CASTERTON District enters day two of its round seven Hamilton and District Cricket Association A grade game against Portland Tigers at Hanlon Park knowing victory is only 39 runs away.
While normally this would be a foregone conclusion, the Maroons only have five wickets remaining, as the side starts proceedings at 5-36 chasing the 74-run total the Tigers posted last Saturday.
On a wicket that was far too dry, the visitors took full advantage of the crumbling surface to rout their hosts inside 39 overs, with Carey Megaw the star with 4-22 with the ball in hand.
Megaw will be called upon to perform with the bat too today, as he resumes on 18-not-out (from 81 balls) after he and skipper, Kaden Humphries (10-not-out from 75 balls), refused to be bowed against the Tigers attack.
Casterton District also has specialist batsman, Kane Forbes, and all-rounder, Jacob Edwards, to come into the team today.
Shanaka Silva was on fire with the ball last week and starts the day looking for a single wicket to register a “Michelle Pfeiffer” (five-wicket haul) after a stunning spell of 12 overs, 10 maidens, four wickets for only three runs, as he reduced the visitors top order to be 5-5.
College v Hamilton
AFTER starting the first day on a high with three early wickets at College Turf, Hamilton chased leather the remainder of the day, as College racked up a big target for its bowlers to defend today.
Adrian Burn (98) and Charles Murrie (94) deserved to register three figures each, but it wasn’t to be, and the rest of the lower order batted around Burn to help post 8-331.
Today, Hamilton must believe it can chase the required runs, as the talent is within the batsmen to reach the target with players such as Mitch Lang, Isaac Shaw, and Robbie Cook all very good players who only need a little luck go their way to post the scores required to win the game.
College has wicketkeeper, Angus Brown, and George Macdonald coming back into the side today after the pair missed the first day, but the bowlers will have to strike early, as the wicket historically flattens out after the shine wears from the new ball and becomes much easier to bat on.
Jordy Anthony, Lachy Watt, Lachie Brown, Cameron Cuttler, and Burn are all in great form with the ball and will be out to restrict Hamilton to less than 331.
St Andrew’s v Pigeon Ponds
A brilliant 114 from Pigeon Ponds wicketkeeper-batsman, Ben Hanrahan, on day one has the visitors well set for day two at Clem Young Oval, as the Pigeons strive to dismiss St Andrew’s for less than 245.
Having seen the top three batsmen in the order fall cheaply, Hanrahan battled hard against a fired-up bowling attack and came out the other side in front.
He and Hamish McCrae (39) steadied the innings for the Pigeons, and when the final wicket finally fell, the target was set for the Drews to have to chase today.
Due to wet weather and having to bowl first in the last two rounds, St Andrews hasn’t batted since November 17, which is a long time between knocks in the middle.
No matter how many net sessions a player has, nothing replicates time in the middle and not having done so for a month may well count against the home side.
Brendan Huf and Darryl Fry are the key players for both teams today, as the Drews need the veteran pair to guide the side to the target and the Pigeons need to dismiss both cheaply.
The Clem Young Oval surface will give the new ball bowlers assistance early but will likely flatten out after the first 10-15 overs, and if the Drews can whether the early storm without too many wickets being lost, the home side should be in a good place to hunt down the required runs.
Grampians v Macarthur
THE rain that hit Dunkeld last Friday night seeped through the covers and saturated the wicket at each end and caused day one to be washed out at Dunkeld Turf.
The game has been reduced to a one-day game of 40 overs per team with all rules pertaining to the shorter format in place but will be played with a red ball.
In a quirk of the draw, these teams met in the T20 competition last Thursday evening and the Demons were too good for the Pumas.
Today Macarthur make the road trip to Dunkeld knowing Don Collins and Zach Burgess are the two players who stand in its way of carrying the points back home.
Collins has registered two tons in his last two innings, a feat not seen for many years in the HDCA, while Burgess is also in career-best form, as each has passed the 300-run barrier already and sit third and fifth respectively on run getters list.
Macarthur will look to Ollie Wortley, Michael Brilley and Jack Wortley to continue their great batting form, while Simon Sharrock is due for a big score with the bat too.
Portland Colts v Tahara
A SEVENTH-WICKET partnership of 171 rescued Portland Colts at Henty Park on day one, as Tahara had the competition leaders on toast before Matthew Payne (92) and Matthew Belden (79) joined forces to repel the visitors bowling attack to finish with 262.
Nathan Slaughter did the damage with the ball for the Blue Caps, bagging 5-33 from 20 overs to easily be the best of the bowlers, as he cut a swathe through the Colts’ batting order.
Today Tahara must work as a unit to hunt down the target with Taine Morris, Marcus Rhook, Brad Gauci, Harry Armstrong, and Hamish Myers all strong players with willow in hand.
The Colts will look to Luke Evans, Jak Hotchkiss, Payne, Oscar Barbary, Daniel Kinghorn and Riley Cook to dismiss the visitors, but they haven’t bowled in a match since November 17, due to the weather and a bye in that time.
Tahara hasn’t scored the runs it would’ve been expecting this summer, and this target may just be a bridge too far.
South Portland v Tyrendarra
OUTRIGHT points are there for the taking today when the game at Cavalier Park resumes with South Portland seemingly on its knees against Tyrendarra, resuming at 1-3 in its second innings, still 95 runs adrift of making the visitors bat again.
All out for 20 wasn’t expected from the Demons and they will not want that to happen again today, as the players will be searching for bonus points for every run scored after losing on first innings already.
The Darras will be without Ben Menzel who is unavailable for day two, but there is still a formidable bowling attack awaiting the home side.
Outright victory will see Tyrendarra assume the ladder lead, but they will have to fight for every wicket today to make this happen.
