COLLEGE fell only three wickets short against South Portland in a bid to claim a rare outright victory in the Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade competition on Saturday at College Turf.

Having declared its innings closed at 8-280 the previous week, the Eagles went on to grab an early wicket before stumps were drawn on the first day.

Play resumed on day two with South Portland seeking to bat out the day and hopefully chase down the target, but the home side was on song with the ball as the wickets tumbled.

Jordy Anthony and Lachy Watt picked up a wicket each, but it was the spin twins in Adrian Burn and Ross Milne that caused carnage in the Demons’ batting order.

Only three players managed to post double figures with Karson Edwards (24), Cameron Rawlings (11) and Tighe Warburton (21-not-out) making any real contribution to the final tally of 78.

Burn (3-13) and Milne (3-22) cut a swathe through the batting order to see the home side set up the opportunity of an outright result as the follow on was enforced.

After the ten-minute change of innings, the South Portland batsmen were better the second time around, as Rawlings (19) and Rory Barry (25) added 46 for the first wicket before Barry was caught.

The Demons finished at 7-119, as time ran out for the Eagles with the bowlers all sharing the wickets, while the batsmen made starts without going on with it.

The victory lifts College into fifth place on the ladder, only 1.35 points behind fourth with next round against Grampians away from home being very significant for both teams’ finals chances.

Tyrendarra d Portland Colts

TYRENDARRA completed another successful run chase on the weekend, defeating Portland Colts at Tyrendarra Recreation Reserve with four wickets in hand.

Set a target of 193 runs for victory, the game was in the balance early, with the Darras able to get some solid partnerships going while Colts were able to find timely breakthroughs.

Colts captain, Luke Evans, got the early wicket of Lachie Kirk, while Matthew Payne and Oscar Barbary also picked up early wickets to have the Darras at 3-35.

However, Sam Wilson’s 29 at the top of the order had still laid the foundation for Tyrendarra’s success, with Jake Wilson proving to be the backbone of their innings with his 58.

His performance opened the door for his skipper, Cam Mather, to notch up what proved to be a match-winning knock of 65 off just 62 balls with seven boundaries (three sixes).

The Darras finished up on 9-229 to further consolidate their position on top of the ladder.

Payne and Mathew Belden were the multiple wicket-takers for Colts on the day.

Mather said while they were pleased to come away with the victory, but his side felt they could’ve been better in both facets of the game.

“We had Colts in a really good position (on the first week) at 3-40, but we let Daniel (Kinghorn) and (Evans) put together a really good partnership to keep them in it,” Mather said.

“I would have liked to have been able to use someone for a few more overs other than ‘Benny’ (Menzel), Lachie or Dylan (Murray) but they were just our three best bowlers so we and to keep using them.

“We didn’t have our greatest start with the bat either, Sam (Wilson) have us a pretty good start at the top and from there Jordi (Withers) and Jake were able to do a really good job through the middle order.

“It was good for myself and (Darren Killmister) to be able to come in later and capitalise off of that.”

Casterton District d Portland Tigers

PORTLAND Tigers came ever so close to securing their third victory of the season against Casterton District at Hanlon Park, with Casterton eventually passing their score with two wickets in hand.

Casterton resumed its innings on 3-57, needing a further 81 runs for victory, however it wasn’t going to be an easy chance on what has proven to be a challenging Hanlon Park pitch.

Ricky Killey and Kaden Humphries guided their side close to the target before Craig Blackberry had Killey caught behind.

Blackberry and Joel Hollis were able to keep their side in the game, continually taking wickets to keep their hopes alive of bowling Casterton out.

However, a 35-run partnership for the ninth wicket between Connor Kelly (39) and Oliver Foster got Casterton across the line.

Blackberry ended up with figures of 5-22 from 12.5 overs.

Ben Atwell’s 48-not-out was the highlight of the Tigers’ second innings, while Paul Procter added 22 and Nik Oakley produced another strong knock further down the order for his 24-not-out off just 13 balls.

St Andrews d Pigeon Ponds

CHAMPION St Andrew’s opening batsman, Brendan Huf, proved that there was life in the old dog yet, as he claimed career-best figures with the ball, as his 7-37 helped the Drews put Pigeon Ponds to the sword at Clem Young Oval.

Noah Hildebrand and Peter Staude walked to the middle with the daunting prospect of chasing down the mountainous 315 needed for victory, and the pair gave the side a solid foundation of 42 before Hildebrand (26) was caught at the wicket by Simon Hatherell.

Hamish McCrae joined Staude, and they took the tally to 98 before the opening batsman became the first of Huf’s wickets when Staude was caught in Huf’s opening over.

McCrae was in no mood to hang around, as he took the long handle to the bowlers and scored at a-run-a-ball pace, as the ball sailed over the fence on three occasions and to it a further six times in making 68 from 73 balls.

The visitors failed to make use of their time in the middle, as Huf ran through the batting order and it wasn’t until the final pairing of Charlie Johnston (31-not-out) and William Plush (36) added 59 that the loss of wickets was stemmed.

The victory keeps the Drews in third place just behind Gorae-Portland by 4.31 points, and with ladder leader, Tyrendarra, visiting next week, the game is vital to the Drews’ chances of a home final.

Gorae-Portland d Hamilton

DAHL Turf was flooded by the storm that hit the district on Tuesday evening, but the curators did a mighty job in ensuring it was dry and playable for Saturday.

The home side had posted 140 in its first innings and Go-Ports had finished day one with no wicket for 25 on the board, but with Damien Compton unavailable for the second day, it meant that Sam Roberts joined Finn Saurine in the middle for the opening ball.

The pair carried on taking the score to 109 before Roberts (64) was caught by Cameron Templeton from the bowling of Hamish Kearney.

From there the home side hit back with the ball, claiming 4-44, as the Hamilton bowlers strove to keep the visitors in check.

Stephen O’Brien (39) and Harvey Reynolds (21-not-out) carried the side to 205 and the declaration followed.

Hamilton only needed to bat out time and they would avoid outright defeat, but wickets fell in clumps after the openers added 29 for the first wicket.

Xavier Stevens (25) batted well at the top of the order, while Anthony Read (28) did well at number five, but by then the score was 7-78 and the home side still had an hour to bat.

Kearney (16-not-out) joined Jake Lang (30-not-out) and the pair stymied everything the visitors threw at them, as they pressed for outright victory.

The two captains shook hands with an over to bowl, as the pair took the score to 7-120 after adding 42 in 16 overs as Gorae-Portland had to settle for first-innings points.

The result lifts Go-Ports into second place, but still 21-points behind ladder-leading Tyrendarra, with a road trip to Casterton next round.

Grampians d Macarthur

GRAMPIANS made sure of victory at its home ground of Dunkeld Turf with a gritty performance against Macarthur.

The Pumas defended the 165 total amassed on day one, with a diligent line and length produced by the bowlers with Carl Joyce grabbing 5-45 to be the pick of the bunch.

Jack Wortley and Harry Turnham opened the batting for the visitors and had a tough opening with the wicket giving the new ball bowlers plenty of lateral assistance.

Wortley (eight) received the ball of the day, as Joyce pitched the ball on middle and leg stump and seamed the ball away from Wortley to clip the off stump.

Ollie Wortley (duck) came and went, as he left both balls he received from Joyce, but the second one he failed to lift his bat from harms way and Tom Polkinghorne accepted the catch.

Macarthur is one side that bats all the way through its batting order to number 11 and the batsmen could well have been routed, as the ball beat the bat on many occasions, but the players refused to be bowed, as each continued to play each ball as it came.

Kyle Smitten has been on fire with the bat in recent times but he found the going just as tough as all other players, adding 14 to the total before he too fell to Joyce after the ball found the edge of the bat on its way through to Zac Burgess to leave the visitors struggling at 3-31.

The best of the Macarthur batsmen was number nine, as Hamish Wortley looked at ease in the conditions and his 29 was the best knock of the innings.

All he needed was the last two batsmen to stay with him and he may well have carried the visitors to victory, but after Mitchell Bright (13) became Joyce’s fifth wicket, Wortley was trapped LBW by Will Collins as the batsman walked across his stumps and was hit in the knee roll to end the Demons brave fight.

Both these teams can still reach the top four, but each must win all three remaining games to do so.