Ladder leaders shocked in SMCA

TomParry

WEATHER is usually agood indicatorofhow a cricket team will fare.

If the days are warm and sunny in the lead-up to amatch,then grounds will be dry and ideal for batting; if those same days are cool or rainy, surfaces will be moist and green.

Yet this is not always the case, as the weekend’s resultsinthe Sale-Maffra Cricket Association proved.

Contrary to last Friday’s predictions by yours truly,the heat that was felt on Thursday and Friday had anegligibleimpact on playingsurfaces -it appears that bowlers, rather than batsmen, had theadvantage across the district.

As such, there were some rather surprising resultsinthe first grade competitiononSaturday.

TheconclusionofRound 13 brought with it the defeats of two premiership contenders, atenacious display from alosing side, and anew leader in the pack of eight.

All four games were won on first innings.

Collegians vSale

ANEW favourite for the flag has surfaced following the result at College Oval.

Chasing212,Collegians had an ominous start to their first innings when captain and opener Zac Hurley was out for afour-ball duck.

Then, JedMalone wascaught by his Sale contemporary, Nathan Massey on 10.

The Morrison brothers, Charlie and Tom were next to go, followed by Henry Anderson on one -all in the first 24 overs of the day.

With the score at an unfathomable 5/32, Noah Hurley partnered with Nathan Giove to stabilise the innings.

But their efforts only lasted so long -after17 overs and with 33 runs added, Giove was trapped on his pads by Sale’s Coenie Nel for eight.

The young Hurley then combined with another Nathan, thisone being Whitford,for apartnership of 21, before Nel struck again by bowling Hurley for 31.

Mark Nicholls then joined Whitford to add 32 runsinaneighth-wicket,22-over stand, before Whitford too was bowled by Nel at the end of the 61st over on 28.

Three ballslater, JakeDurnellwas out leg-before for agolden duck, leaving College 9/119.

Despite having used 10 of their 11 batsmen, Collegians’ innings concluded there and then, 93 runs short of their target, to hand Sale six points.

Nel finished with figures of 4/52, while paceman MattRaidal wasthe Swans’ next-best bowler with 3/20 off 10, including five maidens.

The win, coupled with the result of the game at Stratford(see below) sees Sale leap to the top of the First XI ladder, relegating Collegians to second StratfordvMaffra

ANOTHER shock loss was suffered by the Redbacks, this time on their home ground at the hands of sixth-placed Maffra.

Starting the day at 16 runs withoutloss, Stratford suffered early with the fall of four batsmen in the opening 10 overs.

Two of those four wickets were Jack Tatterson and Jack Rietschel, both of whomdeparted without scoring.

Dean Devisser lasted another five overs before he was caught for 11, the Redbacks’ score at 5/34.

Ben Dinning and Ethan Albrechthad better fortune, forming apartnership that lasted16overs, yet yielded just 18 runs, ending with the former’s dismissal on nine.

Albrecht was out exactly one over later, caught for 15.

After Sam Anstee was bowledfor aduck in the 48thover, Zane Waixel and Seb Pendergast attempted to launch afightback, withsome success -the tail-endersamassed 24 runs across 13 overs, the most productive stand of the innings. But it toocame to aprematureend when Pendergast was caught for 14 in the 61st over.

Stratford’s inningsendedfiveoverslater with the wicket of Chris Aurisch, leaving Waixel as the top-scorer on an unbeaten 19.

Josh Davis claimed four scalps for Maffra, while Ben Durrant, Jack Kelly and Dylan Freitag each snagged two.

With alead of 43 runs, the Eagles began their second innings and did so worryingly, losing their first four wickets -three of them offTatterson’s bowling -inthe space of five overs, and with just 10 runs added.

JoshDavis and Nathan Hibbins soon rectified the situation, amassing 73 runs between them in the proceeding 16 overs.

Davis’ wicket saw Maffra declare their innings at 5/83, giving them alead of 126.

The Redbacks were given the briefest of opportunities to reply, making 12 runs in three overs before the match was brought to aclose.

While the outcome does zilch for Maffra’s finals chances, it does have ramifications for Stratford, which has slipped to third on the ladder.

RK vBoisdale-Briag

IT’S official: the Warriors are bound for the finals.

Their place in the top four has been cemented thanks to adecisive victory against BoisdaleBriagolong at Rosedale Recreation Reserve.

The Saints resumed their first innings at 0/3, losing opener Steve Noble within three balls, followed by Michael Roberts in the 11th and then Toby Leeds in the 19th -all caught behind by Cam Freshwater.

In the next 25 overs, Mark Lobley and Dylan Bolton made a44-runstand before the latter was bowled by fellow all-rounder Isaac Love for 21.

Nick Pangwas next to arrive, combining with Lobley for 32 runs -13ofwhich came off just one over.

Their stand lasted just eight overs before Pang was caught for 25.

By this point, the B-Doubleswere sitting on 5/118 after 51 overs -halfway to their target, but with just 30 overs to reach it.

Theloss of Jonathon Outhart for eight, and then Lobley for43put adent in those chances.

This left Liam Hurst and Taj Threadgoldto

SALE-MAFFRACRICKET ASSOCIATION SCOREBOARD

salvage the innings,althoughnothing substanital wasmade.

The pair only managed acollaboration of 24 runs in six overs, Hurst being the one to fall in the 72nd.

Threadgold and Kallan Randle lost their wickets in the five oversthat followed, bringing the Saints’ innings to an end at 10/168.

Captain Love took the most wickets for RosedaleKilmany with four from27overs, while Dylan Rowley finished with two.

With their spot in the top four secure, all the Warriors need to do now is wait and see who their opponent will be in the semi-finals.

LongfordvBundalaguah

CONVERSELY, the Bulls’ hopes of reaching the finals have been dashed, despite being victorious at Stephenson Park.

Bundalaguah began the day at 1/63, needing 86 runs for afirst-innings win.

Hayden Wrigglesworth wasbowled in the second over of the day without adding to his score, paving the way for Kshitiz Sharma, wholastedseven overs and left the middle on two.

Chris Smart was out for 31 in the 43rd over, his wicket followed swiftlybythe departures of Charlie Morris and Nick French for single digits.

Upon the latter’s fall in the 48th over, Bundy’s score was 6/95.

James Read was next to the crease,who stuck aroundfor seven overs and contributed threeruns to astand of 17 with Steve Spoljaric.

It was the eighth and subsequently finalpartnership that proved most fruitful for the Bulls, with Spoljaricand MitchTempleton together making 37 runs to surpass Longford’s total of 148 within 15 overs.

Having acquired the six points, Bundy declared their innings and sent Longford in to bat for a second time.

The Lizards started benignly but soon fired, with openers Walt Suttonand SamDean posting 47 runs between them by the end of the 13th over.

The wickets of both men resulted in the quick losses of batsmen in the 20 overs that followed, with all but one -JackHeywood -departing for single figures.

Even so,Longfordconcluded their innings on arespectable 131, giving them aprofit of runs to atone for being the losing team.

Heywood -who arrived seventh in the orderwould be the last Lizard to fall, his 48 runs coming off 36 deliveries.

Bulls captain Jason Langshaw ended the innings with four wickets, as did Chris Smart.

Meanwhile,Longford’s key bowlers were Andrew Tyson and his captain, Lachlan Floyd, who collected two wickets each.

With just one round of the 2022/23 season to go, Bundy are currently fifth place on the first grade ladder and 13 points outside the top four.

Even if they win outright in Round 14, they’ll still be three points short, at best, of aplace in the semis.

Miller 3/8) &6/88 (ANicholas 34, JMayman 32*, JH Rietschel 4/34)

JPrice 18-7-1-40,J Taylor 10-1-1-26,A

15-8-2-16, LFloyd 14-8-2-18, NWalker6-1-1-18, N Singh6-1-0-11, MMcMaster3-1-0-7 Longfordsecond innings cL WrigglesworthbLangshaw. 23

SDean. bLangshaw. 24

MMcMaster cL WrigglesworthbSmart. 4 NWalker runout (Anderson)

NSingh lbw bSmart

JTaylor. cFrench bSmart. 3

JHeywood .c Read bLangshaw. 48

LFloyd runout (Templeton) 0

JPrice cMorrisbSmart. 1

ATyson st Morris bLangshaw.

BMcMaster not out w0,b 5, lb 1)

Total. 131

Bundalaguah bowling:G Munasinghe 3-1-0-7,H Anderson 3-1-0-3, KSharma 3-0-0-8, JRead2-0-0-18, JLangshaw 11.5-1-4-44,M Templeton 2-0-0-10, CSmart 9-1-4-35

SecondGrade: Collegians 141(ZRussel 73, M Murphy6/35) &183 (Z Russell 43, TDessent 40, T O’Reilly3/35, EAponso 3/48) def Bundalaguah 96 (J Powell 40, LGiove 4/2, JMcGuiness 4/39) & 0/12; Maffra2/90(dec) (J Sekhon 40) &3/10(B Reid 3/3) def Rosedale-Kilmany87 (J Beaumont 5/23, W Robinson 4/24) &10(JPendrick 4/5, CHennig 4/5); Stratford 6/222 (dec) (BChanning 86, JH Rietschel 60, ANicholas 3/39) def Sale 65 (H Tatterson 4/3, T

Third Grade: Maffra9/171 (B Cordias 42*, R Donohue 3/39) def Sale 8/168(cc) (R Crause 49, B Rowley 3/39); Longford9/181 (A Vogt 51, COsborne 48*, JWells 3/43) def Collegians 9/175(dec) (B Hurley55, COsborne 4/30, AVogt3/23); Heyfield 2/278 (dec) (T Pritchett104*,JBurton100*) defRosedale-Kilmany103 (J Reid 50) &1/33; Bundalaguah 6/208 (P Brady 98, STudor 43) def Nambrok 86 (W Gray 4/29); Stratford5/94(dec) (N Thomas 42) &2/33 def Boisdale-Briagolong 44 (J Woodward3/11) &81(NThomas4/26, JWilliams 3/13); Wurruk -bye

Fourth Grade: Heyfield 6/182(cc) (R Winter 53, JKeane 36) def Bundalaguah Yaks 6/144(cc) (G Abrahall 50, JScicluna 31*); Rosedale-Kilmany 7/193(cc) JReid 50, LGoodwin 50, JTatlow 3/28) def Stratford9/157(cc) (J Devisser 51, RAllred 37,J Reid 4/26); Wurruk Toafs 8/184(cc) (J Morris 52, MKlein 42, VVb3/51) def Maffra106 (D Rowley45, WCooke3/5); Collegians 2/127 (C Paterson 51, J Sullivan 42) def Longford126 (L Knight 39, SFyfe 3/30); Sale White8/174 (A Clissold 52, CHudson 32, SBreddels 3/17) def WurrukWindies 8/170(cc) (L Dabkowski 50, WBreddels 35*); Bundalaguah Bulls -bye

Under16: Collegians 145(RWilson64*, MStobie 53, NWalker3/22) vLongford1/8;Bundalaguah 3/200 (HWrigglesworth68*, CMorris44*) v Rosedale-Kilmany(yettobat); Maffra58(OShaw2/7 JWilliams 2/10) vStratford 1/5; BYE- Sale

Under 14:Wurruk/Maffra103 (B Rowley 35, C Richardson 3/4) def Sale 8/67(cc) (Z Svenson 3/10); Heyfield 124(LHenry 35*) def Collegians 5/115(cc) (X Hurley33, MWinter 3/4); Bundalaguah 1/159(cc) (L Gentle 38, JLenehan 35) def Longford3/92(cc) (J Gibb32, LMcMaster 28, LGentle 2/11); Stratford -bye