure victory and had no choice but to come out and play with intent.
The run chase didn’t get off to the ideal start, as the side’s top order of Scott Martin (eight), Barry (zero), Karsen Edwards (one) and Cameron Rawlings (zero) were all sent back in quick succession.
At 4-12 chasing 267 for the win, it looked dire for the visitors, and it appeared as though they could be rolled for well under 100.
The Warburton brothers, Lachie (70) and Tighe (84), had other plans and breathed life back into the chase to stabilise the innings with a 102-run partnership.
Eamon Drew hit a quick 26-not-out, but South Portland was bowled out for 235 after a resurrection from the middle order gave them hope.
The Macarthur opening bowling duo of Smitten and Lachie Nield was in full force as they took three wickets each.
Casterton-District d Grampians
CASTERTON-DISTRICT has moved into the top four after a thriller against Grampians, which saw exciting youngster, Ollie Foster, hit the winning runs to be the hero for the visitors.
Grampians’ Will Collins and Daniel Jones strolled to the crease after winning the toss, but it was Maroons captain, Kaden Humphries, who drew first blood and sent Collins back to the sheds for 17.
Rick Killey made the ball talk in the 18th over, hitting Carl Joyce (three) on the pads, as the umpire’s finger went up, before Zach Burgess was gone the following ball for a golden duck, also out LBW.
Jones continued to battle hard, scoring 55 and with some assistance from Ty Gilmore (26) and Alec McIntyre (20), the side reached 159 - Killey took three wickets and Carey Megaw was impressive with two.
Ben Holmes was almost the sole contributor for Casterton-District with the bat, scoring 41 at the top of the order, while Killey added 27.
The run chase looked under control, but when Carl Joyce knocked over Humphries (eight) and Connor Kelly (zero) in the space of four balls, the Maroons were under siege.
The game kept getting tighter and when Joshua Jones departed, one wicket would see a Pumas’ victory, while 15 runs would see the Maroons win – Jacob Edwards and Foster at the crease.
After facing 22 consecutive dot balls and yet to get off the mark, Foster hit a leg glance for three in the 44th over off McIntyre to win the game for Casterton-District, while Edwards (13-not-out) was also huge for the side.
Joyce and Hayden Phillips each took three wickets.
St Andrew’s d Hamilton
ST Andrew’s sits pretty in third position on the ladder after defending just 142 at Dahl Turf to take home the points against Hamilton.
The Blues won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat, making an immediate impact as Hamish Cook bowled Brendan Huf (three) in the second over of the game.
Michael Fitzpatrick started well but was dismissed for 18, while the wickets of Taine Morris (five) and John Walsh (14) also fell early.
It was the experience and composure of Darryl Fry that got the scoreboard ticking over, as he navigated the Hamilton bowlers and anchored the innings with 57-not-out, and along with Jacob Hill (22-not-out) brought the total to 142.
Cook finished with 2-27 off his nine overs, while Archie Buck also took a wicket and got a run out.
Hamilton needed 143 for the win but Bailey Walsh put the ball in some good areas troubling the Blues’ top order early, as the teenager picked up the crucial wickets of Xavier Stevens (12) and David Knight (seven).
John Walsh took a couple wickets including Hamish Cook, who was trapped in front of his stumps for a duck, Hamilton was reeling.
Nic Cullinane (23) and Daniel Richardson (21) fought hard, but St Andrew’s managed to bowl them out for 117.
Drews skipper, Russell Elton, also picked up two wickets.
Pigeon Ponds d Gorae-Portland
PIGEON Ponds caused an upset against Gorae-Portland at Pigeon Ponds Recreation Reserve with a strong total of 231 proving too much for the visitors to chase.
There was no reliance on a particular player in the Ponds’ batting innings, as the entire top five delivered.
Noah Hildebrand (29) and Peter Staude (50) opened the batting and got the side off to a great start., before Simon Close added 62 to the score to set up the rest of the innings for the home side.
Cameos from Anthony Close (20) and Joel Staude (17) pushed the score to 231, as Zac Duncan-Rethus was the best of Gorae-Portland’s bowlers with 3-42 from nine overs.
Wickets fell regularly and steadily throughout the second innings, and it was clear the Pigeon Ponds bowlers were on top for the duration.
Nick Wills (60) was the only one who showed anything with the bat for the visitors, working hard to score more than half the side’s total runs.
It was a major collapse, as Wills saw six of his teammates dismissed around him (three of them ducks) before he was the last wicket to fall, with the scoreboard at 118 off just 32.2 overs.
Simon Close picked up 3-20 off 7.2 overs, while Anthony and Lachie Craig took two wickets each.
Tyrendarra d College
TYRENDARRA sits two wins clear on top of the ladder after a century from captain, Cameron Mather, helped the side defeat the Eagles on their home turf.
Mather (120) combined with prominent run scorer, Jordi Withers (74), for a partnership of 166 to ensure College would be chasing a big total.
The pair have both had impressive seasons and were a class above, getting on top of the Eagles’ bowlers.
Jordy Anthony and Russell Bennett both took two wickets each for College, while Tyrendarra finished at 8-259 from the 45 overs.
The Eagles had a lot of starts in the run chase but needed someone to turn it into a big score for them to have a chance of chasing the runs.
Jock Barrie (37), Adrian Burn (31), Lachlan Watt (33) and Lachie Brown (39) all threatened to make big scores, but weren’t able to go on, as College fell short with 194 on the board at the end of the innings.
Darren Killmister was the standout with the ball, removing three of College’s top four to finish with 3-27 off nine overs.
Portland Colts d Portland Tigers
PORTLAND Colts defeated Portland Tigers in a game which was dominated by each team’s bowling attack.
Colts won the toss and elected to bat first, and the game was evenly poised early, as Colts made their way to 2-34 with Matt Payne making 23, while Joel Askew and Paul Procter picked up early wickets.
James Chapple and skipper, Luke Evans, steadied the ship in Colts’ favour, with the pair putting on 36 for the third wicket.
Joel Hollis was able to break that partnership, and from there the run rate slowed dramatically for Colts, with the Tigers able to keep the pressure on with a steady stream of wickets.
A late cameo from Chad Hollis (18-not-out) helped push Colts’ total to 8-142 after 45 overs.
Despite posting a suboptimal, albeit still defensible total, Colts were on top right from the get-go, as Evans had Charlie Harvey caught early.
And while Ben Atwell (37) was a stalwart at the top of the order, he found himself running out of partners, as the Tigers faltered to 6-31.
Riley Cook was the one doing the damage for Colts, as he claimed five wickets in succession to put his side well and truly on top.
Atwell was able to find some support from Askew (11), and the Harvey brothers, Seb (18) and Artie (10-not-out), who provided some resistance right at the tail end, but it was too little too late, as Damien Bell was a prominent figure and Colts eventually bowled the Tigers out for 105.
